Information Processing Theory

There several influential theorists associated with cognitive theory, and a few whose work and theories were particularly key for  information processing theory.

George A. Miller was a pioneer in cognitive psychology and made significant contributions to Information Processing theory.  While his career began during the reign of the behaviourists, his work differed because it focused on mental processes. Miller quantified the limits of short term memory by proposing that people generally have difficulty remembering more than 7 (give or take 1 or 2) pieces of information and that the brain groups or  chunks  information together makes it easier to remember. Miller later expressed that his ‘magical number 7” was often misunderstood and misinterpreted.

Check out this 4.5 min video about cognitive load and chunking information.

Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed a multi-store model of memory that involves sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Building on Atkinson and Shiffrin’s work, Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch proposed a model of working memory called the “multiple component model” in the early 1970’s, which was intended to be an alternative to Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model. Baddely proposed that there are multiple short term memory stores and a separate  system in the brain for manipulating the content of these stores.  He also completed a significant study that showed that people remembered more short words than long words in a recall test. This was called the word length effect and it demonstrated that pronunciation time, rather that number of items, determines the capacity of verbal short term memory.

Check out this 8min video about memory.

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References:

Baddeley, A. D.; Thomson, N.; Buchanan, M. (1975). “Word length and the structure of short term memory”. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 14 (6): 575–589.

Harasim, L. (2011). Learning Theory and Online Technology: How New Technologies are Transforming Learning Opportunities. New York: Routledge Press.

McLeod, S. (2007)  Multi-Store Model of Memory, Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968. Electronically retrieved from: http://www.simplypsychology.org/multi-store.html

Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81–97.