Serial and parallel processing ◦ Top-down and bottom-up processing ◦ Automatic and controlled processes  Development of the processing system

Psycholinguistics Psychological Mechanisms.

Psychological Mechanisms Information processing system  Processing . ◦ Serial and parallel processing ◦ Top-down and bottom-up processing ◦ Automatic and controlled processes  Development of the processing system.

The Stages of Memory ◦ Encoding ◦ Storage ◦ Retrieval.

Information-Processing Model of Memory. ◦ A model of memory in which information must pass through discrete stages via the processes of attention, encoding, storage, and retrieval..

Memory. Types of Memory Sensory. Memory. Records information from the senses for up to three seconds Short-Term. Memory. Holds about seven items for up to twenty seconds before the material is forgotten or transferred to long-term memory Long-Term. Memory. Relatively permanent, can hold vast amounts of information.

Working Memory (Short Term Memory) A temporary holding place for the cognitive acts on the information.  Size: limited, 7±2 units  Duration: limited, 10 to 20 seconds .

Working Memory (Short Term Memory) Continuous rehearsal (rehearing) can maintain the contents of the memory indefinitely.  Memory span test . . participants are given a series of items (words, letters, numbers, and so forth) and asked to recall the items in the order presented (or in backwards order).

Baddeleys’ Working Memory Model Central Executive Visual Scribe. Visuo-spatial Sketch Pad. Episodic Buffer. Articulatory Loop. Phonological Store.

Working Memory Model . Articulatory Loop. ◦ Used to maintain information for a short time and for acoustic rehearsal. . Visuo-spatial Sketch Pad. ◦ Used for maintaining and processing visuo-spatial information. . Episodic Buffer. ◦ Used for storage of a multimodal code, holding an integrated episode between systems using different codes.

Working Memory Model . Central Executive ◦ Focuses attention on relevant items and inhibiting irrelevant ones ◦ Plans sequence of tasks to accomplish goals, schedules processes in complex tasks, often switches attention between different parts ◦ Updates and checks content to determine next step in sequence of parts.

Tests of the model Word-length effect  Stroop task  Antisaccade task . . The Stroop and antisaccade tasks depend on attention control.

Long-term memory . Semantic memory. Our store of general knowledge.  Episodic memory Our personal memory system.

Long-term memory Autonoetic consciousness  the type of consciousness of subjectivity experienced time: past, present, or future . Déjà vu  the erroneous feeling that one has experienced a particular event before .

Issues in Language Processing    . Serial and parallel processing Top-down and bottom-up processing Automatic and controlled processes Modularity.

Serial and Parallel Processing . Serial processing: deal with one task at a time.. . Parallel processing: deal with multiple tasks at a time. . Rumelhart’s test shows the context helps decide the identity of the obscured letter. And thus proves the parallel processing (fig. 3-2) ..

Parallel Distributed Processing . . . Properties of the tasks that people are good at. ◦ A number of different pieces of information must be kept in mind at once. ◦ Each plays a part, constraining others and being constrained by them Assumption of PDP model: ◦ interactions of a large number of simple processing elements ◦ each sending excitatory and inhibitory signals to other units. Elements of model ◦ unit, activation, interaction among units.



Top-down and Bottom-up Processing . Bottom-up processing: from the lowest level to the highest level. . Top-down processing: information at the higher levels may influence processing at the lower levels.. . Top-down attention is also referred to as endogenous or sustained attention, and bottom-up attention is commonly typified as exogenous or transient attention (Carrasco, 2011)..

Automatic and Controlled Processes . Tasks that draw substantially from the limited resources are controlled tasks and the processes involved are controlled processes.. . Tasks that do not require substantial resources are automatic tasks and the processes involved are automatic processes.. . Automatic tasks are not related to the age of the individual or to the strategy employed..

Automatic and Controlled Processes Certain automatic tasks appear to be biologically built into our cognitive equipment, e.g. frequency counter.  Other automatic processes are the result of extensive practice.  Language processing can be automatic (recognition of common words) or controlled (parsing of sentences). .

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development In Children Features of Piaget’s theory  Genetic Epistemology  biological approach  Structuralism Mechanisms of development ◦ Cognitive adaptation  Assimilation  Accomodation ◦ Cognitive equilibriation.

Stages of Development Piaget’s theory identifies four developmental stages and the processes by which children progress through them.  The four stages are: . 1. Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 24 months) 2. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old) 3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years old) 4. Formal Operational Stage (11-15 years old) (Brainerd, 1978)..

Sensorimotor Stage In this period, intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols.  Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because it is based on physical interactions and experiences.  Some symbolic abilities are developed at the end of this stage. .

Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old) In this period, intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols.  Language use matures.  Memory and imagination are developed.  Thinking is done in a non-logically nonreversible manner  Egocentric thinking predominates .

Characteristics of Pre-Operational Stage . Egocentrism. ◦ It is all about them ◦ They can not differentiate between themselves and the world. . Rigidity of Thought. ◦ Centration: focus on one aspect of an object  Therefore no addition or subtraction. Semilogical reasoning  Limited social cognition . ◦ Lack of awareness of intentions in others.

Concrete operations stage . Seriation ◦ mentally arrange items along a dimension (e.g. height, weight, time or speed). . Classification ◦ Sort objects into groups ◦ Class inclusion. . Number concepts ◦ Numbers are arbitrary ◦ Invariance of number. . Conservation.

Formal operations stage . Reasoning about abstractions ◦ Hypothetical and abstract notions  Future  ‘other worlds’. . Applying logic ◦ Deductive reasoning (“if … then…”). . Advanced problem solving ◦ Systematic  Pendulum task.