Information Processing Theory

"Information processing is one area of research within the larger domain of cognitive psychology." Research in information processing attempts to explain the ways in which "individuals perceive, organize, and remember information related to" the "processing of data from the environment."

-- Margaret E. Gredler in Learning and Instruction: Theory into Practice (Prentice Hall, p.171)

Information processing as a learning theory may be divided into the following four specific areas of study: Attending, Schema, Memory, and Problem Solving. One or more of these elements is treated in each of the following sources. Multiple Intelligences is also included as an element.

Bibliography

Bailey, B. (1997 June). Developmental theories and instructional strategies: a summary paper. SIDRU Research Report No. 5.
Summary: This paper provides an overview of developmental theory and relates the theory to instructional strategies. It discusses Erikson's eight ages of man, Kohlberg's stages of moral development, motivation and Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Taylor's stage model of creative development, and Loevinger's stages of ego development. Cognitive development is approached through overviews of Skinner's operant conditioning, Gagne's behavioristic-eclectic theory, Bandura's social learning theory, cognitive gestalt-field theories, Lewin's cognitive field theory, Bruner's learning as categorizing theory, Piaget's cognitive-descriptive theory of intellectual development, the information-processing approach, and Case's comprehensive framework of intellectual growth. Personal- and social-oriented instructional strategies discussed include Gordon's synectics, Schutz's awareness training model, the classroom meeting and laboratory training (T-Group) models, etc.

Bornstein, A. (1985). Memory. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.

Borsook, T.K., and Higginbotham-Wheat, N. (1992). "A psychology of hypermedia: a conceptual framework for R&D." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Tecnology. Washington, D.C.
Summary:This presentation provides how cognitive information processing theory as well as other theories can be used with hypermedia to mirror how the brain operates. The presenters review learning theories, hypermedia technology and suggest the "instructional efficacy" of hypermedia.

Brandhorst, A. A. (1989). "Critical thinking: Schemata vs. skills." Theory and research in social education, 17, (3), 196-209.
Summary: This article refutes the idea that critical thinking is not a skill by analyzing it from the phenomenological perspective of Edmund Husserl and from the hermeneutic perspective of Martin Heidegger. It develops the theory that critical thinking is a restructuring of schemata and addresses the problem of attention or student engagement.

Bruning, I.L. (1983). "An information processing approach to a theory of instruction." Educational Communication and Technology: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Development, 31 (2), 91-101.
Summary: Proposes a cognitive information processing approach to instructional theory. Findings of prior research are reviewed.

Chandler, P. (1996). Learning with software: pedagogies and practices. Is conventional computer instruction ineffective for learning? (Mirrored Document obtained from)

URL: http://www.oltc.edu.au/
Summary: This article asserts that traditional computer instruction, which requires learners to simultaneously attend to a manual, computer screen, and keyboard, overloads working memory and interferes with the learning process.

Caramelli, N. (1986). The "Schema" concept: Bartlett till now, 21. Sweden: Lund University.
Summary: In 1932, F. C. Bartlett first used the concept of "schema," borrowing it from Head to suggest a unitary structure which was the principle responsible for the mutual-interdependence among a human being and the environment. Current research on cognitive processes now interprets it as a radically changed concept based on the later work of R. C. Oldfield, U. Neisser, and R. R. Schmidt.

Chen, Z. (1996). "Role-limiting methods for automated knowledge acquisition: problem solving perspective." Information Processing and Management, 32 (2), 239-245.

Cocking, R. R. & Mestre, J. P. (1989). Cognitive Science.
Summary: The focus of this paper is on cognitive science as a model for understanding the application of human skills toward effective problem-solving. Discussion includes an information processing framework, schema theory, and problem solving style. Promising new developments are included.

Christensen, J. (1994). Capture your entire audience. Legacy, 5 (4), 17-19.
Summary: Explores how auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and symbolic/abstract learning modalities can be applied to interpretive presentations to capture an entire audience. In addition to addressing diverse learning styles, the article discusses presentation outlines, making the concept personal, combining song, music, and drama, and using action rather than talk.

Dochy, F.J.R.C. & Bouwens, M.R.J. (1990). Schema theories as a base for the structural representation of the knowledge state.
Summary: From the view of schema-transfer theory, the use of schemata with their several functions gives an explanation for the facilitative effect of prior knowledge on learning processes. This report gives a theoretical exploration of the concept of schemata to indicate the importance of schema theories in an ongoing research project on prior knowledge state. The starting point for constructing a representation is what the learner already knows.

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. New York: BasicBooks

Gardner, H. (1995 December). "Multiple intelligences" as a catalyst. English Journal, 84, (8) 16-18.
Summary: Discusses applications of the theory of multiple intelligences in the field of education. Distinguishes between "surface" and "deep" applications of the theory. Responds to earlier articles in this journal about the theory of multiple intelligences.

Glaser, R. (1985). The nature of expertise. Occasional paper no. 107.
Summary: Information-processing students solving problems in the 1960's and 1070's concentrated primarily on the study of "knowledge-lean" tasks in which competence can usually be acquired over short periods of learning and experience. In recent years that approach has changed and with new experience with knowledge-rich domains five generalities can be made about the nature of expertise.

Gooffrey, D.. M. (1996). Implicit cognition. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

Grider, C. (1993). Foundations of cognitive theory: a concise review.
Summary: An historical discussion of cognitive learning theories and how they grew to shape the way one perceives, organizes, stores, and retrieves information. Beginning with the basic concepts of cognitive theory, the discussion moves from the structuralists and Wilhelm Wundt, through William James and John Dewey, Gestalt, Edward Tolman, Kurt Lewin, Frederic C. Bartlett, and Jean Piaget, to Jerome S Bruner and Noam Chomsky.

Koffman, E. B. (1979). Problem solving and structured programming. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Lazear, D.G. (1992). Teaching for multiple intelligences. Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation

Phye, G.D., and Andre, t., (Eds.). Cognitive classroom learning: understanding , thinking and problem solving. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, Inc.
Summary: This book contains 10 articles about cognitive learning process. As the editors, Phye and Andre state, the book is organized "around the idea that learning occors through the process of information by structures in the student's learning/memory system." Articles cover in-depth attentional factors, short-term memory, long-term memory, performance factors, and metacognitive processes. Each article gives an introduction of the topic, prefunctory review of research, and examples of techniques for the classroom.

"Problem solving reconsidered: a pluralistic theory of problems." College English, 50 (5). (1988). 551-565.

Reed, S. R. (1982). Cognition: Theory and application. Monterey, CA: Books Cole.

Samples, B. (1992). Using learning modalities to celebrate intelligence. Educational Leadership, 50 (2), 62-66.
Summary: Jerome Bruner identified three major ways of knowing: iconic, enactive, and symbolic. Schooling has been dominantly framed in the symbolic, and intelligence and achievement were measured in this realm. Gregory Bateson, concerned with mind-nature separation, differentiated between the map a human-made abstraction) and the territory (the natural world.) Implications for education are discussed.

Schroder, H.M., Driver, M.J., and Streufert, S. (1967). Human information processing: individuals and groups functioning in complex social functions . New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Shaughnessy, M. F. (1985). What's new in I. Q.? A contemporary analysis with implications for gifted/talented/creative. Paper presented at the Anniversary Meeting of the National Association of Creative Children and Adults, Cincinnati.
Summary: Recent theorists have begun to re-conceptualize the constructs of "intelligence." This paper reviews recent theories of Robert Sternberg ("triarchic theory"), Howard Gardner (multiple intelligences), Warren Dhemann and Melvin Suhd, Alan and Nadine Kaufman (the Kaufman Assessment Battery for testing processing), Feuerstein (Learning Potential Assessment Device), and Thorndike (information processing view of intelligence).

Sowa, J.F. (1984). Conceptual structures: information processing in mind and machine. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Summary: This book focuses on the similarities between computer science and information processing theory structures. The analogy is discussed in terms of logic, phlosophical basis, and psychological evidence. Knowledge acquisition/engineering is also discussed in detail with countless programming-reasoning instance comparisons.

Stahl, R. J. (1984). Cognitive theory within the framework of an information processing model and learning hierarchy: viable alternative to the Bloom-Mager system.
Summary: This review of the current status of the human information processing model presents the Stahl Perceptual Information Processing and Operations Model as a model of how thinking, memory, and the processing of information take place within the individual learner.

Sternberg, R.J. (Ed) (1985). Human abilities: an information processing approach. New York: W.H. Freeman.
Summary: Articles explain information processing based on nine different types of human abilities (general intelligence, verbal, reading, second-language, math, mental imagery, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning and problem-solving.) and individual differences in learning and memory. The "five main points" (mental processes, speed and accuracy, strategies for task performance, forms of mental representation, and organization of kownledge base) of information processing theory research is discussed.

Swanson, H. L. (1999).What Develops in Working Memory? A Life Span Perspective. Developmental Psychology.35(4), 986-1000

http://www.apa.org/journals/dev/dev354986.html

Thorndyke, P. W. (1981). Schema Theory as a guide for educational research: white knight or white elephant? Los Angeles: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Summary: While few rigorous tests have established the psychological validity of schema theory, nevertheless this theory provides a promising framework for the development of prescriptive methods for learning and reasoning. Schema may provide memory organizations for use in rapidly acquiring new knowledge, representations for problem-solving strategies, and multi-dimensional data structures for use in problems requiring situation assessment.

Information Processing (B. Huitt) (WWW document)

URL: http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/infoproc.html

Summary: Cognitive psychology represents the dominant approach in psychology today. The most widely accepted theory is labeled the "stage theory" and based on the work of Atkinson and Shriffin (1968). The focus of this model is on how information is stored in memory; the model proposes that information is processed and stored in 3 stages.

Cognitive Information Processing (D. Perry) (WWW document)

URL: http://education.indiana.edu/~p540/webcourse/cip.html
Summary: Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) is not associated with the work of a single theorist; rather, it builds on the work of a number of researchers who share a common paradigm. Like the behaviorists, CIP theorists are concerned about observable behaviors; but, unlike behaviorists, they use those behaviors to make inferences about underlying mental processes that cannot be directly observed. This page gives a overview of Cognitive Information Processing and Ausubel, and the instructional implications of each.

Information Processing and Memory

URL: http://tiger.coe.missouri.edu/~t377/IPTheorists.html
Summary: This page gives a very brief description of three stages of information processing and various effects that occur in the process. Episodic and Semantic memory are discussed.

Information Processing and Memory

URL: http://process-safety.tamu.edu/Symposiums/mkopsc-1998/slides/bosler
Summary: This presentation talks about the trends in process information management.

Information Processing Theory (G. Miller) (WWW document)

URL: http://www.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/ET-IT/iprocess.htm
Summary: A brief overview with references of two theoretical ideas fundamental to cognitive psychology and the information processing framework provided by George A. Miller:

"chunking" and capacity of short term memory and
TOTE (Test-Operate-Test-Exit) suggested as a replacement for the stimulus-response as the basic unit of behavior.