Information processing

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Information processing is the change (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. Information processing may more specifically be defined in terms used by Claude E. Shannon as the conversion of latent information into manifest information[citation needed]. 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)[citation needed].

Within the field of cognitive psychology, information processing is an approach to the goal of understanding human thinking. It arose in the 1940s and 1950s. The essence of the approach is to see cognition as being essentially computational in nature, with mind being the software and the brain being the hardware. 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 may be sequential or parallel, either of which may be centralized or decentralized (distributed). The parallel distributed processing approach of the mid-1980s became popular under the name connectionism. In the early 1950s Friedrich Hayek was ahead of his time when he posited the idea of spontaneous order in the brain arising out of decentralized networks of simple units (neurons). However, Hayek is rarely cited in the literature of connectionism.

In the 1970s, Abraham Moles and Frieder Nake were among the first to establish and analyze links between information processing and aesthetics.

For more information about Information processing, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with information processing


Search engines are source of learning

Technology / Internet

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Search engine use is not just part of our daily routines; it is also becoming part of our learning process, according to Penn State researchers.





Search results for information processing


New computer cluster gets its grunt from games

New computer cluster gets its grunt from games

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Technology designed to blast aliens in computer games is part of a new GPU (Graphics Processing Units) computer cluster that will process CSIRO research data thousands of times faster and more efficiently ...


carbon fiber

Ultra-Long Carbon Nanotubes Could Serve as Future Transmission Lines

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (27) | comments 15

(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to carbon nanotubes, the majority of research so far has focused on small-scale applications. But now, a team of researchers from Rice University has created carbon nanotubes ...


Solving big problems

Solving big problems with new quantum algorithm

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (32) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recently published paper, Aram Harrow at the University of Bristol and colleagues from MIT in the United States have discovered a quantum algorithm that solves large problems much faster ...


Scientists demonstrate 'universal' programmable quantum processor

Scientists demonstrate 'universal' programmable quantum processor

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Nov 15, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (23) | comments 11

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated the first "universal" programmable quantum information processor able to run any program allowed by quantum mechanics -- th ...


Researchers demonstrate a better way for computers to 'see' (w/ Video)

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 4

Taking inspiration from genetic screening techniques, researchers from Harvard and MIT have demonstrated a way to build better artificial visual systems with the help of low-cost, high-performance gaming hardware.


Two molecules affecting brain plasticity

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- You wouldn't want a car with no brakes. It turns out that the developing brain needs them, too.


Waking up memories while you sleep

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (9) | comments 2

They were in a deep sleep, yet sounds, such as a teakettle whistle and a cat's meow, somehow penetrated their slumber. The 25 sounds presented during the nap were reminders of earlier spatial learning, though the Northwestern ...


I see your pain

I see your pain

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created 19 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- How can some sportsmen and women, in the heat of the moment, play on through pain that would floor anyone else? Bert Trautmann, the Manchester City goalkeeper, famously played on through to ...


New study finds men and women may respond differently to danger

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 29, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activation have found that men and women respond differently to positive and negative stimuli, according to a study presented today at the annual ...


New brain findings on dyslexic children

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 0

The vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, ...



List of search results for information processing