Information processing is a term which refers to the series of cognitive mechanisms that enable us to monitor, interpret, evaluate and respond to incoming stimuli (via the five senses of vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell).

Definition: A ‘stimulus’ is something that requires or causes a response.

Information processing consists of three main components:

  • Capacity i.e. how much information a person is able to process.
  • The speed at which information can be processed.
  • The ability to control, plan and organise thinking processes and to prioritise.

Information processing is complex and inextricably linked with the other cognitive processes of executive functioning, attention, memory, language processing and perception.

Therefore, impairment of information processing abilities following Acquired Brain Injury (ABI):

  • Reduces the amount of information the person is able to process effectively and accurately.
  • Reduces the speed at which the person is able to process information.
  • Impairs the ability to plan and organise their thinking processes and to prioritise.

Usually, during communication, we are able to:

  1. Rapidly interpret social situations and the communication occurring within these situations.
  2. Formulate and produce a relevant response.

Therefore information processing impairments following ABI may have a subsequent marked impact on the person’s ability to:

  • Process language.
  • Process non-verbal communication.
  • Process the social situation.
  • Respond adequately and timeously.

The reasons why communication may be adversely affected by impairments of information processing include:

  • During interaction there is a large amount of environmental, social and communicative information to process. The person may lack the ability to adequately process all the relevant information.
  • Social situations can change rapidly and significant quantities of information may be communicated in a short time period (linguistic, non-verbal and situational information). The person may not be able to keep up with rapidly changing situations and the speed at which information is presented to them.
  • The person may be unable to work out which environmental stimuli they should focus their attention on, which stimuli should take priority and then struggle to plan, organise and communicate an effective and appropriate response.
  • The person may become overwhelmed by the communicative demands that social situations may place upon them. Anxiety may become a prominent feature.  The person may be rapidly cognitively fatigued by the processing demands. These factors may further impact upon the person’s communication abilities.

Information processing impairments may not be immediately obvious when communicating with the brain injured person; these impairments may be a ‘hidden’ disability.  However, markedly slowed responses can be very noticeable in some people following ABI.

Problems arising from information processing impairment may be incorrectly attributed to the person being uncooperative, difficult, demotivated or even challenging.  There may be a significant discrepancy between the person’s communicative performance in a quiet environment, during one-to-one communication or during assessment sessions when compared with their performance in other, more communicatively demanding social situations.  Therefore, other people’s expectations of the person’s ability to manage social situations may be unrealistic if they are based on the person’s performance in less demanding situations.

Communication changes associated with impaired information processing include reduced ability to:

  • Understand communication when information is given too quickly.
  • Understand when a lot of information is given at one time.
  • Follow conversation when there are more than two people involved.
  • Follow rapid conversational exchanges.
  • Cope with busy noisy environments which add to the processing ‘load’ and make it more difficult to understand and follow conversation (e.g. in family gatherings, in a supermarket, in a pub).

Further impacts of information processing impairments upon communication include:

  • The person may take longer than would be expected to formulate and produce a response.
  • Other people may ‘jump’ into the ‘gaps’ left in conversation when the person is still trying to form a response. This can mean the person does not get the opportunity to give their opinion, ask a question, comment, use humour and be fully part of the interaction.
  • The person may struggle to plan, organise and communicate appropriate and complete responses.
  • The person may be more able to communicate effectively in some situations than in others. This may lead to unrealistic expectations of their overall communicative ability.
  • Changes to information processing may lead to increased isolation if the person is unable to manage the normal range of social communicative situations.  This in turn leads to a decrease in opportunities for interaction with subsequent impact upon quality of life.

 

For further details about information processing please refer to the relevant section of this website.