Information-Processing Theories:

Examining Learning and Memory Skills

MS. MUTYA R. DADIZON

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Information-processing theorists look at cognitive
development in terms of how people of various ages
process information and represent it mentally (Klahr &
MacWhinney, 1998).

Information processing in itself is not a theory, but rather

an approach to cognitive development that has generated
a number of different theories about how cognitive
development takes place (see Amsel & Renninger, 1997;
Kuhn & Siegler, 1998; Sternberg, 1984; Sternberg &
Berg, 1990)

Most of these theories deal with particular domains of

information processing. Examples include the mental
processes and strategies children use when they solve
arithmetic problems, write essays, draw pictures, or
engage in any of a number of other tasks.
 Consider mathematical processing and verbal processing. Thinking
about both numbers and words uses two key processes of cognitive
development: encoding and combination.

Encoding is the process of taking in new information and making sense

of the world. Combination is the process of putting together the pieces of
information we have encoded (Davidson, 1995; Siegler, 1984, 1998).

The way we combine numbers, however, may have little in common

with the way we combine words. For this reason we need to study cognitive
processes in two ways: (1) a domain-general way, where we identify
processes that are used in a variety of cognitive tasks, and (2) a domain-
specific way, where we identify how the processes are used in each kind of
task.
VERBAL SKILLS
People have studied verbal comprehension-the ability to
understand written and spoken material-in some detail
and at various levels.

Several researchers have suggested that most vocabulary

is learned from context (Sternberg, 1 987a; Sternberg &
Powell, 1 983; Werner & Kaplan, 1 963;
Woodward & Markman, 1 998).

These researchers suggest that children (as well as adults)

use various cues to figure out word meanings. For
example, "The teacher's instructions were ambiguous,
with the result that the children just couldn't figure out
what they were expected to do." A child might try to
figure out what "ambiguous" means by noting it is
something that can apply to instructions and it results in
uncertainty.
VERBAL SKILLS
The researchers found that the difficulty of learning a
word could be predicted by the kinds and numbers of
cues available for figuring out the word's meaning. They
also found, as predicted, that a student's ability to figure
out word meanings was a good predictor of his or her
future vocabulary. The ability to identify ambiguity in
sentences is also related to later reading ability (Cairns,
Waltzman, & Schlisselberg, 2004).

These findings suggest a link between the ability to use

verbal contexts and the level of vocabulary a person
develops. One of the best ways for children to increase
their vocabulary is simply to read a lot, which gives them
many opportunities to learn words in their natural
contexts.
SENTENCE IN PARAGRAPHS
Ellen Markman ( 1 977, 1 979; Woodward & Markman, 1
998) has studied verbal comprehension at the level of
paragraph understanding. In one study, she asked
children to read a passage such as the following:
 To make it they put the ice cream in a
very hot oven. The ice cream in Baked
Alaska melts when it gets that hot. Then
they take the ice cream out of the oven
and serve it right away. When they make
Baked Alaska, the ice cream stays firm
and does not melt
 As you may have noticed, this brief paragraph contradicts itself. In
one place, it says the ice cream in Baked Alaska melts when it gets hot; in
another place, it says the ice cream stays firm and does not melt.
Amazingly, almost half of the children between 8 and II years of age that
Markman tested did not notice the contradiction, even when warned in
advance that such contradictions might exist. As a teacher, therefore, do
not be surprised to discover that children may read and even accept two
contradictory statements as though they did not contradict each other.
 Janet was glad finally to be home after a hard day at school. Her
English teacher had yelled at her, she had gotten a Low grade on her
math test, and she had struck out in baseball during gym cLass. Now
she could relax and watch TV for a couple of hours before she started
her homework. The TV shows were boring, though, so Janet decided
to stop watching TV and call her friend Susie. She was not sure what
to talk about, though. Janet changed her mind again and decided to
start working on studying for her first math test of the term.
QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
Investigators have taken a variety of approaches to
understanding the development of quantitative skills. For
example, Brown and Burton (1978) have found that
children's errors in arithmetic can often be accounted tor
by buggy algorithms, or wrong series of steps the
children consistently use when they add, subtract,
multiply, or divide.

Children may reason well but come to wrong answers

because they are using algorithms that do not work (Ben-
Zeev, 1 995, 1 998; see also Heirdsfield & Cooper, 2004;
Sternberg & Ben-Zeev, 1 996)
QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
For example, one of Joan Carlin's middle school math
students may always get the wrong answer when asked to
find the area of a circle. When Joan sees the student's
homework, she notices that the student inserts the
diameter-rather than the radius-of the circle into the
formula for finding area. The student's algorithm, or set
of steps, for finding the area of a circle has a "bug“ that
needs to be fixed if the student is to solve circle problems
correctly.

Buggy algorithms are common in addition and

subtraction of fractions. A student who adds 1/3 + 1/2
may come up with 2/5, thinking that the correct algorithm
is to add numerators and denominators separately.
QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
Because students often do not check whether their
answers make sense, their buggy algorithms persist. In
the case of this example, the sum is actually less than 1/2,
a nonsense result, but one that the student may still think
is correct.

Groen and Parkman ( 1972) studied the steps people use

when they add and subtract. With addition, for example,
they found that people tend to count upward from the
larger addend by the amount of the smaller addend when
they add two numbers.
QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
For example, in 8 + 3 they would count 3 up from 8.
Siegler and Shrager (1984) proposed that when children
do arithmetic, they first try to solve the problems by
direct retrieval of the correct answer from memory.

If their attempt at direct retrieval fails, they then use

backup strategies to see whether they can reach a solution
in another way-for example, by counting up from the
larger of two numbers in an addition problem (Siegler, 1
996).
QUANTITATIVE SKILLS
Paige and Simon (1966) did one of the more interesting
studies of mathematical thinking. They gave students
algebra word problems to solve and looked not only at
whether children made errors but also at what kinds of
errors the students made. These researchers found that
students were surprisingly willing to supply problem
solutions that simply made no sense-for example, that
involved receiving "negative" change from a purchase.
One of the most useful skills a teacher can offer his or her
students is the ability to question whether the answers
they arrive at when they solve problems, in arithmetic or
otherwise, make sense.
MEMORY SKILLS
As you would predict, children's memory skills improve
with age (Kail, 1 986; Ornstein, Haden, & Hedrick, 2004;
Schneider & Bjorklund, 1 998). Two factors that
influence this improvement: people's knowledge about
the domain in which they are learning and remembering,
and people's understanding of their own memory.

Chi and Koeske (1983) found that we remember things

better if we are knowledgeable about the domain in
which we are recalling. Thus memory skills lead to
increased knowledge, which in turn leads to better
memory. Children will learn better, generally speaking, in
domains about which they already have more knowledge.
MEMORY SKILLS
As you would predict, children's memory skills improve
with age (Kail, 1 986; Ornstein, Haden, & Hedrick, 2004;
Schneider & Bjorklund, 1 998). Two factors that
influence this improvement: people's knowledge about
the domain in which they are learning and remembering,
and people's understanding of their own memory.

It has also been noted that deficits in memory are

frequently observed in children with both reading and
mathematical disabilities (Gathercole, Alloway, Willis, &
Adams, 2006; Geary, Hoard, Byrd-Craven, & DeSoto,
2004; Swanson & Jerman, 2007).
MEMORY SKILLS
This observation has led some researchers to conclude
that memory is an important factor in one's ability to
learn (Gathercole et aI., 2006). Further improvements in
working memory can mediate improvements in reading
comprehension (Swanson & Jerman, 2007).

The ability of people of any age to remember material

depends in part on their prior experiences. For example,
Guatemalan and Australian aboriginal children from rural
regions, even at the grade school level, are generally
more expert than children in a typical urban or suburban
U.S. environment at coming up with strategies that help
them remember the locations and arrangements of objects
in space (Kearins, 1 981; Rogoff, 1 986).
MEMORY SKILLS
The greater skill of the Guatemalan and Australian
aboriginal children may reflect their greater reliance
on spatial skills in their environment. They do not have
the road signs, maps, access to mapping software, and
many other aids we use in navigating from one place to
another. Often, they need to rely on subtle cues in their
environments that many of the readers of this book never
would even know how to use, such as positions of Stars
or the moon by comparison, most U.S. children are
usually better at generating strategies for learning isolated
chunks of information, as they are often required to do in
the schools they attend, and at reasoning abstractly with
this information. These abstract reasoning skills can then
be applied to a variety of situations in which they are
needed.
MEMORY SKILLS
School can also teach children how to understand and
control their own memories. For example, learning how
to study for tests is one way in which children develop
strategies for retaining information they later will need.
Such memory-control skills can affect memory
performance (Flavell, 1 976, 1 981; Flavell, Green, &
Flavell, 1 995; Flavell & Wellman, 1 977; T.O. Nelson, 1
996, 1 999; Wellman & Gelman, 1 998).

In general, understanding and control of memory seem to

develop as children age; children become more expert at
using their own memories.
MEMORY SKILLS
Younger children, for example, are less likely than older
children or adults to use recall strategies even if they are
aware of them. When asked to memorize information
they often do not spontaneously rehearse the information.

Rehearsal is a memory strategy in which a person, either

mentally or aloud, recites information over and over
again in an effort to remember it. In this way, rehearsal
allows an individual to gain some control over which
information is stored in memory over the long term. A
young child may simply assume he will remember his
new e-mail address, even though the child does not repeat
the new address, either mentally or aloud
MEMORY SKILLS
When taught strategies in one domain, younger children
often fail to transfer them to another domain: For
example, they do not apply what they learned in the
literary domain to the new history domain. They may
know the years in which an artist lived, for example, but
never think about how those years tie in with world
events. Yet the writing of many authors can be
understood only in its historical context.

The information-processing approach to cognitive

development helps explain how children and adults
develop strategies for solving cognitive problems in a
variety of domains. What are some of the implications of
this approach for educators?
IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING
Try to understand children's thought processes, not just their
final answers. The information-processing approach for
instruction and assessment tells us that we need to understand
not just the answers children provide, but also the means by
which they arrived at these answers. By trying to understand
children's thought processes, teachers can help students develop
correct strategies and change incorrect ones. Expert teachers
often ask students to explain how they came up with an answer
or to "show their work" on tests and homework problems.

Teach strategies for learning. Teach the material of interest, but

also teach children how to learn and use the material to best
make use of their pattern of abilities. Do not just assume that
students will acquire those strategies on their own.
IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING
Teach knowledge not for its own sake, but rather to help
children develop expertise. We now recognize that both
knowledge and strategy are key to expertise. Students cannot
learn to think effectively in the absence of either knowledge or
strategies for effectively utilizing that knowledge.

Pay attention to how students represent information. How

students represent information-that is, which algorithms they
use-can be a key to their learning and problem solving. The key
to solving a mathematical word problem, a physics problem, or
even a problem in social policy can lie in the way information is
represented. Often an error occurs not in the computation, but in
how the problem is set up in the first place.