ULACIT

Learning & Cognition

Adriana Sandí and Sharon Rojas

Chapter 3: Cognitive Information Processing
The study of cognition is not new to psychology, before radical behavior theory,
Tolman used cognitive maps to explain purposive e behavior in rats, and Hull relied on a
number of cognitive mediators between stimulus and responses. Pavlov introduced the
concept of the "second signal system" to account for language learning, Vygotsy launched
his theory of how inner speech functions as a cognitive mediator explicitly in reaction to
American behaviorism. Gestalt psychologists proposed that organizational process in
cognition are important to learning and problem solving. The new concept in American
psychology is the computer metaphor for conceptualizing cognition.
The birth of computer provided a way of thinking about learning and a framework
for interpreting early work on memory perception, and learning. Stimuli became inputs;
behavior became outputs. What happening in between is the information processing. The
mind posses a structure of components for processing (storing, retrieving, transforming,
using) information and procedures for using those components, the Cognitive information
processing (CIP) model holds that learning consist partially of the formation of association.

Overview of the Information Processing System
The human learner is conceived to be processor of information in the same way as
a computer is. The input comes from environment, processed and stored in memory and
output as a learned capability. CIP model explains how the environment modifies human
behavior. Unlike behaviorist, it assumes an intervening variable between environment and
behavior. That is the information processing system of the learner.
Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed a multistore, multistage theory of memory.
Information is received by the processing system, then it undergoes a series of
transformation until it is stored in memory. There are three basics stages of proposed
memory system (sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory) and the
processes responsible to transfer information from one stage to the next.

The Stages of Information Processing
Sensory memory: Associated with the senses (vision, hearing, etc.), it holds
information in memory briefly, just long enough to process it further. For example, imagine
yourself in a dark, unfamiliar room; you strike a match that flares briefly, and then goes out
in the split second, you retain a visual after-image of the room, which you just long enough
for you to determine where the door or light is located. There is a separated sensory
memory for each of the 5 senses, but all operate in the same way.
The short-term memory: functions as a temporary working memory (Atkinson &
Shiffrin). Where information is ready for the long-term storage or a response. Working
memory is likened to consciousness. Conscious ideas are in it. Working memory holds a
limited amount of information for a limited amount of time. You can think about only a few
ideas at one time or read and understand relatively few phrases at once. Complex
sentences are forgotten in part because the limited capacity to keep things in mind of
working memory.
Long-term memory: Permanent storehouse of info. Once information has been
processed into the long-term memory, it is never truly lost. LTM is capable of retaining an
unlimited amount and variety of information.
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 The Flow of information during Learning 
Processing doesn’t occur in a linear way. It is determined by the information itself
and prior knowledge. Little has yet been said about the control processes influencing
information flow. Whether these are seem as comprising a system component (Gagne,
Andre & Phye) or as process modifying information flow between components (Atkinson &
Shiffrin) they have the same effect. Executive monitors keep track of the information flow
and make decisions about processing priorities. For example, to associate an image with
the read sentence because imagery is a very effective study strategy. The sections that
follow focus on each of the major stages and process of the human processing system.

Sensory Memory 
The existence of perceptual store in the information-processing system that
registers information and holds it very briefly was demonstrated in some experiments
conducted by Sperling. He flashed a visual array of 12 letters on a screen for less than a
second, and then asked subjects what letters they saw. They reported 3 or 4 letters
accurately. Although this result seemed to indicate a limited processing, Sperling showed
that, all of the letters enter sensory memory. Sensory memory is temporally limited not
visually. He used a partial report technique: high, medium, or low tone to indicate subjects
which row of the array report.
Little is known about the sensory memories corresponding the other senses, but
they are presumed to function in a similar way. Turvey and Crowder found, that the
auditory sensory memory (echo) lasted longer than the visual sensory memory (icon), to 4
seconds under partial report conditions. In others words, sounds remain in sensory
memory long enough to combine with other sounds so that speech may be understood.
Sperling’s partial report technique illustrates the effect of Attention has on
information processing. Attention has been conceptualized in many ways. Instructors
expect students pay attention in class, but non-attentive students miss info. Treisman
showed that attention serves to attenuate, or tune out stimulation. Think about a party. You
are attending to one conversation, unaware of what else is around you. When you hear
your name, your attention shifts. Learners have some control over the process and
selectively focus attention. Some tasks require less attention, and are accomplished
automatically. These aspects of attention have implications for instruction.

Selective Attention
It is learner’s ability to select and process information while simultaneously ignoring
other information. Individuals pay attention across two or more tasks (or sources of
information) or focus on selected information within a single task. It depends on some
factors: the meaning that information holds for an individual, your name spoken is highly
meaningful to you. The similarity between tasks or sources of information makes a
difference, imagine the a student, for example, who is trying to listen to the teacher at the
same time a classmate talks in her ear. Similarly, a learner enjoys studying to classical
music but find her concentration slipping when vocal music is played. Task complexity also
influences attention. A task may also demand more attention when learner has little prior
knowledge of it. Finally, the ability to control attention appears to differ with age,
hyperactivity, intelligence, and learner disabilities (Grabe). For example, attention deficit
disorder condition afflicts a small proportion of preadolescent children.
Good and Brophy recommended instructors use signals (let’s begin, Back on task!)
It is important to focus student attention on certain aspects of the instructional materials;
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stimulus features can be highlighted through use of color or type of print (in textual
materials), voice inflections or gestures (in classroom presentations), and novelty. Finally,
Grabe (1986) reviewed ways in which learners themselves are taught to stay on task and
selectively attend to important features on instruction.

Automaticity
When task are over learned or sources of information become habitual, and
attention requirements are minimal, automaticity has occurred. Driving a car is a good
example of the distinction Shiffring Schneider made between automatic and controlled
processing. The driving task is automatic, enabling the driver to listen to a radio program.
LaBerge and Samuels developed a theory for automatic processing in reading:
decoding words are automatic for readers that they can concentrate their attention on
comprehending the meaning of what is read. To develop automatic decoding skills in
readers, there are some possibilities including extended word identification practice as part
of the regular text-reading curriculum (Beck), researchers use the potential of computers
to provide different types of word tasks (Perfetti & Curtis). Readers will generally allocate
greater attention to important elements in a text (Anderson, 1982). They determine
importance based on the purpose for which they are reading as well as features of the text
that signal something is important by typographical cues in the text as boldface print,
capitalization (Glynn and Divesta), also titles, and specific phrases. Idea unit structure
refers to main ideas and supporting details within a paragraph. Ideas structure is more
attended and remembered than buried details. These features are used to write to-be-
learned information in instructional texts. Automatization of other basic skills (such as the
rules of arithmetic operations and grammar) is considered to be a desirable educational
goal (Gagné and Bloom)

Pattern Recognition and Perception
Information must be analyzed, and familiar patterns identified to provide a basis for
further processing. Pattern recognition refers to the process whereby environmental stimuli
are recognized as exemplars of concepts and principles already in memory. It is
preconceptual, matching a shape with a stencil without identify what they actually
represents. It is a difficult process to model in the human information-processing system,
and, consequently, several different models have been proposed with implications for how
it operates and what information is represented in memory. Template matching assumes
that mental copies of environmental stimuli, or templates, are stored in memory. Pattern
recognition is matching incoming information to the appropriate template in memory.
Alternative prototype model: what is stored in memory is nor an exact copy of a
stimulus, but rather an abstracted, general prototype. In this case the incoming information
is comparing with the prototype. If they match, the incoming stimulus is recognized as an
example of the class of objects or events represented by the prototype. The prototype
model is popular for explaining pattern recognition because of evidence that suggests we
store prototypic concepts in memory; for example, asked to indicate what color comes to
mind in response to the verbal stimulus red, you choose a similar color.
A third model is feature analysis; it presumes that specific, distinctive features are
stored in memory. This model and the prototype model have influenced pedagogical
recommendations for concept learning. Tennyson and Cocchiarella proposed a model for
teaching concepts that calls for presenting. First, a prototypic concept example followed by
examples that differ from the prototype in systematic ways. They help student to abstract
the meaning. To see how this model might work, consider one of the concepts from the
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previous chapter: positive reinforcement. A prototypic example is the use of reinforcement.
Then, examples are demonstrated with children in school or adults at work.
Feature comparison and prototype models are unable to account for why some
patterns are recognized without all the features, or they fail to resemble their prototype.
Gestalt psychologists demonstrated that human perception “goes beyond the information
given” in order to construct a meaningful interpretation.
For example, in this picture you
don’t see just a bunch of dots. The
concept of closure prompts us to close
up the spaces between dots and we see
an “A”. In proximity, we see it not as a
nine dots, but as three sets of three
dots, and in similarity, we don’t see
black and white dots, we see a black X.
Pattern recognition is affected by context, past experience, or prior learning.
Solving problems also requires overcoming those effects. The influences of past
experience and context on perception can also come together in expectations about the
students, in other words, expecting a students to be a problem in class can predispose the
instructor to perceiving more problem behaviors. Goldenberg described two cases of
paradoxical expectancy: one, the student achievement is lower than the teacher expected,
and the other, besides teacher’s low expectations, the student succeeds. When the
learners have paid sufficient attention and patter recognition of selected portions of the
stimulus has occurred, a great deal more processing is still required for the information to
become a meaningful and permanent part of memory.

Working memory 
At this stage concepts from long-term memory will be activated for use in making
sense of the incoming information, but there are limits to how much information can be
help in working memory, at one time and for how long information may be retained there,
unless, of course something is done increase capacity or duration in some way. George
Miller demonstrated that a test of reading lists of 7 items is easier to remember: the 7
digits of a local phone number, the 7 wonder of the world, the 7 seas, the 7 notes of the
musical scale, and the 7 days of week. Working memory capacity may be increased
through creating larger bits, known as the process chunking. For example this span of
letters: JFKFBIAIDSNASA, as individual letters, they exceed working memory capacity,
but as a 4 chunks: “JFK, FBI, AIDS, NASA” they are easily processed. For instruction,
learning tasks should be organized so that they can be easily chunked by the learned.
Chunks of information are stored in working memory into a series of slots, with each chunk
taking up slot. As new chunks come into memory, they push out those that occupied the
available spaces. The duration of working memory is between 15 to 30 seconds.

Rehearsal
When you repeat the phone number to yourself over and over while waiting to use
the phone, you are engaged in rehearsal. The repetition serves to maintain the information
in the working memory for some designated period of time. As more crowd in, the
rehearsal becomes more difficult. Recency and primacy effects are associated with short-
term memory, but there is something similar on long-term memory.
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Encoding 
It is the process of relating incoming information to concepts and ideas already in
memory, since new material is more memorable. Humans will always try to make things
meaningful, (natural inclination) to fit some new experiences into what they already know.
Encoding servers to make permanent what these processes have initiated. The concept of
organization: groping related information into categories to learn and remember it. Even
when it seems unrelated. Outlines, hierarchies and concept trees help learners to organize
material. Mnemonics and mediation (Matlin): learning a list of unrelated words is easier by
linking them in a story. Learners may be encouraged to invent their own mnemonics, like
acronyms. Imagery: pictures, visual displays, or simply instructions to form images
facilitate learning. Self-questioning: learners ask themselves to aid in comprehending
material, or drawing inferences from a text. Snowman pointed out that learners must be
taught how frame good questions. Encoding continues to play an important role in LTM.

Long Term Memory
Information that we retain in LTM differs in whether they represent specific
experiences unique to us or general knowledge of the world shared by others. Tulving
makes the distinction between episodic and semantic memory. These two information-
processing systems selectively receive information, retain certain aspect, and retrieve
information as required. Episodic Memory is for specific events, as when you remember
the circumstances surrounding how you learned to read. Semantic Memory is the general
information stored in memory, as you can’t remember how you learned to read, but you do
remember the skill. Semantic memory concerns more to educators. What is learned in
school is semantic in nature. Now researchers focus on semantic memory, how it is
represented in memory, how it is retrieved for use, and how it is forgotten.

Representation and Storage Information

Network Models of LTM
LTM is like a sort of mental dictionary (Klatzky), instead of words alphabetically
represented; concepts are represented according to one another. If I say “black” I expect
you said, “white”, which is associated because it is its opposite. There are nodes in
memory, that correspond to concepts, and that are interconnected in a vast network
structure. This model has the advantage of individual differences among learners, and
also enables predictions. For example, look at the chart:
If I say, “a bird has wings”, or “
a blue heron is a fish”, the subject
should say that the first sentence is
true, since the concept bird points to
the property has wings. And in the
second sentence, blue heron and fish
can’t be directly connected, because
the direction of the arrows. This
sentence is false. Learners are faster
recognizing that “a blue heron has
long legs” than “a blue heron is an
animal” In the first case, search
proceed across only one pointer; in the
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second one, two pointers, or memory levels are searched. Collins and Quillian, who
provided experimental support, confirmed predictions. They also found troubling findings.
Subjects recognize faster a canary as a bird than a penguin.

Feature Comparison Models of LTM
Concepts in memory are not stored in interconnected hierarchies, but within sets of
defining features. Association among concepts is accomplished by a comparison of
overlapping features. This model explains the effects troubling to network models.
Concepts don’t have clearly defined member, and some of them are better examples of
the concept than others. Defining features are those that a bird must have to be classified
in that category. Characteristic features are those associated with typical members of the
category like birds fly.
This model can seem attractive, but according to Kintsch, they are not economical,
they have large collections of features required for learning, and make no claims about
how such collections are organized. Semantic comparison models are criticized for their
failure to account for semantic flexibility. Context can cause aspects of concept’s meaning.
If you hear, “help me move the piano,” you think of it as a heavy piece of furniture but the
sentence, “I play the piano” emphasizes its musical aspect.

Propositional Models of LTM
Feature comparison models may be rewritten as enhanced network models.
(Klatzky) Network has remained the primary metaphor for LTM. Propositional models offer
instead of concept nodes comprising the basic unit of knowledge stored in memory, they
take this basic unit to be the proposition. It is a combination of concepts that has a subject
and predicate. For example instead of the concept bird representing a node memory, the
proposition “a bird has wings,” is stored.
It seem to be psychological reality because subjects take longer to read sentences
with many propositions than those with few, even if the number of words is the same
(Kintsch) Recall tends to reflect propositional structure rather than sentence structure.
Propositions are used as a measure of recall in memory experiments.
John R. Anderson developed the most comprehensive network model of memory
with propositional structure. Known initially as ACT (adaptive control of thought), it
distinguished between procedural and declarative knowledge. He revised the model to
make it more consistent with research on the neural structure of the brain and to
emphasize the adaptive nature of cognition. Now known as ACT-R, this model is so global
that Leahey and Harris say it is too complex to test or falsify.

Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Models of LTM
In this model, multiple cognitive operations occur simultaneously as opposed to
sequentially. In a sentence verification task such as “a blue heron is an animal”, serial
processing starts at blue heron and proceed along the pathways connected to the
concept, one at a time. In parallel processing, the search is distributed; all possible
pathways are searched at the same time.
Network models include parallel processing at the core of PDP, or connectionist,
models of LTM. Researchers describe cognition at a behavioral level in terms of what is
known about actual neural patterns in the brain. McClelland, Rumelhart, and the PDP
research group propose that the building blocks of memory are connections, that
subsymbolic in nature, since they don’t correspond to meaningful bits of information like
the concept nodes or propositions do. The units are processing devices, and connections
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describe how the units interact with each other. They form a vast network across
processing is distributed. When learning occurs, environmental input (or input from the
network) activates the connections among units, strengthening some connections while
weakening others. These patterns of activations that represent concepts and principles or
knowledge as we think of it. Knowledge is stored in the connections among processing
units.
Those connections carry different weights of association, learning occurs in the
continual adjustment of the weights. Since processing occurs in parallel, may adjustment
take place simultaneously, as continuous error adjustment. PDP models offer advantages
over other models on what they explain about human information processing. They
account the incremental nature of human learning; they provide a more dynamic picture of
it. They offer a way to incorporate goals into the information processing systems. On the
other hand, Estes pointed out the lack of forthcoming evidence to support PDP model as a
mirror of neural processes in the brain. There is little reason to believe a single processor
model is sufficient to model brain functioned. “Evolution of the brain has not yielded a
machine of uniform design like a digital computer but rather a mélange of systems and
subsystems of different evolutionary ages”.

Dual­Code Models of LTM
Imagery is defined as " pictures in my mind. Imaginal information is different from
verbal information. It is more than just visual representations. We can imagine the tune of
a song, the feel of a kitten's fur. These are examples of auditory, tactile, and olfactory
imagery as well as kinesthetic imagery. People remember a picture's meaning, this
support a unitary view of visual and verbal coding. There is superiority in memory for
concrete words over abstract words. People find it much easier to remember words like
sailboat, apple, and zebra in a list than liberty and justice. According to the dual systems
there are 2 systems in memory: verbal information and non-verbal information. The
meaning of words represented by the verbal system and images of words represented by
the imaginal system.
Dual code theorists agree mental images are not exact copies of visual displays.
There are imprecise representations, details omitted, incomplete, or inaccurately recorded.
Think in someone you know, and try to visualize that person's face. Is there something that
you can't remember? A strong connection between the verbal and imaginal systems
enhances learning of verbal material. Kosslyn suggests that images are important to
learning, and facilitate comprehension and problem solving. Visual aids function for learner
with poor verbal skills.

Retrieval of learned information
Information stored in LTM, can retrieve for use, retained over time, or forgotten.
The process is simple to understand. Learned information is brought back to mind to
understand a new input or to make a response. There is a distinction between cued and
noncued retrieval that is the same difference between recall and recognition. To recall,
learners generate answers. In recognition, potential answers are already generated, and
learners only recognize the correct one.

Recall
Learners retrieve stored information with no cues or hints. In memory experiments,
learners are exposed to target information and then write down everything they can
remember. Recall questions on tests as "write an essay about America's involvement in
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World War II". There are no cues, the output of free recall is assumed. Researchers have
found that subjects’ recall under these conditions tends to be low. Cues raise the overall
subjects are able to remember. Cued recall task is a provided hint by teachers to help
learner remember.

Recognition
It involves a set of pregenerated stimuli presented to learner for a decision.
Learners are asked to determine whether the stimulus has been seen before, as in old-
new recognition tasks. It has become popular for assessing reading comprehension. For
example, students read a passage, and then complete a verification test. There are test
sentences of 4 types: 1. an original sentence from the paragraph, 2. a paraphrase of the
original sentence, 3. a meaning-change sentence with 1 or 2 words replaced, 4. a
distractor sentence. Students who comprehended the passage are able to recognize the
original and paraphrase sentences and classify the meaning-change and distractor
sentences.
Two factors that influence old-new recognition are: The strength of memory trace.
Stronger memories are more accurately recognized than weaker memories. Imagine you
are choosing drapes to match the color of your living room carpet. There are 2 possible
scenarios: 1) the drapes are inexpensive and you can return them. 2) They are expensive,
you must pay for in advance and they can't be returned. In which scenario are you more
likely to make a yes decision? The second factor is high-risk conditions. There is also
forced-choice recognition, and memory plays a role in the decision. The distractors in each
test item and a penalty for wrong answers will decrease guessing. In a four-distractor item,
the chance of getting an item right by guessing is 25%, but if you could eliminate 2
distractors immediately, this increases to 50%. For test construction is implicated to write
distractors with equal probability of being chosen if the learner is forced to guess.

Encoding Specificity
Retrieval is influenced by cues available to learners. 2 investigated principles of the
relation between conditions at encoding and conditions at recall. Cues used by learners to
facilitate encoding also serve as the best retrieval cues. (Thomson & Tulving)
Retrieval is influenced by the context of encoding. Context or examples are
important to discuss in the presentation of new concepts. Available cues to assist in
encoding may later used for recall. If new information is presented in only one context,
there are not enough cues to support retrieval.
State-dependent learning. Information learned in a particular state of mind (free
from alcohol or drugs influence) is remember best in the same state of mind. (Goodwin)
Bower demonstrated a similar phenomenon with moods. Words learned under a happy
mood were better recalled under a happy mood. Emotions are coded in memory.

Forgetting

Failure to encode
The information sought during retrieval was never learned in the first place. Illusion
of knowing: Poor readers don't monitor their reading so believe they read and understand
when they don't so. Ineffective study strategies: a student had achieved a low score on a
test. "But I studied for hours!" she wailed. She studied by rereading her notes and the
book. Repetition can only go so far. It is important to have and activate relevant prior
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knowledge.

Failure to retrieve
It is the inability to access previously learned information. It is like losing the
directory to your computer's hard drive. The files are still there, but they can't be accessed
and retrieved. A common strategy for enhancing retrieval is note-taking (Gagné & Discroll)
It is an external retrieval strategy.

Interference
Other information gets in the way of effective retrieval. It can occur from
Information learned before or after the new one. Information learned later is more recent
and that yields memory traces than information learned earlier. Also previous learning
interferes with later one. It is proactive interference. A long-time tennis player tries to learn
racquetball, but he swings the entire arm rather than with just the wrist. The well-learned
skill of swinging a tennis racket interferes with the recently learned response of swinging a
racquetball racket.
Rice & Mayer investigated memory deficits among older adults. Older adults
remember less from a text than do younger adults. But they found no evidence to support
a memory deficit. Older adults tend to get caught in the details and lose sight of the main
ideas, proactive interference occurred. Visual displays provide useful encoding and
retrieval cues. Problems in the learning and remembering of adults seem to be a declining
speed rather than declining mental powering. Adults work at their own pace, like children;
they can learn more effective learning strategies for encoding and retrieval. Memory failure
can also be caused by other conditions, such as amnesia or Alzheimer's disease but these
have little relevance to instruction and are beyond this chapter.

Implications of CIP for Instruction
Three general recommendations are:

Providing organized instruction
Learner are supposed to understand new information, the instruction must be
organized to help them to do this. Instructional tactics facilitate attention and pattern
recognition. To enhance encoding and retrieval imagery and representing information in
many ways is essential. Beissner, Jonassen, and Grabowski reviewed the use of graphic
techniques in acquiring structural knowledge. The concept tree by Tessmer & Driscoll
argued from Anderson's ACT model that students learn concepts if the relations among a
set of concepts were displayed. Displays help to prevent interference. Emphasizing similar
materials help students to avoid confusion. It also increases learning in poor reading skills.

Arranging extensive and variable practice
"Practice makes perfect!". Automaticity of basic skills is a desirable educational
goal. Extensive practice is a way to achieve it. Behavioral theorists referred to over-
learning or practicing a skill until it is habitual as to require little conscious attention. The
amount of practice is not the only variable. The kind of practice also matters. "Perfect
practice makes perfect!"
Effective use of conceptual information. Tessmer & Driscoll developed the rational
set generator that combines teaching concept discrimination (to distinguish a concept from
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a similar one) with teaching concept generalization (appropriately use of a given concept
in a number of contexts). The result is a rational set of examples that can be used in
instruction, practice or testing.

Enhancing Learners’ self­control of information processing
Learner can modify information flow within and between components of the
memory system. These processes have been investigated under the rubric of
metacognition. It refers to one’s awareness of thinking and self-regulatory behavior (also
known as conditional knowledge) that accompanies this awareness. In the course of
learning and problem solving, know when or what one knows or does not know, predicting
correctness one’s performance; planning outcomes of one’s cognitive resources and one’s
time checking outcomes of one’s solution. Derry, Murphy and Duell reviewed the topic.
Metacognitive ability depends on person variables, task variables, strategy variables, and
the interaction among all of them.
Person variables: older learners seem to have a better understanding of their
memory abilities and limitations than younger learners. Students of all ages are capable of
learning various memory strategies. Learning-disabled children are less efficient and less
planful then normal children (Torgeson) Instructors should remind younger and less planful
learners when and how to use memory strategies.
Task variables: differences in instructional content. New information is approached
with quite general strategies. As learners become more proficient, they employ more
domain-specific strategies.
Strategy variables: There are various ways in which learners go about encoding,
storing, and retrieving information. Some strategies are so simple that learners acquire
them easily. Breaking a complex or long learning task into manageable segments is one
example. Others require extensive practice as taking notes r self-questioning.
Educators agree on the importance of regulatory skills. Programs now exist to train
students in metacognitive or study skills. Some concentrate on domain-specific skills, such
as reading comprehension, and others train more general strategies useful across a broad
range of tasks. Some programs embedded within school curricula, others exits as
separate study skills courses. Effective Programs have two criteria in common: Students
have a base of prior knowledge related to the strategies they are learning, and students
know when and why various self-regulatory strategies may be effectively employed.
Having conditional knowledge does not guarantee that one uses it. But realizing
when and why such behavior is useful in furthering learning goals helps to motivate
students to engage in metacognitive, self-regulatory ways.
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The flow of information: