ElmCore Journal of Educational Psychology October, 2014 | Page 47

Science-Fellows®
As previously stated, cognition is the
encoding, structuring, storing, retrieving, using, or
otherwise learning knowledge (Neisser, 1967). There
are important developmental aspects for each of these
activities. According to Flavell et al. (2002), from an
information processing perspective some of the most
important are:
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.

Brain changes brought about by
biological maturation or experience;
Increased processing capacity, speed,
and efficiency as a result of both
maturation and knowledge
development;
Modifications of connections in a
neural network;
New emergent concepts arising from
repeated self-organization as a result of
adapting to the demands of a changing
environment; and
Increased capacity for problem-solving
and metacognition.

Encoding
Encoding occurs during the initial
processing of a stimulus or event. Maturation and
experience influence this process. In terms of
maturation, Dempster (1981) suggests that the adult
capacity for short-term memory of 5 + 2 digits might
be as much as 2 digits lower for children aged 5 and 1
digit lower for children aged 9. As for experience, in a
series of well-known studies of expertise, novices
remember new information less well than experts
(e.g., Chi, 1978; Schneider, Korkel, & Winert, 1989).
One of the most important differences between
novices and experts is the structure and organization
of domain-specific knowledge.
Structuring and Organizing
Structuring and organizing information
occur as the learner processes and stores information.
The learner’s ability changes over time as a result of
both maturation and experience.
When presented with information they are
asked to remember, younger children do not rehearse

ElmCore® Journal of Educational Psychology

information in order to remember it. As they get into
school, they begin to develop or are taught various
strategies. At first these strategies are only used when
prompted by someone else, but as the child becomes
more competent in their use and uses them more
frequently, the child will increasingly use the
strategies spontaneously (Flavell et al., 2002).
One of the most important infor X][ۂ