Describe the information-processing model and outline the three long-held assumptions it is based upon.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The information-processing model uses a computer metaphor to explain how people process stimuli. As with a computer, information enters the system (people's brains) and is transformed, coded, and stored in various ways. Information enters storage temporarily, as in a computer's buffer, until it becomes stored more permanently, as on a computer storage device (USB, hard drive, cloud storage, etc.). At a later time, information can be retrieved in response to some cue, such as a command to open a file. The information-processing model is based on three long-held assumptions (Neisser, 1976): (1) People are active participants in the process; (2) both quantitative (how much information is remembered) and qualitative (what kinds of information are remembered) aspects of performance can be examined; and (3) information is processed through a series of processes. First, incoming information is transformed based on what a person already knows about it. The more one knows, the more easily the information is incorporated. Second, researchers look for age differences in both how much information is processed and what types of information are remembered best under various conditions. Third, researchers in adult development and aging focus on several specific aspects of information processing: early aspects, including a brief sensory memory and attention, and active processing that transfers information into a longer term store (e.g., long-term memory).