1. C H A P T E R 8 The Information-Processing Approach
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
C H A P T E R 8 The Information-Processing Approach

2. The Phenomenon of Memory
Memory - learning that has persisted over time.
OBJECTIVE 24-1| Define memory, and explain how flashbulb memories differ from other memories.
Psychology 7e in Modules

3. Stages of Memory Keyboard (Encoding) Disk (Storage) Monitor
RETRIEVAL
ENCODING
STORAGE
Getting information into memory
Retaining information over time
Taking information out of storage
Keyboard
(Encoding)
Disk
(Storage)
Monitor
(Retrieval)
Sequential Process

4. Flashbulb Memory
Flashbulb memory - a highly emotional event can cause a clear, strong, and persistent memory.
Psychology 7e in Modules

5. Characteristics of Information-Processing
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Characteristics of Information-Processing
The information-processing approach to learning emphasizes that children manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it.
Thinking: To perceive, encode, represent, and store information from the world
Self-modification: Represented by metacognition, “knowing about knowing”
Change Mechanisms:
Encoding – Getting information into memory
Automaticity – Processing information with little effort
Strategy Construction – Discovering new processing procedures
Generalization – applying info to other settings
8.5

6. What Is Attention? Attention is the focusing of mental processes
Sustained attention
Selective attention
Divided attention

7. The Information-Processing Approach
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
The Information-Processing Approach
Memory
What Is
Memory?
Retrieval and
Forgetting
Encoding
Storage
8.7

8. (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Enter the Debate
Should teachers require students to engage in rote memorization?
YES NO
During a slideshow, text may be written on the slides in the yes/no boxes, and then saved for later reference.
8.8

9. Consistent repetition of Adds to distinctiveness
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Encoding
REHEARSAL
Consistent repetition of
information over time
DEEP PROCESSING
Deeper processing,
better memory
ATTENTON
Concentrate and Focus
ORGANIZATION
Aided by chunking
CONSTRUCTING
IMAGES
ELABORATION
Adds to distinctiveness
8.9

10. Getting Students to Pay Attention
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Getting Students to Pay Attention
Encourage attention and
minimize distraction
Use cues and gestures
for important material
Be interesting
Focus on active learning and be aware of individual differences
Use media and technology to make learning enjoyable
8.10

11. Organizing items into familiar, manageable unit.
Chunking
Organizing items into familiar, manageable unit.
chunk the number and see if you can recall it easier

12. Encoding Summarized in a Hierarchy

13. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Theory
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Theory
8.13

14. Long-Term Memory – Unlimited capacity over a long period of time
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Memory’s Time Frames
Sensory Memory – Retains information for a fraction of a second until 2 seconds
Short-Term Memory – Limited capacity; retain for 30 seconds without rehearsal
Long-Term Memory – Unlimited capacity over a long period of time
8.14

15. Sensory Memory – Retains information for a fraction of a second until 2 seconds
Iconic
0.5 sec. long
Echoic
3-4 sec. long
Hepatic
< 1 sec. long

16. Working memory, a new name for short-term memory.
Short-Term Memory – Limited capacity; retain for 30 seconds without rehearsal
7 ± 2 bits of info
Working memory, a new name for short-term memory.
George Miller

17. F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
Chunking
F-B-I-T-W-A-C-I-A-I-B-M
FBI TWA CIA IBM
4 chunks

18. Developmental Changes in Memory
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Developmental Changes in Memory
8.18

19. Baddeley’s Model of Memory
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Baddeley’s Model of Memory
8.19

20. Explicit Memory refers to facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare. Implicit memory involves learning an action, and the individual does not know or declare what she knows.
OBJECTIVE 26-6| Distinguish between implicit and explicit memory, and identify the main brain structure associated with each.
Episodic Memory
Semantic Memory
Psychology 7e in Modules

21. Hippocampus Hippocampus – a neural center in the limbic
system that processes explicit memories.
Weidenfield & Nicolson archives

22. Anterograde Amnesia
After losing his hippocampus in surgery, patient HM remembers everything before the operation but cannot make new memories. We call this anterograde amnesia.
Anterograde
Amnesia
(HM)
Memory Intact
No New Memories
Surgery

23. Implicit Memory HM is unable to make new memories that are
declarative (explicit) but he can form new
memories that are procedural (implicit). C B A
HM learnt the Tower of Hanoi (game) after his surgery. Each time he plays it he is unable to remember the fact that he has already played the game.

24. Cerebellum Cerebellum – a neural center in the hindbrain
that processes implicit memories.

25. Retrieval Primacy Effect Serial Position Specificity Recall
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Retrieval
Primacy Effect
items at the beginning remembered best
Serial Position
recall better at the beginning and end of list
Specificity
associations form cues
Recall
previously learned information, as in fill-in-the-blank
Recognition
identify learned information, as in multiple choice
8.25

26. Serial Position Effect
TUV
ZOF
GEK
WAV
XOZ
TIK
FUT
WIB
SAR
POZ
REY
GIJ
(Primacy Effect)
Better recall
(Recency Effect)
Poor recall

27. Retrieval Cues
Memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations are like anchors that help retrieve memory.
water
smell
hose
Fire Truck
fire
OBJECTIVE 27-2| Explain how retrieval cues help us access stored memories, and describe the process of priming.
smoke
truck
heat
red
Psychology 7e in Modules

28. Context Effects (encoding specificity)
According to the principle of encoding specificity, the way we code a word during original learning determines which cues will remind us of that word later.

29. Context Effects
OBJECTIVE 27-3| Cite some ways that context can affect retrieval.
Psychology 7e in Modules

30. (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

31. Forgetting
Inability to retrieve information, due to poor encoding, storage or retrieval.
Forgetting is due to:
Encoding Failure
Storage Decay
Lack of Retrieval Cues
Interference
OBJECTIVE 28-1| Explain why we should value our ability to forget, and distinguish three general ways our memory fails us.
Psychology 7e in Modules

32. Forgetting as Interference

33. Proactive interference – problem driving in England after learning in US.

34. Retroactive Interference
Sleep avoids retroactive interference thus
leading to better recall.

35. Why do we forget?

36. Improving Memory Promote understanding
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Improving Memory
Promote understanding
Assist organization of knowledge
Teach mnemonics
Method of loci
Rhymes
Acronyms
Keyword
8.36

37. (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
The method of loci – First learn a list of places, such as “my desk, the door of my room, the corridor, . . .”

38. Method of Loci List of Items Imagined Locations Charcoal Backyard Pens
Bed Sheets
Hammer .
Rug
Imagined Locations
Backyard
Study
Bedroom
Garage .
Living Room

39. Rhymes “i before e except after c
thirty days hath September, April, June, and November
The alphabet song

40. Pegword Method One is a bun Two is a shoe Three is a tree
Four is a door
Five is a hive
Six is sticks
Seven is heaven
Eight is a gate
Nine is a swine
Ten is a hen

41. Both photos: Ho/AP Photo
Visual Encoding
Mental pictures (imagery) are a powerful aid especially when combined with semantic encoding.
OBJECTIVE 25-4| Explain how encoding imagery aids effortful processing, and describes some memory-enhancing strategies that use visual encoding.
Both photos: Ho/AP Photo
Psychology 7e in Modules

42. (c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update

43. Acronyms HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
PEMDAS = Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract
ROY G. BIV = Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

44. Keyword Method
Carta = letter

45. Memory Construction
Misinformation Effect: Incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event.

46. Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Eyewitnesses reconstruct memories when questioned about the event.
OBJECTIVE 28-6| Explain how misinformation and imagination can distort our memory of an event.
Depiction of the actual accident.
Psychology 7e in Modules

47. Misinformation
Group A: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
Group B: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?

48. Memory Construction
A week later they were asked; Was there any broken glass? Group B (smashed into) reported more broken glass than Group A (hit).

49. Source Amnesia: Attributing an event to the wrong source
OBJECTIVE 28-7| Describe source amnesia’s contributions to false memories.
Psychology 7e in Modules

50. False Memories False Memory Syndrome
A false but strongly believed memory of traumatic experience sometimes induced by well-meaning therapists.
Psychology 7e in Modules

51. Constructed Memories
if false memories (lost at the mall, or drowned in a lake) are implanted in individuals, they construct (fabricate) their memories.
Don Shrubshell

52. Information Processing Theory Theory into Practice
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Information Processing Theory Theory into Practice
Ms. Blackwood has assigned her students 20 spelling words to learn for the week. She notices that most of her students have no problems remembering how to spell the first few and the last few words, but many struggle with those in the middle of the list.
A: Serial position effect. We tend to remember things that come first and last and forget the rest.
Q: Why might students have an easier time remembering how to spell the first and last few words, but struggle with those in the middle of the list? Explain.
8.52

53. The Information-Processing Approach
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
The Information-Processing Approach
Expertise
Expertise and
Teaching
Expertise and
Learning
Acquiring
Expertise
8.53

54. Experts… Have superior recall, use “chunking” of information
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Experts…
Have superior recall, use “chunking” of information
Organize around important ideas and concepts
Demonstrate effortless retrieval by taking the time to formulate a plan
Are flexible rather than having a rigid, fixed routine
Though talented, develop learning and study strategies
Spread out learning
Ask questions/take good notes
Use a study system
8.54

55. The Information-Processing Approach
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
The Information-Processing Approach
Metacognition
Strategies and
Metacognitive
Regulation
Developmental
Changes
The Good
Information-
Processing
Model
8.55

56. “Knowing about knowing” Metacognitive Knowledge Metacognitive Activity
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Metacognition
“Knowing about knowing”
Metacognitive Knowledge
Monitoring and reflecting on one’s current or recent thoughts
Metacognitive Activity
Students consciously adapt and manage their thinking strategies during problem solving and purposeful thinking
8.56

57. Learning strategies Distributive practice versus massed practice
Question oneself (reflection)
Take good notes – summarize, outline, concept maps
Use a study system – PQ4R
Preview
Question
Read
Reflect
Recite
Review

58. Improving Metacognitive Skills
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Santrock, Educational Psychology, Second Edition, Classroom Update
Improving Metacognitive Skills
Improvement of metacognitive skills results from:
Developmental changes as student matures cognitively
The Good Information-Processing model that includes specific learning strategies, knowing the similarities and differences in multiple strategies, and the benefits of using them
Monitoring the effectiveness of strategies and modifying when necessary
8.58