information processing

A psychological approach in which the performance of an organism is described in terms of the elementary operations or computations it performs on input information (the stimulus) to produce output information (the response). It is often associated with cognitive psychology.

In general, information processing can be the changing (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process which describes everything which happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in position) to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system. In the latter case, an information processor is changing the form of presentation of that text file. Shannon as the conversion of latent information into manifest information. Latent and manifest information is defined through the terms of equivocation (remaining uncertainty, what value the sender has actually chosen), dissipation (uncertainty of the sender what the receiver has actually received) and transformation (saved effort of questioning - equivocation minus dissipation).

In cognitive psychology, information processing is an approach to the goal of understanding human thinking. The information processing approach in psychology is closely allied to cognitivism in psychology and functionalism in philosophy although the terms are not quite synonymous. Information processing can be sequential or parallel, which can both be either centralized or decentralized (distributed). (1990), "A Basic Information Psychological Parameter (BIP) for the Reconstruction of Concepts of Intelligence", European Journal of Personality, 4, 259-286.