1. Beyond Piaget:
Information Processing Theories
CHDV 343

2. Basic Points of Departure
 Cognitive Development  Cognitive Development
in terms of the in terms of distinct
development of mental qualitative changes of
structures: mental functioning.
 (i) The acquisition of  (i) A stage theory
mental operations  (ii) Structural
 (ii) Mental schemes and Transformations:
the concept of Development involves
Equilibration changes in the
organization of thought.

3. INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORIES
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT INVOLVES
QUANTITATIVE CHANGES AND IS CONTINUOUS
 (i)Acquisition
of knowledge:
Memory and
Attention
mechanisms
 (ii) Repetition
 (iii) Practice
 (iv) Efficiency

4. THE CHILD BECOMES INCREASINGLY MORE
EFFICIENT IN PROCESSING INFORMATION: The
Structural Characteristics of IPS
SENSORY MEMORY = The ability to briefly retain a large
amount of information.
WORKING MEMORY= The ability to combine sensory
memory to long term memory. Increases with age.
LONG TERM MEMORY = No limits.

5. Basic Assumptions OF IPS Model
 1. Our mind is like a computer. Thinking is
information Processing.
 2. To study the change mechanisms/strategies that
are involved in our thinking.
 3. Change is produced by the individual’s continuous
self-modification of existing strategies.

6. Information Processing Theories of Development
 1. Our thinking is limited
 Two characteristics of  (selective attention).
mental functioning.
 2. Our thinking is flexible
and adaptable (several
modalities are used to
store sense information).

7. THE INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM

8. The Elements of our Computer
 Attention : Selective
 Sensory Memory = Duration: 1- Attention
3 seconds  Difficulties in focusing or
ignoring competing stimuli
 The process of
Automatization
Perception Attending a stimulus and assigning meaning to it.
Gestalt Rules
Bottom-Up Processing
Top-Down Processing
WORKING MEMORY

9. WORKING MEMORY
5-20 seconds
CENTRAL EXECUTIVE : Initiates control and decision
processes
 Phonological Loop  Visuospatial Sketchpad
 Short term buffer  Visual Imagery/ Spatial
 Immediate recall tasks
 Efficient Strategy:
Repetition  E.g. If you rotate a p
180 degrees, do you
get a b or a d?

10. Rehearsal
THE GOAL OF
TEACHING :
MAINTENANCE /
ELABORATIVE
REHEARSAL Long Term
Working Memory EFFICIENT Memory
STRATEGIES
FOR STORING :
Chunking, mnemo
nics, etc.
Interference Decay Retrieval:
Organizing,
elaborating, using
Forgetting context.

11. DIFFICULTIES AT ANY STEP WILL AFFECT
PERFORMANCE
 ATTENTION  Age related differences in
ATTENTION SPANS
 ENCODING  Relating short term
information to long term
information
 EFFICIENT
 Differences in Knowledge
STRATEGIES base and organizational skills

12. MEMORY : The Development of Specific memory strategies help
cognitive performance
1. It is easier to remember the numbers:
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 than 13, 5, 9,7,1, 8.
(organizational “chunks” of knowledge base).
2. It is easier to remember the letters i,d,r,b when
you form the word “bird”.

13. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
REFERS TO CONTINUOUS CHANGES IN
COLLECTING INFORMATION-ENCODING
INFORMATION-AND RETRIEVING
INFORMATION
ATTENTION-MEMORY- PRODUCTION

14. SOME EXAMPLES
 ATTENTION SPAN
(destructions/boredom)
 Developmental
 ENCODING PROBLEMS differences, individual
differences.
 PERCEPTION (Zinchenko,
1983)
 INFORMATION ONE
STORES AND
MANIPULATES
(Klahr, 1985)

15. TEACHING IMPLICATIONS OF IPS
 TO STRENGTHEN THOSE SKILLS NECESSARY
FOR ADVANCED INTELLECTUAL
PERFORMANCE.
 These skills refer to the child’s increased ability to
attend, to successfully store and to retrieve
information from long-term memory.

16. IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT
 MIND –COMPUTER  PERFORMANCE
METAPHOR IMPROVES BECAUSE OF
THE GRADUAL
MATURATION OF THE
“HARDWARE” AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF
MORE EFFECTIVE
INFORMATION
PROCESSING
STRATEGIES OF THE
“SOFTWARE”

17. IMPLICATIONS
 GRADUAL  THE ACQUISITION OF
DEVELOPMENTS SKILLS THAT ARE
NEEDED FOR
COGNITIVE
PERFORMANCE.
 INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES DUE TO
PRACTICE-
AUTOMATIZATION-
EXPERIENCE