Information Processing Blog 1

                Information processing theory works with how memories are created, stored, and used. There is a progression of three types of memory: sensory, working, and long-tem.  Sensory is the initial recognition of a stimulus, working memory is the conscious use of that recognition, and if something makes it into long-term memory, it can be retrieved later. To put information into long-term storage, it undergoes a process called encoding. This can be done by repeating the information, connecting it with previous knowledge, or grouping it in a set. Information then can be retrieved by recalling or recognizing it. As teachers, to help students learn, we should try to keep their attention for a reasonable amount of time and information and help them organize that information and determine what is worth remembering.

                I am confused by Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory. It accounts for visual and auditory information, as well as information from the long-term memory. I do not see where other information, such as olfactory or tactile, fit into this model. Does this mean that these types of information are not a part of the working memory?

                One implication for teachers of the information processing theory is that we should break down complex ideas into smaller parts. This can be done by a process called task analysis. Breaking down big ideas will make it more manageable to take in and encode relevant information.

                Though we know so much about remembering, we still often forget information. This generally happens for one of three reasons. The first reason is that information was never really encoded, and therefore never actually reached the long-term memory. It is also a possibility that the memory has decayed, or faded. The last common reason that something is forgotten is retrieval failure, when information is unable to be found in the memory, although it was learned.