Cascade Processing

Under the assumption that a cpmplex task can be broken down into distinct stages of information processing, and that these stages can be sequentially ordered, the complex task can be performed by completing each distinct stage.

Unlike discrete processing, with cascade models the latter stages of information processing can begin operating before the completion of earlier information processing stages. Connectionist models of information processing operate in a cascade manner and are important for the way in which these models can learn relationships between stimule and responses.

Depending on the complexity of the information being processed, it may be transmitted between some processing stages in a cascade manner, but in other stages it may be processed in a discrete manner.

References:

1. Eysenck, M.W. (Ed.). (1990). The Blackwell Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.