Information Processing refers to what human attributes?

Information Processing refers to what human attributes? • Refers to mental efficiency of the whole system. • Reaction time tests (some found on Internet) • http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/ • Short term memory tasks (e.g. digit span). • Working memory (input is combined with LTM data, so the mind has to ‘work’). • Measures of memory retention (over time). • Measures of reading, comprehension, problem solving, etc. • In short, all cognitive activity involves processing information

Sensory memory • How many ball passes? Two balls are in play. • Try to count them (video goes 20 seconds) • http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

Another demonstration of attentional effects • Magician’s stock in trade is to control your attention. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v91nKja2Qw4 • (For entertainment value, see Dr Wiseman’s other videos on his Quirkology website)

Work Space - Temporary Storage Permanent Storage Decision making The Information Processing system ExecutiveControl Processes Learn Long-term memory Working Memory Sensory Memory Perception Attention Retrieve

What do such effects show? • Attention is a limited resource. • Executive control (your current goal) overides sensory input. • Eyewitness testimony is often poor: Much goes on without your noticing. • The popular fallacy of multi-tasking. (Abysmal history of such effects, including the Mozart Effect, and the Receptionist Effect).

Memory feats • It takes 25 minutes, but go test yourself on http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/memory/index.shtml. • So, if humans are so limited in mental capacities, what accounts for extra-ordinary feats? • There are many well documented cases of incredible memory skills. • Memory skills via highly sophisticated chunking strategies, e.g. DD and SF. These students were Physical Education students, using sports information to enhance their digit span. SF got to 79, then a year later DD went up to 119.

Taken from DD’s reports • …4 2 0 7 9 9 8 1 0 6 9 3 8…. • “then 420 was a mile, I said a 4:20 flat, a good high school mile” • “799, I said 79 was an age, almost eighty” • 810 “And 8:10 was a two mile. I said a really fast two mile”. • 6938 “Then 6938 was a ten mile, and I said it was up there, it was a really slow ten mile”

Exceptional memory feats 1 Memory skills via highly sophisticated chunking strategies, e.g. DD and SF. • Their ‘secret’ lies in encoding: Using their knowledge as an associative aid. • It took a year’s practice. • After such digit skills developed, did STM improve on other tasks? Answer: NO. Memory for lists of words remained at 9 to 10. • In fact their short term memory capacity was unchanged.

Exceptional memory feats 2 • Go onto Youtube and search “memory mnemonic”, There are several dozen excellent films (Greg’s favourite is Derren Brown). Spend a couple of hours watching these. • All cases based on practice of domain related skills. You begin with good healthy STM, yes, but then develop strategies. • None of this needs intelligence. Memory champions do not need giant brains. They devote time to honing their skills, and are driven by motives such as competition and goals. (Many hundreds of hours needed. It’s the time taken to develop skills, that is ‘hidden’))

BASIC STRATEGIES IN MEMORY • Chunking • Rehearsal (recitation) • Imagery • Mnemonics (any device that helps) • Elaboration • To remember, use CRIME.

Chunking (or grouping) • The mind takes “bites” out of the input: • Examples: • (a) chess champion breaks the game into seven known units, within his/her perception. • (b) The digit span experts DD and SF grouped the numbers, rather than treat them as isolated units. • (c) When you meet people you naturally group people according to their partners, or family group (you group brothers, sisters, etc).

Rehearsal Most elementary strategy since it uses your mind’s natural 1.5 second buffer. Generally verbal (but not necessarily). Most brains will try to encode a visual input to a verbal code. (Eg, when watching the ball passes, your brain was counting in words). Itis quite a good way to store small volume items. Do not regard this as ‘learning by rote’ as in fact there is no such capability within the human brain. (A common fallacy. Computers might learn by rote, but the human brain cannot). When spoken aloud, we call it recitation, rather than rehearsal which we think of as the inner response.

Four stimulus flash cards: (Eg card stack as shown by teacher) The preschooler may verbalise each when in sight (“cat”, “tree”, etc). Each card is seen briefly, so the frame skill involves incorporating the one in sight with ones that are now gone from view.

Rehearsal frames: Developmental findings • Memory test using flash cards, one at a time. The typical preschooler looks, will label the card, but does not mentally rehearse. • The typical 6 year old, looks, and mentally rehearses the card in front of her. • The 8 year old, however, rehearses the present plus past cards. The rehearsal frame might be of 3 to 4 items. • By about 10, the notion of 2 frames may emerge • In fact our rehearsal abilities will increase even through adolescence. So saying it is ‘simple’ or ‘rote’ does this skill quite a disservice.

IMAGERY: Pictures within the mind • This appears to be a natural encoding strategy linked to the visual system. • But has been ‘controversial’ in that some people report they use it a lot, but others seem mystified as to whether or not they ‘see’ things. • Lab tests indicate there really is type of ‘sketch pad’ in the brain, which stores non-verbal inputs such as locations, shapes, positions, etc.

Imagery • Imagine: It’s a lovely sunny day. A walk in the park. Trees are beautiful. So are those flowers on the ground…So..? • Imagine: Your house, what it looks like…Just where are you now standing? • Close you eyes and tell us how many……

Will you use your sketch pad? • Try looking at this page for 30 secs, then draw the shapes on paper

Imagery: Extra-ordinary performance • Stephen Wiltshire: “The human camera”. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAfaM_CBvP8&feature=related.

What is mental elaboration? • This means to add to the input, in any way, but in the human brain, it is mainly a verbal process. • Last week I said “You will recall perhaps 20% of lecture content” (stimulus input) • In your brain “Am I wasting my time here?” • Note how your response adds to the stimulus, by way of an elaboration. • It is what you do. It is not in the stimulus. • To elaborate upon an input is the most effective learning strategy we have. But most effective of all is when we ask ourselves a question of the stimulus, and are able to answer it, ourselves.

Mnemonics • Term “mnemonic” in general means that which assists memory, from STM to LTM. • But, often used to refer to specific devices (or tricks) that work well, in sense of helping recall of specific pieces of information such as colours of rainbow, value of pi, states of Australia, music notation, chemical formulae. • Especially popular use by medical students, • http://www.medicalmnemonics.com/

A mnemonic from maths • How I wish I could calculate pi easily. • 3.1415926

Experienced teachers do use mnemonics • Teachers develop their own mnemonics within their teaching repertoire(pp286-287). • I watched a special education teacher help child get his essay writing skills up by calling out the COPS. (May be called an acronym) • Capitols, Organisation, Punctuation, and Spelling. (i.e. child learns to self-check these). • Other teachers have variations on these, and will often develop there own.

Mnemonics: (As noted in your textbook, pp 286-287) • Loci method • Peg type mnemonics • Acronyms • Chain mnemonics • Keyword mnemonics

A question. • So what does CRIME now suggest to you?

What strategies are most effective? • This is an impossible question as we have different strategies for different tasks. • Also strategies can only become effective after much practice. • However, rehearsal is fine for small discrete units. But this can reach a limit fairly quickly. So more effective ones get called in to assist. • Most effective ones are based upon elaboration and self-questioning. Why, because it forces the mind to relate the new input to meaningfulness and what you know already. (They use the prior knowledge factor).

Concept of strategy • There are many different strategies (memory, scanning, finding things, listening, etc). • Reduces cognitive load. • Can be general, or can be highly specific. • Gaol oriented, with goal in future. • Developmental trends (better with age) • Individuals differ (often quite dramatically) • Remarkably hard to acquire.

Can we teach strategies? • Yes, there is a large literature on teaching strategies successfully. • But the length of time needed is always in the hours. You need to practice the new skill in at least 3 new situations. • Brief training (or just information giving) fails absolutely. • Brief training fails as the strategy itself imposes a heavy load. Thus, when the going is difficult the new strategy gets abandoned. The mind will revert back to what it did before. This effect is known by two names, “regression” (to go back), and also “proactive interference” ( your old knowledge is still there, and so reasserts itself).

The world is complex, and every child needs to develop strong mental strategies that will allow learning to proceed with facility, success, and low stress. But developing good strategies does not come quickly. Even once strategies are acquired, children’s performance will improve only gradually. There is another factor in the story. This is the role of knowledge, and that is where we go next week. In sum

Information Processing refers to what human attributes?