Cognitive Psychology: Information Processing Model

INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL

Introduction

How does information get into our brain and how do we share that information later? Cognitive psychologists have imagined individuals as a processor of information, in much the same way that as a computer takes-in information and follows a program to produce an output. Just as a computer receives, stores and brings up information, so do our minds. Looking more closely to how we as humans process information cognitive psychologist have developed a model to explain the discrete steps in which we process, return and retrieve information.

Goal

Information processing model helps learners to pursue and master information. They provide cognitive strategies so that students can plan, organise and build based

In this stage, we listen and paying close attention. When we attend or focus on an event or a conversation, we are preparing ourselves to receive it.

The second stage is encoding. This is what happened when we give attention to something. Things we don’t give attention nor give any importance, the memory is not encoded.

The third stage is Storing. In this stage, information enters into memory bank, ready to be called upon at some other time.

The final stage was retrieving. This happened when we go through different situations in life and looked back on previous information or memory, bringing them up to our conscious awareness.

Principles – Information Processing Model of Memory

A huge part of information processing is its description of memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin model states that, information that enters into the brain must be stored or maintained. The information stored is processed in sequence of steps. Memory is regarded as a process of three separate stages: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM) and long term-memory (LTM).

FIGURE 1

The model of memory which proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin

This means blocking out other distractions and concentrating on one thing. During a particular lesson delivery, students could have been focused in on those other sounds, in which case students would not have paid the attention necessary to receive the message. However, when students choose to focus on the statement by the teacher, they would then have to rehearse the statement in order to retain it.

Maintenance Rehearsal

In order to get and keep information in our short-term memory, we have to do what 's called maintenance rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal involves repeating information mentally over and over. Many of us have experienced studying for a test or quiz and repeating definitions over and over. This is an example of rehearsing information so it stays in our mind.

Rehearsing keeps information in our short-term, or working, memory, and with repeated rehearsal over time, material can enter our long-term memory. In order to increase the likelihood that information will be remembered in long-term, we combine maintenance rehearsal with Elaborative rehearsal.

Elaborative Rehearsal

During Elaborative rehearsal, we are bringing information further into our minds by relating it to ideas and concepts that are already in our long-term memory. In other words, we make connections between what we are picking up and what we have already picked