Active Processing System
Sensory
Input is the gathering of sensory
information by sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.
Of course in academic learning, sight and hearing are
predominant. This sensory information must be received
easily and clearly by the processing system.
The
Active Processing System is the part of the learning
system that does something with what is seen or heard.
It works just like your computer processor with a program
loaded. It attends to new information, analyzes it, links
it with past experience, and determines the value of the
information entering. It's in this area that most learning
problems occur.
Motor
Output is the response to the information that we
have both received and processed. It includes actions
such as running, writing or speaking.
PLEASE
NOTE:Studies
point out that only 10 to 15 percent of learning difficulties
are due to input or output problems and approximately
85-90 percent are due to poor processing skills. Let's
examine this system more closely.
The
skills most needed for good learning:
The
active processing system includes attention and working
memory (the ability to retain the information until it
is further analyzed). It is the work center. As the incoming
information is worked on, other mental skills come into
play and interact with it.
For
example, long-term memory is used to compare incoming
information with past experiences, so that we can determine
if it is new, old, or a modification of information we
have stored in the past.
Visual
information requires visual processing skills to discriminate
and analyze information. Likewise auditory input requires
auditory processing skills to analyze and process sound
information. Problem solving activities require logic
and reasoning skills and listening and reading will also
require comprehension skills for understanding.
This whole process is governed by a planning function,
which may tell us that the information coming in is useless,
and thus we should ignore it and not attend to it. It
may determine that the information is useful, and something
we should pay particular attention to.
The
degree to which all these individual mental skills are
developed and the efficiency in which they work and integrate
with each other, will play heavily in the overall ability
of the active processing system to handle information
accurately, quickly, and efficiently.
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