Definition
A model of how the human mind takes in, filters, stores, and uses information, treating the brain somewhat like a computer that receives input through the senses, processes it through short-term and long-term memory, and produces a response. In aviation training, it is used to explain how students perceive, understand, and retain knowledge and skills.
Plain English
It is a way of describing how the brain receives information from the world, decides what to pay attention to, holds it briefly while thinking, moves the important parts into long-term memory, and then uses it later. Instructors apply this idea to understand why students learn some things easily and forget others.
Context Anchor
Seen in flight instructor training when discussing how students learn, why they become overloaded, and how instruction can be paced so they can understand and remember it.
Derivation
From Latin informare, meaning to give shape to or instruct, and processus, meaning a going forward or series of steps. The phrase describes the mind moving information forward through a series of stages, much like a process line, until it becomes useful knowledge.
Why Pilots Care
Instructors apply the theory to present material in short, logical steps so student pilots can absorb, remember, and use critical information without overload during training or flight.
Analogy
It is like watching how a pilot handles a radio call: first hearing it, picking out the important parts, understanding the instruction, remembering it long enough to act, and then flying the correct action.
Grounding Statement
Picture a student in the cockpit hearing a radio call: the ears pick it up, attention locks on, the brain holds the words for a few seconds, compares them to what is already known, and produces a readback. That whole sequence is information processing in action.
Intuition Check
Do not read “theory” here as a wild guess. In this context, it means an organized way to explain how learning and memory work.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor used information processing theory to explain why short, focused briefings helped the student remember procedures better than long lectures.
Example Sentence 2
Using information processing theory, the lesson plan introduced new radio procedures only after the student had mastered the previous ones.