Memory (English, Language, and Education Series): Current Issues (Open Guides to Psychology)

An up-to-date, in-depth treatment of the major current issues, theories and findings. It introduces a representative selection of different research methods, and the reader is encouraged, by means of activities and self-assessment questions, to become an active participant in cognitive psychology. The first edition of this book established itself as an accessible, contemporary introduction to human memory. This second edition has been extensively rewritten to take account of recent research developments in the subject. The first of three main parts explores everyday memory - the way in which memory functions in our everyday lives. A great deal of what we experience in daily life is forgotten or misremembered. Several theories that have been proposed to explain the selective nature of everyday memory are outlined and lucidly discussed. The second part, which has been revised and updated for this edition, covers the processes and mechanisms of memory, and contrasts the experimental and computational approaches to model building. It includes a detailed examination of the working memory model based on experimental findings and considers the processing activities that occur when memories are input to the system. It also provides a more general computationally-based account of the way memory is integrated with the whole cognitive system. The third part, which is entirely new, presents a clear account of the most recent and exciting development in memory research - parallel distributed processing. Without resorting to algebra, the principles of "neural networks" are explained in sufficient detail to provide a firm base for understanding current research in this rapidly growing area.