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Modules 6-1 & 6-3. Information Processing. Information Processing. Not a single, unified theory Investigates: Attention Memory Thinking Metacognition: Knowledge of when and how to use strategies to think, remember, and problem-solve. Principles of Change. Automaticity
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Modules 6-1 & 6-3 Information Processing
Information Processing • Not a single, unified theory • Investigates: • Attention • Memory • Thinking • Metacognition: Knowledge of when and how to use strategies to think, remember, and problem-solve.
Principles of Change • Automaticity • No conscious effort required • Strategy Construction • Self-modification • Metacognition • Gradual change
Speed of Mental Processing • Rises dramatically across childhood • Young adult comparison study • 10 year olds were 1.8 times slower • 12 year olds were 1.5 times slower • 15 year olds were the same • Declines from the 40’s • Experience or biological maturation? • myelination
Speed of Mental Processing Does processing speed matter? • May help you think better • May help you learn faster • May be compensated for by experience • ***correlational study showed that lower IQ scores were associated with an earlier death
Attention Habituation in Infancy • Long-lookers vs. short-lookers • Infants with brain damage do not habituate well
Attention in Childhood • Control improves with age • 10-month olds more distractible than 26 month olds • Preschoolers may watch TV for half an hour at a time • Anderson and others (1985) visual attention drastically improves in the preschool years
Selective Attention • Older & more socially advantaged children are more focused & less distractible • Ruff & Hobart (1996) Ability to pay attention in preschool is related to achievement, relationship & social skills • Related to school readiness • Peer rejection and aggressive behavior are related to lack of ability to control attention
Attention to Salience vs. Relevance • Preschoolers pay attention to whatever stands out • After age 6 or 7, there is more cognitive control • Older children shift attention better • Older adults may begin to lose the ability to shift attention (driving)
Memory • Constructed (& Reconstructed) • Guided by schemas – existing knowledge & understanding • Misinformation Effect (can be distorted)/source amnesia • Bugs Bunny study
Types of Memory • Implicit • Procedural • emotional, conditioned, reflexive • Explicit – (declarative) • episodic • semantic
Development of Memory • Rovee-Collier • Babies have detailed memory at 2 ½ months • Ties a baby’s ankle to a mobile. They kick and move the mobile. What do they do if placed in the crib weeks later? • They kick, but only if the mobile is the same. • Infants 2-6 months can carry memory to 1 ½ - 2 years. Is it only implicit memory?
Memory in Infancy • Other researchers - • Babies do not show explicit memory until the second half of the first year of life. • Explicit (conscious) memory improves substantially during the second year.
Infantile Amnesia • No permanent long-term memory before age 3, little in pre-school (infantile amnesia). • May have to do with lack of enough development in the hippocampus and/or pre-frontal lobes
Children’s Short-Term Memory • Memory span in digits • 2 digits 2-3 year olds • 5 digits 7 year olds • 6 ½ digits 13 year olds • (Related to speed of repetition)
Children’s Long-term Memory - Eyewitnesses • There are age differences in susceptibility to suggestion. • There are also individual differences (low self-concept, low support from parents). • Interview techniques can produce substantial distortions.
Long-term Memory Strategies • Rehearsing • Organizing • Elaboration (Thinking about it) • Personal relevance • Images
Children’s Long-term Memory • Increase strategy use with age • Fuzzy-trace theory • Using gist vs. verbatim • Affected by Knowledge base • Schema elaboration • Chase & Chi
Metamemory (Use of Strategies) Improves During Childhood • Ages 5-6 know that • Familiar items are easier to remember • Short lists are easier than long ones • Recognition is easier than recall • Forgetting becomes more likely over time
Metamemory (Use of Strategies) Improves During Childhood • At Ages 5-6, do not know that • related items are easier to remember • Gist is easier than verbatim • Inflated opinion of their memory abilities
Adult Memory • Working memory • Peak at 45? Decline at 57? • Processing speed?
Facts & Findings • Young adults have better episodic memory than older ones • Among older adults, older memories are less accurate than more recent ones • Older adults take longer to retrieve semantic memory
Facts & Findings • Implicit memory is less likely to be affected by aging • Source amnesia gets worse (source memory declines) in older adulthood • Prospective memory (remembering to do something) • Time-based poorer than event-based
Adult Memory: Summary & Review • Declines in • Processing speed • Working memory • Episodic memory
Negative Influences on Memory in Older Adulthood • Physical declines • Anxiety & depression • Beliefs about losing memory important • Attitudes & feelings important (e.g., low self-efficacy) • Good health will reduce, but not eliminate declines