Describe the principles of information processing

The principles of information processing , At the very heart of cognitive psychology is the idea of information processing. Cognitive psychology sees the individual as a processor of information, in much the same way that a computer takes in information and follows a program to produce an output.

Basic Assumptions

The principles of information processing , The information processing approach is based on a number of assumptions, including:

(1) information made available by the environment is processed by a series of processing systems (e.g. attention, perception, short-term memory); 

(2) these processing systems transform or alter the information in systematic ways;

(3) the aim of research is to specify the processes and structures that underlie cognitive performance;

(4) information processing in humans resembles that in computers.


Computer - Mind Analogy

The principles of information processing The development of the computer in the 1950s and 1960s had an important influence on psychology and was, in part, responsible for the cognitive approach becoming the dominant approach in modern psychology.

The computer gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor, or analogy, to which they could compare human mental processing. The use of the computer as a tool for thinking how the human mind handles information is known as the computer analogy.

Essentially, a computer codes (i.e., changes) information, stores information, uses information, and produces an output (retrieves info). Describe the principles of information processing , The idea of information processing was adopted by cognitive psychologists as a model of how human thought works. For example, the eye receives visual information and codes information into electric neural activity which is fed back to the brain where it is “stored” and “coded”. This information is can be used by other parts of the brain relating to mental activities such as memory, perception and attention. The output (i.e. behavior) might be, for example, to read what you can see on a printed page.

Hence the information processing approach characterizes thinking as the environment providing input of data, which is then transformed by our senses. The information can be stored, retrieved and transformed using “mental programs”, with the results being behavioral responses.

Cognitive psychology has influenced and integrated with many other approaches and areas of study to produce, for example, social learning theory, cognitive neuropsychology and artificial intelligence (AI).


Information Processing and Selective Attention

When we are selectively attending to one activity, we tend to ignore other stimulation, although our attention can be distracted by something else, like the telephone ringing or someone using our name.

Psychologists are interested in what makes us attend to one thing rather than another (selective attention); the principles of information processing , why we sometimes switch our attention to something that was previously unattended (e.g. Cocktail Party Syndrome), and how many things we can attend to at the same time (attentional capacity).

  • One way of conceptualizing attention is to think of humans as information processors who can only process a limited amount of information at a time without becoming overloaded.
  • Broadbent and others in the 1950s adopted a model of the brain as a limited capacity information processing system, through which external input is transmitted.
  • Information processing models consist of a series of stages, or boxes, which represent stages of processing. Arrows indicate the flow of information from one stage to the next.


Three-Stage Information Processing Model

In 1968 Atkinson and Shiffrin developed the three-stage information processing model, also known as the Atkinson-Shiffrin model. The three-stage model describes three stages in memory, the input or sensory memory, short term memory, and long-term memory.

Other Information Processing Systems

Describe the principles of information processing , Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart introduced the levels of information processing theory in 1972. The theory stated the importance of elaboration. The ability to access information in the long-term memory was influenced by how much it was elaborated upon. Elaboration processes started with perception, then moved to attention, labeling, and finally to meaning.

The parallel-distributed processing model was the forerunner of connectionism.

Rumelhart and McClelland introduced the connections model in 1986.


Read More : Critically discuss Sternbergs Information processing approach

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