1. Chapter 7 Learning Goals
1. Explain the information-processing approach and its application to development.
• What is the information-processing approach and how can it be applied to development?
• How does processing speed change developmentally?
2. Define attention and outline its developmental changes.
• What is attention?
• What are three ways that people allocate their attention?
• How does attention develop in infancy?
• How does attention develop in childhood and adolescence?
• How does attention change during the adult years?
3. Describe what memory is and how it changes through the life span.
• What is memory?
• What are memory’s processes?
• What is involved in constructing memory?
• Can new information alter memories?
• How does memory develop in infancy?
• How does memory change in childhood?
• What are some changes in memory during the adult years?
4. Characterize thinking and its developmental changes.
• What is thinking?
• What characterizes concept formation and categorization in infancy?
• What is critical thinking?
• Do children and scientists think in the same ways?
• What are two important aspects of problem solving?
• What are some changes in thinking during adolescence?
• What are some changes in thinking in adulthood?
5. Define metacognition and summarize its developmental changes.
• What is metacognition?
• How does the child’s theory of mind change during the preschool years?
• How does metamemory typically change during childhood?
• How does metacognition change in adolescence and adulthood?
Key Terms
Attention Fuzzy trace theory Schemas
Automaticity Implicit memory Selective attention
Critical thinking Joint attention Semantic memory
Divided attention Long-term memory Short-term memory
Elaboration Memory Source memory

2. Encoding Metacognition Strategy construction
Episodic memory Metamemory Sustained attention
Executive attention Prospective memory Theory of mind
Expertise Reciprocal teaching Thinking
Explicit memory Schema theory Working memory
Key People
A. Baddeley Maria Gartstein Mary Rothbart
Charles Brainerd Jean Mandler Carolyn Rovee-Collier
Ann Brown Carolyn Nesselroade K. Warner Schaie
Judy DeLoache Michael Pressley Robert Siegler
Nancy Denney Valerie Reyna Sherry Willis