Bjorklund and Gray chapter 9
Chapter 9.1
Overview: an information-processing model of the mind
Cognitive psychology: look at the mind as a processor of information -> but there is no
information-processing theory of cognition
Information-processing theories: built on a set assumptions concerning how humans
acquire, store and retrieve information
Assumptions of information-processing approaches:
1. Individuals have limited mental resources in processing information
2. Information moves through a system of stores -> sensory memory, short term
memory, long term memory
-> insert picture
Information processing model: general framework for thinking and talking about the
mind
-> trying to make sense of the data from many behavioral studies
Model has 3 types of memory storages:
1. Sensory memory
3. Short term memory
4. Long term memory
-> characterized by:
- Function
- Capacity
- Duration
The model specifies a set of control processes: attention, rehearsal, encoding and
retrieval -> govern the processing of information within stores and the movement of
information between stores
Sensory memory: the brief prolongation of sensory experience
Some trace of sensory input stays in you information-processing system for a brief
period (lightning flash) (a few seconds) even when you aren’t paying attention to the
input
Separate sensory stores for each sensory system
Function: hold on to information long enough for it to be analyzed by unconscious
mental processes and fro a decision to be made whether it should be transferred to
the short-term store or not
Most of the information doesn’t enter our consciousness
The short term store: conscious perception and thought
Information fades with no attention or thoughts about it
Working memory: the process of storing and transforming information being held in
the short-term store
A seat of conscious thought
, Information can enter short term store in two ways:
1. From the sensory memory store
5. From the long-term memory store
The sensory and the long term store contribute to the continuous flow of conscious
thought that constitutes the content of the short term store
Capacity of the short-term store is small -> few items of information can be thought
about at once
The information that moves to this is huge
Long term memory: the mind’s library of information
Long-terms memory corresponds most closely to people’s everyday notion of memory
-> representation of all that a person knows
Enormous capacity: not conscious of the items in our long term memory, except when
they have been activated and moved into the short-term store
Control processes: the mind’s information transportation systems
1. Attention: from sensory to short term -> restrict flow, because the short term store
is small
2. Encoding: from short term to long term -> can be deliberated or incidentally
3. Retrieval: from long term to short term -> remembering/recalling ->
automatic/deliberated
Short term capacity is limited
Effortful processes: require the use of mental resources for their successful completion
Automation processes: require little of the short term store’s capacity -> may develop
without any explicit practice and some can develop with practice (like driving) -> at
first it is effortful
Truly automatic processes are hypothesized:
- To occur without intention and conscious awareness
- Not to interfere with the execution of other processes
- Not to improve with practice
- Not to be influenced by individual differences in intelligence
Effortful processes are hypothesized:
- To be available to consciousness
- To interfere with the execution of other effortful processes
- To improve with practice
- To be influence by individual differences in intelligence
Fast and slow thinking: dual-processing theories of cognition
Solving problems -> dual-processing theories:
1. Place one way of thinking on the automation end -> processed fast
6. Second way of thinking is placed on the effortful side -> slow
Thinking fast and slow:
- Fast: intuitive, no voluntary control -> people remember by pressing fuzzy
memories representations rather than working logically from exact representations
Chapter 9.1
Overview: an information-processing model of the mind
Cognitive psychology: look at the mind as a processor of information -> but there is no
information-processing theory of cognition
Information-processing theories: built on a set assumptions concerning how humans
acquire, store and retrieve information
Assumptions of information-processing approaches:
1. Individuals have limited mental resources in processing information
2. Information moves through a system of stores -> sensory memory, short term
memory, long term memory
-> insert picture
Information processing model: general framework for thinking and talking about the
mind
-> trying to make sense of the data from many behavioral studies
Model has 3 types of memory storages:
1. Sensory memory
3. Short term memory
4. Long term memory
-> characterized by:
- Function
- Capacity
- Duration
The model specifies a set of control processes: attention, rehearsal, encoding and
retrieval -> govern the processing of information within stores and the movement of
information between stores
Sensory memory: the brief prolongation of sensory experience
Some trace of sensory input stays in you information-processing system for a brief
period (lightning flash) (a few seconds) even when you aren’t paying attention to the
input
Separate sensory stores for each sensory system
Function: hold on to information long enough for it to be analyzed by unconscious
mental processes and fro a decision to be made whether it should be transferred to
the short-term store or not
Most of the information doesn’t enter our consciousness
The short term store: conscious perception and thought
Information fades with no attention or thoughts about it
Working memory: the process of storing and transforming information being held in
the short-term store
A seat of conscious thought
, Information can enter short term store in two ways:
1. From the sensory memory store
5. From the long-term memory store
The sensory and the long term store contribute to the continuous flow of conscious
thought that constitutes the content of the short term store
Capacity of the short-term store is small -> few items of information can be thought
about at once
The information that moves to this is huge
Long term memory: the mind’s library of information
Long-terms memory corresponds most closely to people’s everyday notion of memory
-> representation of all that a person knows
Enormous capacity: not conscious of the items in our long term memory, except when
they have been activated and moved into the short-term store
Control processes: the mind’s information transportation systems
1. Attention: from sensory to short term -> restrict flow, because the short term store
is small
2. Encoding: from short term to long term -> can be deliberated or incidentally
3. Retrieval: from long term to short term -> remembering/recalling ->
automatic/deliberated
Short term capacity is limited
Effortful processes: require the use of mental resources for their successful completion
Automation processes: require little of the short term store’s capacity -> may develop
without any explicit practice and some can develop with practice (like driving) -> at
first it is effortful
Truly automatic processes are hypothesized:
- To occur without intention and conscious awareness
- Not to interfere with the execution of other processes
- Not to improve with practice
- Not to be influenced by individual differences in intelligence
Effortful processes are hypothesized:
- To be available to consciousness
- To interfere with the execution of other effortful processes
- To improve with practice
- To be influence by individual differences in intelligence
Fast and slow thinking: dual-processing theories of cognition
Solving problems -> dual-processing theories:
1. Place one way of thinking on the automation end -> processed fast
6. Second way of thinking is placed on the effortful side -> slow
Thinking fast and slow:
- Fast: intuitive, no voluntary control -> people remember by pressing fuzzy
memories representations rather than working logically from exact representations
