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| Where information first enters the brain, a broad panorama of sights and sounds are represented directly but stored only momentarily. |
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| the short-term memory store |
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Definition
| In the second part of the mind, we retain attended-to information briefly so we can actively “work” on it to reach our goals. |
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| the number of items that can be briefly held in mind while also engaging in some effort to monitor or manipulate those items. |
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Definition
| Manages the cognitive system’s activities, it directs the flow of information, implementing the basic procedures and engages in more sophisticated activities that enable complex, flexible thinking. |
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Definition
| are so well-learned that they require no space in working memory and, therefore, permit us to focus on other information while simultaneously performing them. |
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| The largest storage area, it is our permanent knowledge base. |
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Definition
| the set of cognitive operations and strategies necessary for self-initiated, purposeful behavior in relatively novel, challenging situations. |
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Definition
| Robbie Case’s (1992, 1998) theory accepts Piaget’s stages but attributes change within each stage, and movement from one stage to the next, to increases in the efficiency with which children use their limited working-memory capacity. Each stage involves a distinct type of cognitive structure: in infancy, sensory input and physical actions; in early childhood, internal representations of events and actions; in middle childhood, simple transformations of representations; and in adolescence, complex transformations of representations. |
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Term
| central conceptual structures |
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Definition
| networks of concepts and relations that permit them to think about a wide range of situations in more advanced ways. |
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Definition
| Robert Siegler’s (1996, 2006) model uses an evolutionary metaphor, “natural selection”, to help us understand cognitive change. When given challenging problems, children generate a variety of strategies, testing the usefulness of each. With experience, some strategies are selected; they become more frequent and “survive. ” Others become less frequent and “die off.” Like the evolution of physical traits, children’s mental strategies display variation and selection, yielding adaptive problem-solving techniques— ones best suited to solving the problems at hand. |
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