Information Processing Models
4.4 Describe assumptions made about information processing as depicted in information processing models.
This is the point in the course notes where pictures of individual scientists are presented in much more limited fashion. This is because most of the work in the field of cognitive psychology has been accomplished by many different scientists building upon some of the fundamental principles previously identified.
Three Assumptions about Information Processing:
This is the point in the course notes where pictures of individual scientists are presented in much more limited fashion. This is because most of the work in the field of cognitive psychology has been accomplished by many different scientists building upon some of the fundamental principles previously identified.
Three Assumptions about Information Processing:
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1. The manner in which information is processed and characterized within information processing models is analogous to computers, with a strong emphasis on MEMORY as one of the most important components of the cognitive system. Complex organisms receive information (data input), store information in different types of memory structures (RAM, hard drive, etc.), and retrieve memory through commands. It might just be a coincidence that information processing models were developed at about the same time computers were developed.
2. Information processing occurs in stages that intervene between receiving a stimulus and producing a response. And the form of the information within each stage is distinct. This is a clear departure from behaviorist models of learning that do not attempt to explain the “black box” between stimulus and response. 3. Information processing goes beyond “learning” (observable changes in human behavior). Perceiving, mental rehearsing, thinking, problem-solving, remembering, forgetting and mental imaging are all areas of cognitive processing that go beyond what might be considered “learning” but are still explained with information processing models. |
Many different information processing models have been developed since the dawn of the computer age (1950s). The following three models have been very well-formed and studied, and they serve as a good overview of the main concepts associated with information processing within the cognitivist approach. Note that some of the specifics about these models (attention, sensory registers, short-term memory, long-term memory, control processes, encoding, retrieval, forgetting, schema) will be addressed in more detail following the presentation of each model.
4.5 Describe, compare and contrast the following information processing models: multi-store memory model, level (depth) of processing model, Dual Coding Multi-Store Memory Mode
Model 1: Multi-Store Memory Model
Attkinson & Shifflin (1968)
Attkinson & Shifflin (1968)
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed that memory is made up of three information stores. Here is how they described them:
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INFORMATION FLOW through the memory system is conceived of as beginning with the processing of environmental inputs in sensory registers (receptors plus internal elements) and entry into the short-term store (STS). While it remains there the information may he copied into the long-term store (LTS), and associated information that is in the long-term store may be activated and entered into the short.-term store. If a triangle is seen, for example, the name "triangle" may he called up. Control processes in the short-term store affect these transfers into and out of the long-term store and govern learning, retrieval of information and forgetting. (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1971, p.82). Atkinson & Shiffrin (1971). The control of short-term memory. Scientific American, 225(2). pp. 82-91
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Sensory memory (sensory registers)
Short-term (working) memory (STM or WM)
Long-term memory (LTM)
These components of an information processing system are elaborated upon later in the notes. |
Model 2: Levels (Depth) of Processing
Levels (depth) of processing is the idea that the way information is encoded (stored) affects how well it is remembered. The deeper the level of processing, the easier the information is to recall.
Fergus Craik and Endel Tolving were to cognitive psychologists who conducted some ground-breaking studies on memory and recall. Remember that recalling memories (via some type of verbal communication or other motor skill activity) is a behavior that constitutes evidence of learning. They developed a very simple experiment to demonstrate that the “level” of mental processing a person performs on information during a task affects the person’s ability to recall the information later. Study participants were presented with a series of 60 words about which they had to answer one of three questions:
Fergus Craik and Endel Tolving were to cognitive psychologists who conducted some ground-breaking studies on memory and recall. Remember that recalling memories (via some type of verbal communication or other motor skill activity) is a behavior that constitutes evidence of learning. They developed a very simple experiment to demonstrate that the “level” of mental processing a person performs on information during a task affects the person’s ability to recall the information later. Study participants were presented with a series of 60 words about which they had to answer one of three questions:
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“Does the word include upper and lower-case letters?” (structural) “Does the word rhyme with …” (phonemic) “Does the word fit in this sentence? He met a __________ on the street.” (semantic) |
The structural and phonemic questions asked the subjects to process the information in a rather shallow manner. But the semantic question required the participants to process the word in a meaningful way…a deeper form of processing.
The results of these studies indicated that the participants recalled more words that were semantically processed compared to phonemically and visually processed words.
Unlike the multi-store model, depth of processing is a non-structured approach. Memory is the result of processing information….it is a by-product of the depth of processing of information, and there is no clear distinction between short term and long-term memory.
Structural, phonemic, and semantic encoding involve progressively deeper levels of processing, which result in more durable (retrievable over a longer period) memories.
Instead of concentrating on the stores/structures involved (i.e. short term memory & long term memory), this theory concentrates on the processes involved in memory.
Model 3: Dual Coding Multi-Store Memory Model
This model is an elaboration on the multi-store memory model. It represents an understanding that the brain processes information in two separate channels: verbal and visual (imaginal). These ideas are reflected in Allan Paivio’s dual-code theory which suggests that human cognition is specialized to process simultaneously language and nonverbal objects and events. Moreover, our language system deals with linguistic input and output (in the form of speech or writing) while at the same time serving a symbolic function with respect to nonverbal objects, events, and behaviors. In other words, we tend to mentally describe and represent objects, events and behaviors using words.
It is important to note that the dual coding multi-store model clearly illustrates where we must process information mentally in order to store and retrieve information: selecting stimuli (words and/or images), organizing the stimuli in short term memory, and integrating it into prior knowledge stored in long-term memory.
4.6 Describe the following components of information processing systems: sensory registers, short-term (working) memory, control (executive) processes, and long-term memory.
Sensory Registers
The sensory register is the place in our mind where we attend to and perceive specific external stimuli through one or more of our five senses. Information processing theories contend that each sense has its own register that holds information briefly in the same form in which it is received (e.g., visual information is held in visual form, auditory information in auditory form).
Information stays in the sensory register for only a fraction of a second. Some sensory input is transferred to working memory (WM) for further processing. Other input is “erased” and replaced by new input stimuli. The sensory registers operate in parallel fashion because several senses can be engaged simultaneously and independently of one another.
The phenomenon of the sensory register has been rather easy to test empirically. In the late 1950s a number of experiments were conducted in which subjects wore headphones with two different people talking into their ears separately. They were asked to pay attention to (attend) to the information provided by one of the voices in one of their ears. They were able to easily do this…block out the other voice and recall the information presented ion one ear. But when they were asked to try and listen to the information from both ears and recall/make sense of the messages, they could not do it well. Of course, you already know this because you have likely tried to read something on a computer screen or book (listening to the voice in your head), and then were interrupted by another talking voice…only to discover that you could only follow one voice or the other…not both. This is your sensory register attending to one stream of verbal information at a time.
Interestingly, you CAN attend to multiple streams if they are not in the same sensory channel. For example, you can listen to a podcast (verbal channel) while attending to driving (visual and haptic….feeling the road, the car, the force on your body as you make a turn, etc.). Texting is dangerous though because you must visually read the phone screen while trying to maintain the visual channels associated with driving. And, of course, you take your eyes off the road.
Short Term (Working) Memory
When information is attended and selected in the sensory register, it can “move” to working memory where it can be maintained in an active state for a short amount of time. Similarly, working memory can receive retrieved information from long term memory for a short amount of time.
The characteristics of short-term (working) memory include:
A very famous series of experiments by George Miller, published in 1956, clearly detailed the empirical case for our limited capacity to hold discrete pieces of information in STM (his famous article is reproduced here). Miller and others experimented with “bits” of information…individual and discrete words, locations, tastes, colors, and musical tomes were some of the stimuli tested. In addition to bits of information, qualities of information were also tested for recall, including amplitude of sounds or luminescence of colors. Consistently these experiments concluded that people can only hold 7 (+- 2_ pieces of discrete bits of information in working memory at a time, and the amount of time such information stays in working memory is limited to a span of 10-15 seconds.
But if information in working memory is “processed” in some fashion, it can be maintained in working memory longer. For example, rehearsal is the conscious process of repeating the information to yourself. You can try to remember a phone number for more than 10 seconds by repeating it to yourself over and over again. But unless you do more processing to it (connect it to some pre-existing memories) you will soon forget it once you use it.
You can also “chunk” information into smaller meaningful units so that you are not holding more than seven discrete pieces of information in short term memory. Here is a simple example of chunking:
Suppose you were asked to remember the following letters in a list:
Sensory Registers
The sensory register is the place in our mind where we attend to and perceive specific external stimuli through one or more of our five senses. Information processing theories contend that each sense has its own register that holds information briefly in the same form in which it is received (e.g., visual information is held in visual form, auditory information in auditory form).
Information stays in the sensory register for only a fraction of a second. Some sensory input is transferred to working memory (WM) for further processing. Other input is “erased” and replaced by new input stimuli. The sensory registers operate in parallel fashion because several senses can be engaged simultaneously and independently of one another.
The phenomenon of the sensory register has been rather easy to test empirically. In the late 1950s a number of experiments were conducted in which subjects wore headphones with two different people talking into their ears separately. They were asked to pay attention to (attend) to the information provided by one of the voices in one of their ears. They were able to easily do this…block out the other voice and recall the information presented ion one ear. But when they were asked to try and listen to the information from both ears and recall/make sense of the messages, they could not do it well. Of course, you already know this because you have likely tried to read something on a computer screen or book (listening to the voice in your head), and then were interrupted by another talking voice…only to discover that you could only follow one voice or the other…not both. This is your sensory register attending to one stream of verbal information at a time.
Interestingly, you CAN attend to multiple streams if they are not in the same sensory channel. For example, you can listen to a podcast (verbal channel) while attending to driving (visual and haptic….feeling the road, the car, the force on your body as you make a turn, etc.). Texting is dangerous though because you must visually read the phone screen while trying to maintain the visual channels associated with driving. And, of course, you take your eyes off the road.
Short Term (Working) Memory
When information is attended and selected in the sensory register, it can “move” to working memory where it can be maintained in an active state for a short amount of time. Similarly, working memory can receive retrieved information from long term memory for a short amount of time.
The characteristics of short-term (working) memory include:
- Limited in duration (a few seconds unless it is processed in some way, such as through rehearsal)
- Limited in capacity (traditionally, 7 +- 2 items unless it is processed in some way, such as through chunking or through the use of mnemonic device)
A very famous series of experiments by George Miller, published in 1956, clearly detailed the empirical case for our limited capacity to hold discrete pieces of information in STM (his famous article is reproduced here). Miller and others experimented with “bits” of information…individual and discrete words, locations, tastes, colors, and musical tomes were some of the stimuli tested. In addition to bits of information, qualities of information were also tested for recall, including amplitude of sounds or luminescence of colors. Consistently these experiments concluded that people can only hold 7 (+- 2_ pieces of discrete bits of information in working memory at a time, and the amount of time such information stays in working memory is limited to a span of 10-15 seconds.
But if information in working memory is “processed” in some fashion, it can be maintained in working memory longer. For example, rehearsal is the conscious process of repeating the information to yourself. You can try to remember a phone number for more than 10 seconds by repeating it to yourself over and over again. But unless you do more processing to it (connect it to some pre-existing memories) you will soon forget it once you use it.
You can also “chunk” information into smaller meaningful units so that you are not holding more than seven discrete pieces of information in short term memory. Here is a simple example of chunking:
Suppose you were asked to remember the following letters in a list:
CAASBLCFNNLISPUF
You might have some trouble remember them all after 10 seconds of exposure. But if you rearranged these letters into five meaningful chunks, you might have a better chance at remembering them after 10 seconds of exposure:
USA FBI CIA NFL UPS
Control (Executive) Processes
Control (executive) processes direct the processing of information in working memory, as well as the movement of knowledge into and out of working memory. Control processes include rehearsal, quizzing, predicting, monitoring, and other metacognitive activities such as the way you might organize your own information in a notebook. Control processes are goal directed; they select information relevant to your plans and intentions from the various sensory receptors. Information deemed important is rehearsed. Rehearsal (repeating information to oneself aloud or in your head) can maintain information in WM and improve recall.
Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory stores large quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span). While short-term memory encodes information acoustically, long-term memory encodes it semantically.
Theoretically, the capacity of long-term memory could be unlimited, the main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability.
Because long-term memory represents the primary structure for explaining learning (permanent, persistent change in behavior), it requires more detailed elaborations:
Control (executive) processes direct the processing of information in working memory, as well as the movement of knowledge into and out of working memory. Control processes include rehearsal, quizzing, predicting, monitoring, and other metacognitive activities such as the way you might organize your own information in a notebook. Control processes are goal directed; they select information relevant to your plans and intentions from the various sensory receptors. Information deemed important is rehearsed. Rehearsal (repeating information to oneself aloud or in your head) can maintain information in WM and improve recall.
Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory stores large quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span). While short-term memory encodes information acoustically, long-term memory encodes it semantically.
Theoretically, the capacity of long-term memory could be unlimited, the main constraint on recall being accessibility rather than availability.
Because long-term memory represents the primary structure for explaining learning (permanent, persistent change in behavior), it requires more detailed elaborations: