Information Processing
Most of us understand the difference between short-term and long-term memory, but few us understand how the two work, independently or together, and even fewer of us understand how these two functions can impact learning. The Information Processing Approach can help answer these questions.
Information Processing theory, put forth by George A. Miller, compares the human brain to a computer. The brain is given input through sensory functions (sight, hearing, smell and touch). The brain takes this information and transforms it into a different form, and then performs operations, but reacting to or storing the information. The idea of learning comes from understand how the information is stored.
Short-term memory is sometimes referred to as working memory. It is that which is easily recallable, and easily forgotten. The average time a bit of information is held in short-term memory is 15 to 20 seconds. After that, the information is either transferred to long-term memory or forgotten.
Long-term memory can be compared to computer disks, where the data is held until needed. Some information is held and never recalled, while other information may be needed but recalled with difficulty. According to Huitt, long-term memory stores the information in three basic structures. These structures are Semantic Memory, which holds concepts, principles, rules, facts and generalized information; Procedural Memory, which stores the “how to” information like driving a car; and Imagery, which stores pictures (2000).
There are a few basic concepts to understanding information processing. The first is that short-term memory is limited to, as Miller claims, seven “chunks” of information. Any more than seven and the information cannot stay in short term memory (it may be no coincidence that telephone numbers have seven digits). Another basic principle is that behavior is that processing information in sequence is fundamental to the cognitive process, what Miller calls TOTE (Test-Operate-Test-Exit).
There are at least four models of processing, and all assume that tasks can be broken down into distinct stages of information processing. These models include bottom-up, top-down, cascade, and discrete. According to cognitive psychology, cognition is organized in a hierarchy. At the top of the hierarchy are the most complex systems such as memory and problem solving, and at the bottom are most perceptual systems (Stepnisky, 2002). Information can flow in either direction, with the importance being that information coming into the system can be influenced by what the individual already knows. Discrete processing means that information is passed to the next level only after it has been processed completely in the previous level. The final model, cascade processing, is almost the opposite of discrete; some operations can begin before others are finished, in a type of cascading manner (Trifts, 2002).
In order to teach in the information processing model, you would need to make sure you have the students’ attention, focus and separate less vital information, help students make connections between new material and what they already know, provide for repetition and review of information, present material in a very clear manner, and focus on meaning of information (OLTC, 1996).
References
Huitt, William G. (2000). The Information Processing Approach [WWW document]. Retrieved September 26, 2002 from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/infoproc.html
Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.
OLTC (Open Learning Technology Corporation Ltd), 1996. Information Processing Theory [WWW document]. Retrieved September 26, 2002 from http://www.educationau.edu.au/archives/cp/04h.htm
Stepnisky, Jeff (2002). Bottom-up processing [WWW document]. Retrieved September 03, 2002 from the University of Alberta Cognitive Science Dictionary at http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/%7Emike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/contents/bottom-up_processing.html
Trifts, Valerie (2002). Cascade Processing [WWW document]. Retrieved September 03, 2002 from the University of Alberta Cognitive Science Dictionary at http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/%7Emike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/contents/C/cascade_processing.html