Information throughout the history of the field

Information throughout the history of the field

Information Processing Theory: Influencing Cognition Historically, viable theoretical models have been developed and applied throughout the history of the field of psychology in an attempt to better understand how the human mind receives, processes, stores, and retrieves information.

Understanding how the human brain receives, processes, stores, and recalls information is significantly important to psychological research of cognitive development and identifying deficiencies in learning.The vast compilation of theoretical views regarding brain functioning and cognitive development are sometimes overwhelming and contradictory, however a basic framework from valid and reliable theoretical views appears to be dominant among the masses. Learning, memory, and cognition occur at any given time, when an individual perceives, stores, encode, and retrieves information to or from the brain. When an individual modifies and adjusts responses to preceding dilemmas, e.

g. elf-modification, in order to deal with new problems, a person develops perception and reasoning skills to better deal with similar future issues without recreating analogous errors. Encoding, strategy construction, automaticity, and generalization, are the key aspects involved in an individual’s self-modification. Regardless of any limitation or faults the information processing model of cognition may hold, its broad influence is still prominent in modern psychology, education, and cognitive science. Miller’s Perspective.

George A Miller’s concepts of limited short-term memory capacity and chunking are fundamental elements in various memory, learning, and information processing theories. Though Miller was not directly responsible for the theoretical development of the information processing theory, he greatly influenced the understanding of the process by introducing concepts that still hold true in various modern psychological applications. Miller stated that “the human brain only has the capacity to grasp 5 to 9 chunks of information, e. g. igits, words, faces, or chess positions, at a time” (Miller, 1956).

Miller also argued that learning is basically an alteration in memory stored knowledge. “Primary memory was hypothesized to deal with immediate events, while secondary memory correlated with permanent, “indestructible” vestiges of experience” (Solso, Maclin, & Maclin, 2008, p. 14).

Information is analyzed and put through a rigorous test of benchmarks at an extreme rate before the brain slows pace as it stores that information in memory vestibules for later recall. Theoretical Adaptation.Historically, the information theory was derived from cognitive development theories. “These theories all work under the assumption that new information can most effectively be learned if the material can be matched to memory structures already in place” (Winn and Snyder, 2001, p. 3).

Researcher’s studies of logical and analytic materialization in cognitive development are reflected in number of conscious experience theories. Constructivists, like Piaget, suspected that memory was secondary to reasoning and that reasoning in turn shaped memory.Thus, memory is necessary, but not the cause of reasoning.

If an individual is unable to retrieve information at a later time or relate stored information to current situations or experiences, then psychologists consider information not to have been learned. Therefore, responses (e. g. , output) will positively correlate with received information (e. g. , input) or be dependent upon it. The theory of information processing places significant importance on the management and processing of information in an active memory system.

In line with this perception, a number of assumptions and theoretical hypothesis have been developed in an attempt to elucidate memory system categories, configuration, representations, influence, and interaction as they relate to information freshly received. Consequently, such theories have suggested modalities that may be employed to administer and command instructional and environmental stimuli. Modern Application. The information processing theory has been an instrumental model for creating developmental foundation in the education field and in neurological inconsistencies or deficiencies in learning and memory.Modern psychologists no longer accept the concept that the process of learning is sequential or linear, and cognitive neuroscience research suggests that the information processing model doesn’t accurately reflect actual neurological processes. More current theories, e.

g. the parallel distributed processing model of cognition, reveal neuroscience evidence which may explain some, if not all, of the immense velocity and affluence of human cognition. The parallel-distributed processing model states that information is processed simultaneously by several different parts of the memory system, rather than sequentially as hypothesized by Atkinson-Shiffrin as well as Craik and Lockhart” (Huit, 2003). Conclusion.

Several theories, regarding information processing, center on diverse aspects of receiving, encoding, storing and retrieving information. Most theorists agree that elaboration is an instrumental element in an individual’s ability to permanently store information in manner that compliments swift retrieval.The information processing theory accentuates employment of cognitive strategies which focus attention, encourage encoding and retrieval, as well as support “the use of graphic organizers and emphasizing words that are important in texts” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007). References Banich, M. T. (2004).

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