CHAPTER SIX
Basic Cognitive Functions: Information
Processing, Attention, and Memory
Cognition
The way the mind
works,
specifically regarding:
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Attention
Memory
Intelligence
Problem solving
Language use
The Information Processing Model
• Uses a computer
metaphor to explain
how people process
stimuli
• Informationprocessing approach:
information is
processed through a
series of hypothetical
stages.
The Information Processing Model and
Memory
• Encoding: process of getting information into memory
• Storage: happens when info is kept in memory
• Retrieval: getting info back out of memory
Information Processing and Attention
• Automatic
processing: occurs
without person
being consciously
aware
• Effortful
processing:
requires one’s full
attention
Two contrasting approaches to
aging and attention:
Attentional Resources Theory
States that cognitive
resources:
• limit how much
information one can
attend to
• generally decrease with
age
Processing Resources
• The amount of attention
one has to apply to a
particular situation
– May account for ability to
remember.
Attentional Resources Theory
Inhibitory control: The ability to focus on one
aspect of a task while ignoring another
Inhibitory Deficit Hypothesis
The idea that older
persons have taskirrelevant thoughts that
interfere with processing
• Older adults have been
shown to have increased
prefrontal cortex activity and
decreased memory
performance compared to
younger adults
• Experience can compensate
for deficits
Multitasking
• Ability to monitor multiple input sources
• Older persons are more penalized when they
must divide their attention and find it more
difficult to multitask.
– Writing while listening
– Conversing while driving
• Extensive practice can
minimize poor performance
on multitasking.
General slowing hypothesis proposes loss of
speed in nervous system is main cause of poorer
information processing
Processing speed and attention
Visual search tasks require the
observer to locate a specific target
among set of distractors.
Simple search
Conjunction search
Memory Test
Memory Processes
Working Memory
• The active processes and structures involved
in holding information in mind
• Simultaneously using that information,
sometimes in conjunction with incoming
information to:
– Solve a problem
– Make a decision
– Learn new information
Implicit versus Explicit Memory
• Explicit (declarative) memory
– Intentional and conscious
remembering of information that is
learned at a specific point in time
– An example is remembering who
wrote the Gettysburg address.
• Implicit (procedural) memory
– Retrieval of information without
conscious or intentional recollection
– Familiar tasks, such as brushing teeth
or driving a car.
– Smaller age differences than explicit
memory
Long Term Memory
• The ability to remember extensive amounts of information
from a few seconds, hours, or decades.
• Semantic Memory
– Learning and remembering the meaning of words, concepts,
facts, etc.
• Episodic Memory
– Conscious recollection of information from a specific event or
point in time
• Source memory
– The recall of where or how an individual acquires information
Long Term Memory
• Recall Memory
– Occurs when one remembers
information without any help or cues
– Do you remember what was on the
first slide?
Long Term Memory
• Recognition Memory
– Occurs when one selects from a list of several options
– Were any of the following images on the first slide?
Age Differences in Memory
• Encoding
– Elaborative rehearsal involves:
• making connections between
incoming information and information
already known
• organization of ideas
• establishing links between concepts
• Older persons are not as effective in
strategies as younger.
• Pet scans show age differences in
encoding.
– Scaffolding theory: older adults recruit
alternate neural circuits to make up for
losses suffered elsewhere in the brain
Memory Processes
Autobiographical Memory
• Involves remembering
information and events
from our own life
– A form of episodic memory
• Flashbulb memories
– Vivid memories of very
personal or emotional
events
Misinformation and Memory
• False Memory
– When one remembers items or events that did not occur
• Remembering childhood abuse that never happened
• Picking a person out of a lineup that is innocent
Eyewitness Testimony, Part II
• Uploaded by CBSNewsOnline on Mar 8, 2009
• Link to video
Memory in Context
Prospective Memory
• Involves remembering to perform a planned
action in the future (remembering to remember)
– General decline with age
– Older patients remember to take medication better than busy
middle-aged patients!
Memory Self Efficacy
• The confidence you have
in your own memory
• Stereotype threat: People
perform in ways consistent
with negative stereotypes
about the group in which
they perceive themselves
as belonging.
– Older adults do worse on a
memory task if they believe
that age hampers memory
ability
Factors That Preserve Memory
• Exercising memory
– Think of memory as
a mental muscle
• Multilingualism and
Cognitive
Functioning
– Research suggests
that older adults
who speak four or
more languages
had the best
cognitive state
independent of
education.
Memory Drugs
• Only modest, short
term improvement
• No medical
breakthroughs
• Combining
Strategies
– What works with
one may not work
for all
Memory Training
• External aids: rely on
environmental
resources
– Notebooks or calendars
• Internal aids: rely on
mental processes
– Imagery, rote rehearsal,
mnemonics
Memory is also related to health-related
behaviors in middle and later adulthood
• Interferes with
memory:
Cigarette smoking Poorer
memory among smokers and
former smokers
Emotions
Stress and depression can
interfere with memory
performance
Dietary intake of
Homocysteine, or meat
• Enhances memory:
Exercise
Positive benefits of aerobic
exercise and strength
training
Consumption of fish
Lower rate of cognitive
decline in fish eaters
Dietary intake of:
Vitamins B12, B6, and folate
Flavonoids including
chocolate
Sleep
Related to better memory in
young adults