Foundations of Human Memory

by Kahana, Michael Jacob

• ISBN13: 9780195333244
• ISBN10: 0195333241
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Foundations of Human Memoryprovides an introduction to the scientific study of human memory with an emphasis on both the major theories of memory and the laboratory studies that have been used to test those theories and inspire their further development. Written with the undergraduate student in mind, the text assumes no specific background in the subject, but a general familiarity with scientific method and quantitative approaches to the treatment of data. Foundations of human memory is organized around the major empirical paradigms used to study memory in the laboratory and the theories used to explain data obtained using those paradigms. The text begins with a focus on memory for individual items, building up to memory for associations between items, and finally to memory for entire sequences of items and the problem of memory search. Several major theories of memory are considered in detail, including strength theory, summed-similarity theory, neural network based theories, retrieved-context theory, and theories based on the division of memory into separate short-term and long-term storage systems. The text emphasizes basic research over applied problems, but brings in real-world examples and neuroscientific evidence as appropriate.

Author Biography

Michael Jacob Kahana, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Kahana's research focuses on basic mechanisms of human memory uncovered through use of direct brain recordings and computational modeling of behavioral data. He was the 2010 recipient of the Troland Research Award from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. 3
Historical Background	p. 4
Association, Context, and Episodic Memory	p. 10
Methods Used in Studying Memory	p. 14
The Laws of Repetition and Recency	p. 19
Cognitivism	p. 25
Organization of the Book	p. 32
Item Recognition	p. 34
Strength Theory	p. 35
Multiple Sources of Strength?	p. 48
Major Findings Concerning Item Recognition	p. 57
Sternberg's Procedure	p. 65
Summary and Current Directions	p. 74
Attribute Models	p. 80
Attributes	p. 81
A Multitrace Distributed Memory Model	p. 85
Similarity Effects	p. 94
The Diffusion Model of Response Time	p. 96
Context Revisited	p. 98
Summary and Current Directions	p. 102
*List-strength Effect	p. 103
*A Unitrace Attribute Model	p. 105
Associations and Cued Recall	p. 111
Major Associative Tasks	p. 112
Encoding and Repetition	p. 115
Recency and List Length	p. 122
Retrieval Errors	p. 124
Retroactive Interference and Recovery	p. 126
Proactive Interference	p. 131
Context and Interference Theory	p. 132
Similarity and Interference	p. 133
Unlearning as Inhibition	p. 136
Interference Theory: Concluding Remarks	p. 141
Item and Associative Information	p. 143
Summary and Current Directions	p. 147
Models of Association	p. 151
The Attribute-similarity Framework	p. 152
Neural-network Models	p. 161
Summary and Current Directions	p. 174
*More on Linear Associators	p. 178
*Project: Cued Recall in a Hopfield Network	p. 181
Free Recall and Memory Search	p. 185
Serial-position Effects	p. 186
Retrieval Dynamics	p. 196
Semantic Clustering	p. 204
Intrusions	p. 212
Repetition Effects	p. 214
Summary and Current Directions	p. 218
Models of Free Recall	p. 223
Dual-store Memory Search Models	p. 223
Testing Dual-store Models	p. 233
Problems for Dual-store Models	p. 239
Single-store Retrieved-context Models	p. 247
Testing Retrieved Context Theory	p. 256
Summary and Current Directions	p. 263
Sequence Memory	p. 269
Serial Recall and Memory Span	p. 270
Serial-position Effects	p. 272
Modality and Suffix Effects: Evidence for a phonological STS?	p. 275
Recall Errors	p. 277
Associative Asymmetry	p. 282
Grouping Effects	p. 284
Summary and Current Directions	p. 286
Theories of Sequence Memory	p. 290
Associative Chaining	p. 291
Positional Coding	p. 294
Eight Critical Findings	p. 296
Chaining vs. Positional Coding	p. 305
Hierarchical Associative Theory	p. 307
Summary and Current Directions	p. 308
References	p. 311
Author Index	p. 341
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