Human development concepts and applications

Human Development:

Human beings develop from childhood into adulthood not only through the natural aging process, but equally important by an education process that extends right through their lifetime. Memorization forms an integral part of education as memory functioning determines our ability to receive, process, store and recall information for relevant use. The information processing approach includes the input processes concerned with stimuli analysis, the storage processes which entail all internal handling of the stimuli information within the brain, including any coding or manipulation of the stimuli and the output processes responsible for preparing the appropriate response to a stimulus (McLeod, 2008).

Several assumptions are made when it comes to explaining the influence on memory by the information processing approach. First, all information received from our environment is handled by processing systems including perception, short-term memory, and attention. Secondly, such information is systematically altered and transformed by these information processing systems. Thirdly, that information processing in humans closely resembles that in computers.

At the outset, information comes from our environment into the brain's sensory registers. At this point the information is handled by our sensory memory, which lasts for a very short time due to lack of any conscious acknowledgement of stimulus. In fact, we are not capable of consciously acknowledging all the stimuli that bombard us from our environment. Our working memory is only activated when we become aware of incoming stimuli and consciously commit some attention to them.

Working or short-term memory is limited in capacity -- and so most people can attend to only about seven pieces of information at a time. While in short-term memory, information can either be continuously rehearsed so that it is retained; moved out of this area by committing it to long-term memory; or it may be easily forgotten by shifting our attention to other stimuli. Working memory can be compared to a computer's random access memory (RAM) which only serves to hold data as long as the operator is working with it.

Long-term memory is comparable to the permanent hard disk storage of a computer system since it stores information for a long time. Information in long-term memory does not have to be constantly rehearsed to be readily recalled ("Information Processing," n.d). However, before being used, information committed to long-term memory must first be brought back into our working memory through a retrieval process. While data retrieval from a computer hard drive is a reliable process, information retrieval from long-term memory requires the development of memory recall strategies.

While it seems like children are able to remember things adults do not, adults have a better memory in the sense that they have the ability to remember more information, with greater accuracy and for long periods of time (Gilmore, 2005). As such different memory development strategies are suitable for children and adults. For children the use of multisensory techniques such as songs, colors, rhythms, visual pictures, or movement makes memorizing an easier and more exciting process (Richards, 2008). For example children can use mnemonics to help capture and store information in the form of a funny or silly pattern that hooks together the information that should become easy to recall. Memory development strategies in adults include the same mnemonics, creation of mind maps to help summarize and visualize information, linking new information with older information that is similar information. In adulthood, memory must be exercised or else it loses its edge, and so activities or games that help exercise the memory are helpful.