Cognitive Development Part 1: Information-Processing Model

Information-Processing Model

• Uses a computer metaphor to explain how people process stimuli
• Based on three assumptions: people are active participants, both quantitative and qualitative aspects of performance can be examined, and information is processed through a series of hypothetical stages or processes

Sensory Memory

• A brief and almost identical representation of the stimuli that exists in the observable environment
• Large capacity, brief retention (typically 1 second or less)
• Generally no age differences in sensory memory

Attention: Speed of Processing

• How quickly and efficiently the early steps in information processing are completed
• In aging: evidence indicates age-related slowing depends on what adults are being asked to do and task difficulty
• Amount of beta-amyloid protein in CNS is related to the slowing of processing speed

Attention: Processing Resources

• The amount of attention one has to apply to a particular situation
• Two possible reasons for decline in processing with age: inhibitory loss and attentional changes
• Older adults may have trouble inhibiting the processing of irrelevant information
• Task familiarity vs. ability to block out irrelevant info: performance improves with practice

Automatic and Effortful Processing

• Automatic processing: places minimal demands on attentional capacity, extremely difficult to change
• Effortful processing: requires all available attentional capacity
• Performance on tasks relying on automatic processes do not show significant age differences
• Age differences are observed in effortful processing tasks

Memory Processes

• The ability to retain knowledge
• Part of a continuum of information processing with both bottom-up and top-down processing

Memory Processes: Working Memory

• Working memory: actively holding and using information to problem-solve, make decisions, and learn new information
• Active and critical role in encoding, storage, and retrieval
• WM has a relatively small capacity, managing only a few items at a time
• Rehearsal helps keep information in WM
• Significantly declines with age, but varies by information and task
• Related to declines in storage capacity, information processing, and divided attention abilities
• Age-related declines are not universal; they are greater for spatial WM than verbal WM
• Greater working knowledge can counterbalance declines in WM in some situations

Memory Processes: Long-Term Memory

• Long-term memory: aspects of memory involved in remembering extensive amounts of information over time, ranging from seconds to decades