Notes from A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine

The Attention Controls

*Mental Energy Controls – Alertness, Mental Effort, Sleep-Arousal, Consistency

*Intake Controls – Selection, Depth & Detail, Mind Activity, Satisfaction, Span

*Output Controls – Previewing, Options, Pace, Reinforcement, Quality

The Memory System

* Short-term (~ 2 seconds, “4-7 numbers at a time”) – Recoding information, Strategies to extend time, Various kinds of info (visual, auditory, motor), Memory & Attention together, Registering information fast enough

* Active Working (seconds to minutes to hours) – Holding together different parts: parts of ideas while they develop; parts of a task while doing it; short- and long-term plans; moving info from short- to long-term memory

* Long-term (permanent knowledge) – Filing information (Pairs, Procedures, Categories, Rules & Familiar Patterns); Accessing information (Recall, Recognition, Automatization); Voluntary/Involuntary; Episodic (biographical)/Semantic (formal learning)

The Language System

* Different Varieties of Language:
– Automatic vs Literate Language
– Concrete vs Abstract Language
– Basic vs Higher Language
– Receptive vs Expressive

* Language Levels: sounds (phonemes) –> word bits (morphemes) –> word meanings (semantics) –> words in sentences (syntax) –> language in big chunks (discourse) –> thinking about language (metalinguistics)

Language Production: (Oral –> Written); for Memory; Creative Expression; Understanding; Social Skills; Behavior regulation; Motor skill development

Two Languages – Bilingual situations and Studying a foreign language