HANDOUTS IN INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY (IPT)

 Intended Outcome/Learning Objectives: In this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Describe the processes involved in acquiring, storing and retrieving knowledge

2. Identify strategies to enhance cognitive or memory processes
3. Cite educational implications of the theory on information processing

 Lesson Proper

Cognitive psychologists believe that cognitive processes influence the nature of what is learned.
They consider learning as an internal process, not an external behavior change. They look into how a
person receives, perceives, stores, and retrieves information. They believe that how a person thinks
about and interprets what he/she receives shape what he/she will learn. All these notions comprise
what is called the Information Processing Theory (IPT).

IPT focuses on how information is encoded into one’s memory. It describes how the brain filters
information, from what he or she is paying attention to in the present moment, to what gets stored in
the short-term or working memory and ultimately into the long-term memory.

Developed by American psychologists including George Miller in the 1950s, IPT, has in recent
years, compared the human brain to a computer. The ‘input’ is the information given to the
computer - or to the brain - while the CPU is likened to short-term memory, and the hard-drive is
long-term memory.

The human brain performs cognitive processes which involve thinking, perception, remembering,
recognition, logical reasoning, imagining, problem-solving, sense of judgment, and planning. In these
processes, the brain filters information, deciding what is important enough to ‘save’ from the
sensory memory to short-term memory, and ultimately to encode into the long-term memory.

But what kind of knowledge or information does the brain store? Knowledge or information can
be classified in two ways:
a) general or specific; and
b) declarative, procedural, episodic, or conditional.

A. General vs. Specific knowledge: This involves whether the knowledge is useful in many tasks
(general) or only in one (specific).

B. 1. Declarative knowledge: This refers to factual knowledge. They relate to the nature of how
things are. They may be in the form of a word or an image. (Examples: your name, your flight
schedule, the face of a person you have just met)

2. Procedural knowledge: This includes knowledge on how to do things. (Examples: how to

bake a cake, how to write an application letter)

3. Episodic knowledge: This includes memories of life events. (Examples: high school
graduation, birthday celebration)
 4. Conditional knowledge: This involves “knowing when and why” to apply declarative or
procedural strategies.

Stages in Information Processing

Do you know how human beings process information? I hope that the following discussion will
help you understand how it occurs according to the information processing theorists.

Information processing involves stages which require the functioning of the senses, sensory
register or sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Basically, IPT asserts that in
each of these stages are three basic memory processes such as:

a. Encoding, where information is sensed, perceived, and attended to;

b. Storage, where the information is stored for either a brief or extended period of time,
depending upon the processes following encoding; and
c. Retrieval, where the information is brought back at the appropriate time and reactivated
for use on a current task, the true measure of effective memory.

Now let us discuss in detail the stages in information processing.

Sensory memory is the first stage, which refers to what we are experiencing through our
senses at any given moment. This includes what we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Sight and
hearing are generally thought to be the two most important ones.

Let us understand that our brain or mind receives a great amount of information which is more
than what it can hold or perceive. The sensory register can only hold the information for an extremely
brief period, in the order of 1 to 3 seconds. From the information we hear and see, it is said that our
auditory memory of such knowledge is more persistent than the visual memory.

At this point, the role of attention cannot be underscored. We must pay attention to
information in order to bring it into our consciousness. We can only perceive and remember later the
information that passes through our attention “gate”.

Before information is perceived, it is considered as “pre-categorical” information. This means

that until this point, we have not yet determined the categorical membership of information and
therefore, it comes to us in uninterpreted patterns of stimuli. But once it is perceived, we can
categorize, judge, interpret, and place meaning on it; otherwise, we have no means by which to
recognize that the stimulus was ever encountered.

How then, can the stimulus pass through the attention gate? Getting through the attention
filter requires that the stimulus or material is interesting that needs conscious control over our
attention, or when it involves novelty, surprise, salience, and distinctiveness.

The second stage is the short-term memory (STM) which filters information from our sensory
memory. It is also called working memory because it is where information is temporarily placed while
it is mentally processed. Some of the information we hold in our short-term memory is discarded or
filtered away once again, and a portion of it is encoded or stored in our long-term memory.
 The short-term memory has limited storage capacity for it can only hold 5 to 9 “chunks” of
information for about 18 seconds or less. To reduce loss of information or to avoid forgetting it, we
need to do maintenance rehearsal. It is using repetition to keep the information active in STM.

A number of factors impact how we process things in our STM or working memory. These
include our individual cognitive abilities, the amount of information we are being asked to remember,
the extent of focus we can make on a given day, and the amount of attention we give to the
information.

The third stage is the long-term memory (LTM), which is considered as the permanent storing
house for memory information. It has an unlimited storage capacity for an indefinite period. All stored
information stays there until it is needed again.

Source: https://www.google.com

Forgetting

Forgetting is the inability to retrieve or access information when needed. It likely occurs in
either of these two ways: a) decay, where the information is not attended to, and eventually “fades
away”; and, b) interference, where new or old information “blocks” access to the information in
question.
You may watch the following video to understand how the IPT works:

Learning and Memory: The Information Processing Theory https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=J1TYC-I2vN0

Methods for Increasing Retrieval of Information

From time to time, we need to recall or retrieve the information we receive. To increase
retrieval of information, the following methods or strategies are suggested:
a. Rehearsal. This involves repetition of information verbatim, either mentally or aloud
b. Meaningful learning. It is making connection between new information and prior knowledge
c. Organization. It requires making connections among various pieces of information.
Information that is organized efficiently is easily recalled.
d. Elaboration. This means giving additional ideas to new information based on what one already
knows. It is connecting new information with old to gain meaning
e. Visual imagery. It means forming a “picture” of the information
f. Generation. It involves “production” of things. The things we create are easily remembered
than the things we hear
g. Context. It involves remembering the situation which can help in recovering information
h. Personalization. It is making the information relevant to the individual.

Implications of IPT for Teaching

 Memory stores are extremely limited in both sensory sensory and working memory; hence,
teachers should make sure students selectively focus their attention on important information
and engage in as much as automated processing as possible.

 Relevant prior knowledge facilitates encoding and retrieval processes; therefore teachers
should help students use their prior knowledge when learning new information to promote
learning.
For more information on Information Processing theory and its application in the classroom, you may
visit the following websites:

1. Information Processing Theory - Classroom Applications

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=631r0qNYke4

2. Joni Holmes - Working memory and classroom learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=WUxo5s8HHcE

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