Brunning – Chapter 2 Sensory, Short Term and Working Memory

Modal Model  General model of memory  Information processing model Information transferred from stage to stage Sensory Memory Short Term Memory AttentionRehearsal or “act on it” Long Term Memory * Declarative Knowledge * Procedural Knowledge * Conditional Knowledge Assumptions: 1)Memory systems are functionally separate 2)Attention is limited 3)Processes are both controlled and automatic 4)Meaning is constructed

 Pros: Help us understand the different memory components Model has generated massive amount of research that contribute to theory and practice Distinction between structures and processes  Cons: There is better assumption  memory consists of many small interrelated parts Memory formation is not linear This theory refers as one integrated network of interconnected neurons

Sensory Memory and Perception STIMULiSTIMULi SensesAttentionSTMLTM Pattern Recognition Meaning Decay Stores Act Working Memory Stores

Sensory Register: Most research done on vision and hearing  Vision (Sperling, 1960) People register a great deal of information If attention is paid and meaning is associated with stimuli, then information is stored  Hearing (Darwin, 1972) The length of stimuli presentation affects the ability to retain information Storage of information increases with age Implications for teaching: 1) Limit the amount of information 2) Present information both visually and auditorally 3) Practice

 The Role of Knowledge and Context in Perception Prior knowledge influence perception Knowledge also influence how do we look for things Prior knowledge builds schematas and scripts Context affects what we look for and perceive:  I walked into the quiet wood  He threw the wood to the fire  The man got good wood on the play  Attention Is the person’s allocation of cognitive resources to the task at hand Human beings are severely limited to the number of stimuli to pay attention  myth of multitasking Is the fuel of learning Individuals pay attention depending on the context of the task The more resources you provide to the student to accomplish the task, the better their performance

 Automatic Processes (Automaticity ) Require few resources Require little or no attention to their execution Are acquired through extended practice The existence of automatic processes explain how some people can carry out complex tasks or perform simultaneous task (reading for meaning vs. reading for word recognition) At the beginning of a learning activity the students’ performance will be awkward and slow  student is learning how to use facts

Short Term and Working Memory  Is the place where information is processed for meaning  Capacity 7 +/-2 bits Better to allocate information into chunks and increase the size of these chunks (chunking strategies) slowly  Duration Depends on the amount of time between the presence of the stimuli and the time to remember  decay or interference To avoid this…rehearsal

 Accessing information (Sternberger, 1975) List of few letters Time passes Longer list of letters and individual had to match those letters that were presented before The first task at hand was whether the letters were searched in a serial (1 by 1) or parallel manner (simultaneously) The second task at hand was whether the search ended when the letter was found (self terminated) or exhaustive (the entire list was searched even if the letter was found at the beginning)

Working Memory (Baddeley 1986) Executive Control System Functions: Selecting information Planning Transfer of information Articulatory Loop Functions: Auditory rehearsal Articulation process Visual-Spatial Sketch Pad Functions: Visual rehearsal Spatial comparisons Critics: STM closely tied with LTM and is affected by it STM is active (working) rather than just holding information STM essential for self regulation STM best viewed as domain specific

 Cognitive Load Theory (expansion of Baddeley’s work) Some learning environments impose greater demands, thus there is a need for higher information processing load—these are caused:  Intrinsic cognitive load (properties of the to-be learned information)  cannot be changed  Extraneous cognitive load—way information is presented or the task required  can be changed This theory states that there are 3 constraints on the efficiency of the learner:  Characteristics of the learner (capacity of STM)  Complexity of the to-be learned information  Instructional environment (chunking, advanced organizers, etc. are helpful)

Implications for Instruction  Information processing is constrained by a bottleneck in sensory and short term memory  Automaticity facilitates learning by reducing resource limitations  Perception and attention are guided by prior knowledge  Perception and attention are flexible processes (context)  Resources and data limitations constrain learning  All students should be encouraged to manage their resources (METACOGNITION)  Information processing is easier when to be learned information is distributed in the working memory.

Based on this chapter and as a group, introduce one research question that you are interested in answering…perhaps as your research paper