A brief reflection on some material regarding the IPM:
The information processing model is a system developed by psychologists from years of researching the brain. The model has been constantly molded and shaped by new discoveries and understandings regarding the brains inter-workings as it absorbs and processes information from the world around us.
The accepted IPM model consists of five main processes that information passes through until it is stored in the long term memory. Initially information is taken in from the world around us by a combination of our five senses. As we absorb this information from our environment it passes through the sensory register which filters out meaningless information and sends important information to our immediate memory. The sensory register is composed of our reticular activating system and our thalamus as a means of regulating a balance of stimulus and information we are exposed to at any moment and remains a largely an unconscious job. Our immediate memory serves as a brief place where our brain takes and holds large amounts of information, usually for a brief thirty seconds, so that we may subconsciously make a decision to dispose of useless information. From immediate memory, information travels to the working memory which involves the conscious arrangement of information to be later stored in long term memory. Working memory is where thinking takes place and is also where retrieved memories from long term storage are held as we rework them into new ideas and understandings. After we solidify an idea and reinforce a pattern of thought in accordance with that new formulated information in our working memory, we can begin to store it in our long term storage by associating the information with past memories or schema’s. These constant inputs of information into our long term storage make up our cognitive belief system as we arrive to certain understandings about the world around us. Our self concept if largely based on our attitude and directly affects the way in which long term memories and our cognitive belief system is viewed, either is positively or negatively.
The generally accepted IPM model functions similarly in the way I absorb information. As I am exposed to stimulus from the world around me it ends up in a place where I account for relative facts. My desire is what fuels my attentiveness. The stronger and more focused my desire on an end, the more apt I am to absorb stimulation around me to get me there. I like to think laterally and often find myself overloaded with information that bogs down my analytical understandings of linear reasoning. As I absorb large amounts of information, it is held in an area of my brain similar to immediate memory. My immediate memory is very open and tends to be bombarded by tons of unorganized information waiting to be processed. The majority of my thinking resides in the working memory where I pull out all sorts of connections from my long term storage and schema’s, cross referencing connections and associations that could prove to be related if explored. I use quick analytical approaches to explore the possibility of these abstract juxtaposes. If a concept seems to be supported through this process, I draw from my immediate memory to look for information to further analyze. The working memory is where I assimilate and solidify my understandings before they are stored long term in different schemas. The more time I spend hammering a concept together the better understood it is and the more connections it is supported by in the long term memory and schemas.
My strength’s reside in my ability to think comprehensively and abstractly by retrieving my past understandings, experiences, and assimilations from LTS. I can retrieve information quite well as long as the desire and end-goal is in line with the process. I examine implications of every idea and the connections tend to be broad as well as deep if I choose to develop the understanding further as long as it’s supporting my desire. My immediate memory allows me to see many sides of information for a more comprehensive look at the implications of the information on my life and previous findings.
My immediate memory tends to be compromised in analytical sequential processing as I absorb too much unrelated information while trying to establish an idea or learn. A rigid based curriculum in school can be dry and the information lacks meaning as there is little breadth that is exposed to the different meanings it could have on my holistic understanding. I am often bombarded by too many thoughts and tend to complicate things by looking at too much information. I would attribute my immediate memory the main contributing cause for the result.
The best way to store information effectively involves ensuring an episodic dynamic is involved. Experiences construct a realness of life that extends past many semantic boundaries of understanding. Having all the answers doesn’t help if you don’t know how to use them or have never used them. Information for the sake of remembering presents very little recall value unless specific instructions were given to use that information for the specific task or experience. Episodic memory also transcends semantic memory in the variety of senses used to absorb the stimulus. If we are attempting to absorb new information and learn something, we would be more apt to remember the process due to the multiple streams of stimulation we receive through our senses so that we can assimilate more comprehensively which would allow us to mold our understanding to a higher degrees, not to mention the emotional significance of the event that is encoded to the information as it is stored. Episodic memory is more likely to be practical since real world experience has already been attached to the application of information. When this happens with each subsequent recall of information, we will be able to better configure and sharpen our understanding for a more accurate application. Procedural information is most likely involved in the episodic memory absorption to a large degree, especially if we are physically involved with the pursuit of absorbing and learning the information.
The effects of large quantities of information being absorbed and taken into account due to the immediate memory overload is the main component of ADHD. People with ADHD have a difficult time thinking in a linear fashion because they absorb so much information, or they counter this overload by filtering out all the information. This would explain the attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, in that either not enough, or not the right amount of information is absorbed and understood, or too much information in absorbed. When the material has relevance the person dubbed ADHD can hyper-focus and super analyze, creating great understandings of larges amounts of information. Repetition and elaborative rehearsal is the most effective way of absorbing and storing information. In this way, if the time is available and taken, large quantities of information may be examined in order to extract specific understandings. This allows for lateral thinking, involving great amounts of information to be taken into account in order to understand a singular meaning. Rote rehearsal is too simplistic and linear. Regurgitating the information may be confused with all the other degrees of information or thoughts occurring simultaneously in the immediate or working memory. Rote rehearsal can be effective if enough time is dealt with the process and if the material is stimulating. Dividing the time allocated for rote rehearsal into fifteen minute segments with three to five minute breaks in between would allow for much better retention due to the increase in stimulation. For those dubbed ADHD, I would think most memory rehearsal that’s anything but elaborate, offering extensive dynamics and stimulation, lacks meaning and is too dry and un-stimulating to a produce real and lasting impact in the memory.
William Dare 