Exam 2 PART 1 CH 6-7
Summarize strengths and limitations of the information-processing approach.
A major weakness of the information processing approach is that A. computer models cannot capture the richness of everyday experiences. B. it lacks application to classroom teaching techniques C. it relies on only one mechanism of development. D. it is inconsistent with Piaget's theory.
Describe the relationship between memory and general knowledge, and discuss emerging conceptions of memory.
if this is on the test ill kms
Imaginary Audience & Personal Fable (a.k.a. Adolescent Egocentrism)
personal fable Adolescents' inflated opinion of their own importance—the belief that they are special and unique and that others cannot possibly understand their thoughts and feelings.
Recognition, Recall, and Reconstruction memory (T)
recall The form of memory retrieval that involves generating a mental representation of an absent stimulus. Distinguished from recognition. (p. 294) recognition The simplest form of memory retrieval, which involves noticing that a stimulus is identical or similar to one previously experienced. Distinguished from recall. (p. 294) reconstruction The type of memory that involves recoding information while it is in the mental system or being retrieved. (p. 295)
Define autobiographical memory and discuss the various explanations for infantile amnesia.
• Autobiographical memory - memory of important experiences that have happened to us. Or memory thigns that happen to us don't really have to be important • We don't have memory good for first years of life.. adults cant really remember it from first few years... memories are there but we cant get them out • Age of first emmory depends on part of memeory that it is.. can remmerb abck to age 2 .. • Infantile amnesia.. early memorys stored without lanauge stored on pictures and emotions... result means we don't have accesss to information since it isn't verbal • We only remember visual things not words ...we see pictures flashes memores can be easily impactsed by information...
Discuss the accuracy of children's eyewitness memory, noting the impact of age and interviewing technique, and describe interventions designed to increase children's accurate reporting.
• Social construction o Memory is related to how we talk to other people o Children who have gone to Disney talk to their parents recall more infomrationt han children who have not talked to their parents about it. • Children as eyewitnesses.. o Children are not fantastic eyewitnesses ...audobiographical memory has to be good in order for the child to testify in court o Its often difficult for the child because events child is testifying is tramatic so its very difficult for children to be trutfhudul but even fi theya re motivated there are age differences that are almost the same as finding event meory Fuzzy trace theory - people process information complex.doing multiple thingsat once. Fuzzy trace says that we encode info literally but sometimes we encode other funnier gist Gist = fuzzy representation if information that preserves content but few precise details We encode information that is not complete Processing of younger children suffer because foredBDEN (a lot of details) don't have ability to recall alter on.
Discuss how adaptation (including assimilation and accommodation) and organization are important for the process of equilibration.
Adaptation: Involves building schemes through direct interactions with the environment. assimilation: Use current schemes to interpret the external world. accommodation: The creation of new schemes or the adjustment of old ones after noticing that current ways of thinking do not capture the environment completely...... Assimilation - The process of taking in new information into our previously existing schema's is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective, because we tend to modify experience or information somewhat to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example above, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is an example of assimilating the animal into the child's dog schema. Accommodation - Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as accommodation. Accommodation involves altering existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this process. Equilibration - Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is achieved through a mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration helps explain how children are able to move from one stage of thought into the next.
Summarize the core knowledge perspective of cognitive development, and discuss the limitations of this approach.
method argue that babies' cognitive starting point is limited. For example, some believe that newborns begin life with a set of biases for attending to certain information and with general-purpose learning procedures—such as powerful techniques for analyzing complex perceptual information. Together, these capacities enable infants to construct a wide variety of schemes (Bahrick, 2010; Huttenlocher, 2002; Quinn, 2008; Rakison, 2010). Others, convinced by violation-of-expectation findings, argue that infants start life with considerable innate knowledge, which "jump-starts" their cognitive development. This ///core knowledge /////perspective has gained ground in the past decade. We will discuss its strengths and limitations after considering Piaget's stages of childhood and adolescence.
Summarize the features of Piaget's stage of preoperational thought (e.g., pretend play and dual representation/symbolic thought) and the limitations Piaget believed were present during this stage (i.e., animism, pre-causal reasoning, egocentrism, lack of conservation, lack of an appearance/reality distinction, and poor categorization).
-Preoperational thought: Aside from gains in representation, Piaget described preschoolers in terms of what they cannot understand (Beilin, 1992). As the term pre-operational suggests, he compared them to older, more competent children who have reached the concrete operational stage. According to Piaget, young children are not capable of operations —mental representations of actions that obey logical rules. Rather, their thinking is rigid, limited to one aspect -The 2½-year-olds did not realize that the model could be both a toy room and a symbol of another room. They had trouble with dual representation —viewing a symbolic object as both an object in its own right and a symbol. -
a not b error
A-not-B error (also known as "stage 4 error" or "perseverative error") is a phenomenon uncovered by the work of Jean Piaget in his theory of cognitive development of children. The A-not-B error is a particular error made by infants during substage 4 of their sensorimotor stage. A typical A-not-B task goes like this: An experimenter hides an attractive toy under box "A" within the baby's reach. The baby searches for the toy, looks under box "A", and finds the toy. This activity is usually repeated several times (always with the researcher hiding the toy under box "A"). Then, in the critical trial, the experimenter moves the toy under box "B", also within easy reach of the baby. Babies of 10 months or younger typically make the perseveration error, meaning they look under box "A" even though they saw the researcher move the toy under box "B", and box "B" is just as easy to reach. This demonstrates a lack of, or incomplete, schema of object permanence. Children of 12 months or older typically do not make this error.
Describe Piaget's general ideas concerning stages of cognitive development, including basic characteristics of his stages and stage model.
According to psychologist Jean Piaget, children progress through a series of four critical stages of cognitive development. Each stage is marked by shifts in how kids understand the world. Piaget believed that children are like "little scientists" and that they actively try to explore and make sense of the world around them. Through his observations of his children, Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct stages: The sensorimotor stage, from birth to age 2 The preoperational stage, from age 2 to about age 7 The concrete operational stage, from age 7 to 11 The formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and spans into adulthood.
Describe and discuss the changes in attention that occur with development with particular emphasis on changes in selectivity, adaptability, and planfulness.
Development of attention • We must attend to information. It isn't as if all info is recognized let alone remembered. For memory to happen we have to pay attention to the things that re coming in. as children get dler we can ttend to things at a greater period of time. • Changes in attention span: changes in attention to a particular activity. Attention spans improve because milinization of reteculiar formation. • Changes in attention span helps use be conscious it continues through puberty and allows us to focus on one thing for longer periods of time. ADHD is in part due to under aroused reticular formation. Planful attentional strategies
Discuss two recent challenges to Piaget's theory.
Follow-Up Research on Preoperational Thought Over the past three decades, researchers have challenged Pia get's account of preschoolers as cognitively deficient. Because many Piagetian problems contain unfamiliar elements or too many pieces of information for young children to handle at once, preschoolers' responses often do not reflect their true abilities. Piaget also missed many naturally occurring instances of effective reasoning by preschoolers. Let's look at some examples. ... Egocentric, Animistic, and Magical Thinking Do young children really believe that a person standing elsewhere in a room sees exactly what they see? When researchers adapt Piaget's three-mountains problem to include familiar objects and use methods other than picture selection (which is difficult even for 10-year-olds), 4-year-olds show clear awareness of others' vantage points (Borke, 1975; Newcombe & Huttenlocher, 1992). Even 2-year-olds realize that what they see sometimes differs from what another person sees. When asked to help an adult looking for a lost object, 24-month-olds—but not 18-month-olds—handed her a toy resting behind a bucket that was within the child's line of sight but not visible to the adult (Moll & Tomasello, 2006). Nonegocentric responses also appear in young children's conversations. For example, preschoolers adapt their speech to fit the needs of their listeners. Four-year-olds use shorter, simpler expressions when talking to 2-year-olds than to agemates or adults (Gelman & Shatz, 1978). And in describing objects, children do not use such words as "big" and "little" in a rigid, egocentric fashion. Instead, they adjust their descriptions to allow for context. By age 3, children judge a 2-inch shoe as little when seen by itself (because it is much smaller than most shoes) but as big for a tiny 5-inch-tall doll (Ebeling & Gelman, 1994). Even toddlers have some appreciation of others' perspectives. In discussing deferred imitation, we saw that they have begun to infer others' intentions (see page 233). And in Chapters 10 and 11, we will encounter evidence that young children have a much greater appreciation of other people's mental states than Piaget's notion of egocentrism implies. In fairness, however, in his later writings Piaget (1945/1951) described preschoolers' egocentrism as a tendency rather than an inability. As we revisit the topic of perspective taking, you will see that it develops gradually throughout childhood and adolescence.
Fuzzy Trace Theory and Gist Memories
Fuzzy trace theory - people process information complex.doing multiple thingsat once. Fuzzy trace says that we encode info literally but sometimes we encode other funnier gist Gist = fuzzy representation if information that preserves content but few precise details We encode information that is not complete
Explain why the development of the operations decentration/ and reversibility/ contribute to the acquisition of conservation.
Inability to Conserve Piaget's famous conservation tasks reveal several deficiencies of preoperational thinking. Conservation refers to the idea that certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes. For example, in the conservation-of-liquid problem, the child is shown two identical tall glasses of water and asked if they contain equal amounts. The inability to conserve highlights several related aspects of preoperational children's thinking. First, their understanding is centered, or characterized by /centration. /They focus on one aspect of a situation, neglecting other important features. In conservation of liquid, the child centers on the height of the water, failing to realize that changes in width compensate for the changes in height. Second, children are easily distracted by the perceptual appearance of objects. Third, children treat the initial and final states of the water as unrelated events, ignoring the dynamic transformation (pouring of water) between them. The most important illogical feature of preoperational thought is irreversibility. */Reversibility/* —the ability to go through a series of steps in a problem and then mentally reverse direction, returning to the starting point —is part of every logical operation. In the case of conservation of liquid, the preoper a tional child cannot imagine the water being poured back into its original container
Metacognition (T)
Metacognition is "cognition about cognition", "thinking about thinking", or "knowing about knowing" and higher order thinking skills
T ....Describe three educational principles derived from Piaget's theory.
Piaget concluded that Human Cognition was a network of mental structures created by an active organism to make sense of its surrounding world. Piaget's theories represented a radical departure from the Behaviorist viewpoint, which was dominant in the mid 1900's. Unlike Piaget, Behaviorists' did not acknowledge the internal workings of the mind, and believed that a child was a passive, empty vessel, moulded from without. By the 1960's, Piaget's ideas were embraced by many in the development of new education systems. The relevance of his ideas for the education of children made his work especially attractive. Piaget's theories had a major impact on a number of education principles, especially at the preschool and early primary levels. His work has served as the foundation for a wide range of curricula developed over the past few decades. His principles include: 1. A focus on the process of children's thinking, not just its products. Teachers must understand the process children use to gain an answer, not just the correctedness of the answer. When teachers can appreciate a child's method of arriving at a particular answer, they are then in the position to provide the appropriate learning environment for that child. Thus, building on the child's current level of cognitive functioning. 2. Recognition of the crucial role of children's self-initiated and active involvement in learning activities. Children are encouraged to discover and learn for themselves through a visual and practical interaction with the subject. 3. A de-emphasis on practices aimed at children becoming 'adult-like' in their thinking. Premature teaching may be worse than no teaching at all. It leads to a superficial acceptance of adult formulas rather than true cognitive understanding. 4. Acceptance of individual differences in developmental progress. Piaget's theory assumes that all children go through the same sequence of development, but they do so at different rates. Teachers must make a special effort to provide classroom activities for individuals and small groups, rather than for the total class group. Assessment should be based on individual progress, rather than on the normal standards of same age peers.
Describe the evidence suggesting that Piaget may have underestimated the abilities of young children in the sensorimotor (especially with respect to object permanence and mental representations), preoperational (especially egocentrism, animism, and categorization), concrete operational, and formal operational stages.
Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of infants & young children by requiring them to search for hidden objects; i.e., confounding a cognitive problem (object permanence) with the need to perform a motor response (search for the hidden object) Piaget underestimated the impact of social and cultural environment on cognitive development --Findings suggest that Piaget's stages are not as universal & culture-free as some researchers had once believed --They acquire the tools of intellectual adaptation important in their culture; e.g. test-taking in our culture
Schemes
Specific psychological structures- organized ways of making sense of experience.
Describe Piaget's sensorimotor stage of cognitive development and identify major features of this stage, including intentional/means-end behavior, circular reactions, and the development of object permanence.
The sensorimotor stage spans the first two years of life. Its name reflects Piaget's belief that infants and toddlers "think" with their eyes, ears, hands, and other sensorimotor equipment. They cannot yet carry out many activities mentally. Yet the advances of the sensorimotor stage are so vast that Piaget divided it into six substages, summarized in Table 6.1. Piaget based this sequence on a very small sample: his own three children. He observed his son and two daughters carefully and presented them with everyday problems (such as hidden objects) that helped reveal their understanding of the world." Berk, Laura E. (2012-05-02). Child Development (Page 228). Pearson Education. Kindle Edition. The Sensorimotor Stage This the earliest in Piaget's theory of cognitive development. He described this period as a time of tremendous growth and change. During this initial phase of development, children experience the world and gain knowledge through their senses and motor movements. As children interact with their environments, they go through an astonishing amount of cognitive growth in a relatively short period of time. The first stage of Piaget's theory lasts from birth to approximately age two and is centered on the infant trying to make sense of the world. During the sensorimotor stage, an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli. Children utilize skills and abilities they were born with (such as looking, sucking, grasping, and listening) to learn more about the environment. ............................... identify major features of this stage, including intentional/means-end behavior, circular reactions, and the development of object permanence: Intentional/meansend behavior- intentional, or goal-directed, behavior, coordinating schemes deliberately to solve simple problems. The clearest example comes from Piaget's famous object-hiding task, in which he shows the baby an attractive toy and then hides it behind his hand or under a cover. Infants in this substage can find the object by coordinating two schemes— "pushing" aside the obstacle and "grasping" the toy. Piaget regarded these means-end action sequences as the foundation for all problem solving. Circular Reaction: Provides a special means of adapting their first schemes. Involves stumbling onto a new experience caused by the baby's own motor activity. As the infant tries to repeat the event again one again, a sensorimotor response that originally occurred by chance is strengthened into a new scheme. Development of object permanence: Retrieving hidden objects is evidence that infants have begun to master object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight. But this awareness is not yet complete. Babies still make the A-not-B search error: If they reach several times for an object at one hiding place (A), then see it moved to another (B), they still search for it in the first hiding place (A). Piaget concluded that the babies do not yet have a clear image of the object as persisting when hidden from view.
Discuss general models of information processing, including the store model and the connectionist model.
The computer-like view of the cognitive system adopted, either directly or indirectly, by most information-processing researchers emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Called the store model, it focuses on general units of cognitive functioning, assuming that we hold, or store, information in three parts of the mental system for processing: the sensory register; the short-term memory store; and the long-term memory store (see Figure 7.1) (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968). As information flows sequentially through each, we can use mental strategies to operate on and transform it, increasing the chances that we will retain information, use it efficiently, and think flexibly, adapting the information to changing circumstances. To understand this more clearly, let's look at each component of the mental system. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH The most influential information-processing accounts are derived from research with connectionist, or artificial neural network, models. Connectionist researchers design computer systems to simulate the multilayered networks of neural connections in the brain and program them with basic learning procedures—for example, to respond to regularities in the speech stream. Then the artificial network is exposed to various types of language input and given feedback about the accuracy of its responses. When a response is correct, the connections that produced it strengthen; when incorrect, they weaken. If the network's overall pattern of responses resembles that of children of different ages, researchers conclude that the network is a good model of human learning and development. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Development of the short term store (memory is three major parts sensory memory long term short term.) sensory memory is really short, short term memory store (sometimes called working memory) si about 30 seconds long and can hold about 7 imtems give or take..short term store is a smalls tep between ssensory and long term emmoery... long term memory is anything more than 30 seconds... we see usubstancial gains in memory span ..... Connectionists claim that their findings present a powerful argument against the core knowledge perspective, which assumes that infants begin life with innate, special purpose knowledge systems. Instead, connectionists believe that the human cognitive system is a general processing device that gradually attains domain-specific competencies as it is exposed to relevant learning opportunities. Research on autobiographical memory indicates that __________ may lead to the offset of infantile amnesia. learning to structure memories in narrative form In one account of infantile amnesia, infant's memories may be largely implicit, children's and adults' memories explicit; but the second system cannot access events stored by the first.
Describe the major developments in Piaget's concrete and formal operational stages of cognitive development as well as the limitations of these stages.
The concrete operational stage is the third in Piaget's theory of cognitive development. This stage lasts around seven to eleven years of age, and is characterised by the development of organized and rationale thinking. Children gain the abilities of conservation (number, area, volume, orientation) and reversibility. However, although children can solve problems in a logical fashion, they are typically not able to think abstractly or hypothetically. By around seven years the majority of children can conserve liquid (see video below), because they understand that when water is poured into a different shaped glass, the quantity of liquid remains the same, even though its appearance has changed. Five-year-old children would think that there was a different amount because the appearance has changed. ----- The formal operational stage begins at approximately age twelve and lasts into adulthood. As adolescents enter this stage, they gain the ability to think in an abstract manner by manipulate ideas in their head, without any dependence on concrete manipulation
Describe Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of cognitive development, including the concepts of scaffolding and zone of proximal development, and the importance of social experience and language.
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e. come before) development. ___ A second important feature of social interaction is //scaffolding// — adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child's current level of performance. When __
Summarize the strengths and weaknesses of Vygotsky's theory
Weaknesses Vagueness of Zone of Proximal Development The first main ambiguity within Vygotsky's concept of the zone is that only knowing the width of chidren's zones doesn't provide an accurate picture of their learning ability, style of learning, or current level of development compared to other children of the same age and degree of motivation. Having a wide or narrow zone can be desirable or undesirable, depending on its causes. Thus simply assessing children's zones provides a very incomplete developmental picture. external image Vygotsky_Graphic_Final.jpg A second major issue with the zone relates to the problem of measurement. No common, metric scale exists to measure an individual child's zone. Vygotsky sometimes measured the zone in terms of age, such as when a child with an age 6 actual level of functioning and an age 9 potential level of functioning could be said to have a zone of 3 years. However, this is a very global metric, and it cannot be assumed that the difference of 3 years between ages 2 and 5 is equal to that between ages 6 and 9. strength: can apply everyones knowledge to make a large web of information
Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning and Propositional Thought
hypothetico-deductive reasoning A formal operational problem-solving strategy in which adolescents begin with a hypothesis, or prediction, about variables that might affect an outcome. From the hypothesis, they deduce logical, testable inferences. Then they systematically isolate and combine variables to see which of those inferences are confirmed in the real world. ----- propositional thought A type of formal operational reasoning involving the ability to evaluate the logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances. (p. 254) --- formal operational stage: Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning Piaget believed that at adolescence, young people become capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning. When faced with a problem, they start with a hypothesis, or prediction about variables that might affect an outcome, from which they deduce logical, testable inferences.Then they systematically isolate and combine variables to see which of these inferences are confirmed in the real world. Propositional Thought A second important characteristic of Piaget's formal operational stage is propositional thought —adolescents' ability to evaluate the logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances. In contrast, children can evaluate the logic of statements only by considering them against concrete evidence in the real world.
Explain how the information-processing approach has been applied in educational settings to improve children's learning in reading, mathematics, and scientific reasoning. (look for the big picture here and focus on how information processing is used)
no leave me alone
Define various memory strategies (e.g., rehearsal, organization, and elaboration), discuss their importance in aiding recall, and describe the development of their spontaneous use.
o Elaborationn -take something small and hook it onto toher things... .Once children discover elaboration, they find it so effective that it tends to replace other strategies. ♣ Rehersal - repeating items youre trying to retain o Organization - organizing into sections .. starts to occur around age 10 ...i want to die rn
Cooperatve Learning
part of the recrpi teaching Cooperative Learning Although reciprocal teaching uses peer collaboration, a teacher guides it, helping to ensure its success. According to Vygotsky, more expert peers can also spur children's development, as long as they adjust the help they provide to fit the less mature child's zone of proximal development. Recall that Piaget, too, thought that peer interaction could contribute to cognitive change. He asserted that peers' clashing viewpoints—arguments jarring the child into noticing an agemate's viewpoint—were necessary for peer interaction to foster logical thought. Today, peer collaboration is widely used, but evidence is mounting that it promotes development only under certain conditions. A crucial factor is cooperative learning, in which small groups of classmates work toward common goals. Conflict and disagreement seem less important than the extent to which peers achieve intersubjectivity—by resolving differences of opinion, sharing responsibilities, and providing one another with sufficient explanations to correct misunderstandings.
Discuss how Vygotsky's ideas have been applied in educational settings.
recripricoil teaching...In reciprocal teaching, a teacher and two to four students form a collaborative group and take turns leading dialogues on the content of a text passage. Within the dialogues, group members apply four cognitive strategies: questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting. scaffolding with the proper assistance from an adult or a more advanced peer, a child is capable of much more learning than on his/her own. Vygotsky elevated this simple observation to a theoretical generalization known as the "Zone of Proximal Development" (ZPD). He stated that the process of scaffolding brings about abilities that have been in the process of emerging, developing, (that is, have not yet matured) and thus reveals the hidden potential of a child which is crucial for both diagnosis and prognosis. Distinguishing between what a child has already attained (actual level of development) and his potential ability to learn (as determined through the process of problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers), was the base in his search for alternatives to the standardized tests. Lev Vygotsky is rightfully considered to be the "founding father" of what is now called "dynamic assessment" (Lidz, 1991). Psychoeducational assessment, Vygotsky insisted, should concentrate on mental processing (e.g., the cognitive strategies employed by the child) rather than on the "product" (e.g., an IQ score) and on the ability to benefit from the help provided by the examiner. Traditional standardized assessment trails the child's cognitive development to the point of "failure" in his/her individualized (independent) functioning. Dynamic assessment in the Vygotskian tradition leads the child to the point of his/her achieving success in joint/shared activity
Scripts (T)
scripts General descriptions of what occurs and when it occurs in a particular situation, used to organize, interpret, and predict repeated events. (p. 298) .
Theory of Mind (T)
theory of mind A coherent understanding of people as mental beings, which children revise as they encounter new evidence. (p. 303)
Transitive Inference (T)
transitive inference The ability to seriate, or arrange items along a quantitative dimension, mentally. (p. IM DYING BUT FOUND THE GLOSSARY The concrete operational child can also seriate mentally, an ability called transitive inference. In a well-known problem, Piaget (1967) showed children pairings of sticks of different colors. From observing that stick A is longer than stick B and that stick B is longer than stick C, children must infer that A is longer than C. Like Piaget's class inclusion task, transitive inference requires children to integrate three relations at once: A-B, B-C, A-C. When researchers take steps to ensure that children remember the premises (A-B and B-C), 7-year-olds grasp transitive inference
Describe the major features of information-processing models of human cognition.
• Key points -> the brain and a computer share similarities. Limited capacatiy in how much they cans tore and process, hardware and softhere that tells hardware how to wrokd and has hardware brain improves it allows them to use stratages (software • Main assumption that it maeks is that of limited capacity. That means there are limits to how quickly we process information and it limits how mch we can thinkabout at one time. A computer also has limited processing speed. Computers have an unlimited duration but our version of ram (short term memory ) is short and if we don't act on the information it goes away. Cognative psyhcologoists focused on the paraell between computers and processing • Eventually humans can do some things with less and less effort. Like driving a car without thinking twice. Info processing says that if we do something over and over it gets to soemthign that is automatic • Doing a lot of things automatically allows more cram into short term emmory. • VERY DIFF FROMPIAGET AND ETC • Compared to piaged - with respect to info processing thee theoriests disagree with thenotion of stages. Development is a gradual process for them. Idea changes both withnin and between stages have more to do with how we process info than the things piaget was talking about • Info orocesing that childrens shortcomings aren't due to lack of cognative structure but faileure to conserve liwuid can come from multiple things. Inability ot hold relevant info, in their working memory. • They explain the same problem but the question is why? • They agree with piaget that the child plays an active role in his or her development • Children can seek out and learn different strattagies for memory or attention