Animal memory: Past, present and future

This paper introduces a special issue on animal memory and discusses progress made as a result of the present upsurge of interest in the topic, an upsurge that owes much to developments in human cognitive psychology and neuropsychology. Work reported over the last decade has shown that the memory capacity of (at least some) animals is larger—in terms both of number of items stored and of duration of retention—than might previously have been expected. Recent physiological investigations appear to have succeeded in reconciling the effect on memory of hippocampal lesions in humans and non-humans, and further work on the hippocampus may help establish the physical nature of the changes involved in setting up memories. Theoretical accounts of animal memory rely on concepts drawn from cognitive psychology, and various experimental approaches to one particular notion, that animals may rehearse recent information, are discussed. Finally, the research papers of this issue are introduced to show their place in the broad context of memory research.     

The impact of computers on cognitive psychology

Computer developments and their applications in cognitive psychology are reviewed. Examples from recent studies illustrate the ways that computers are used for different research purposes: stimulus generation, on-line interactive experimental control, response collection, data analysis, and theory building. A quantitative analysis of federal funding for computer-based and noncomputer research compares costs over the past 9 years for the areas of perception, memory, learning, and thinking. A tabulation of journal articles relevant to computer-based cognitive research shows the distribution of articles over various categories of hardware and software development. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of using computers in cognitive research are evaluated.     

Money enhances memory consolidation--but only for boring material

Money’s ability to enhance memory has received increased attention in recent research. However, previous studies have not directly addressed the time-dependent nature of monetary effects on memory, which are suggested to exist by research in cognitive neuroscience, and the possible detrimental effects of monetary rewards on learning interesting material, as indicated by studies in motivational psychology. By utilizing a trivia question paradigm, the current study incorporated these perspectives and examined the effect of monetary rewards on immediate and delayed memory performance for answers to uninteresting and interesting questions. Results showed that monetary rewards promote memory performance only after a delay. In addition, the memory enhancement effect of monetary rewards was only observed for uninteresting questions. These results are consistent with both the hippocampus-dependent memory consolidation model of reward learning and previous findings documenting the ineffectiveness of monetary rewards on tasks that have intrinsic value.     

Commentary: cognitive-affective mechanisms and processes in autobiographical memory

This commentary highlights some of the interesting points to emerge from the preceding papers about the self, social, and directive functions of autobiographical memory. Additionally some cognitive functions are also considered and especially the way in which autobiographical memory supports, constrains, and maintains the goals of the self. Directions for future research into the self, social, directive, and cognitive-affective functions and processes of autobiographical memory are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on future research into the function of autobiographical memory in representations of attachment.     

The seven sins of memory. Insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience

Though often reliable, human memory is also fallible. This article examines how and why memory can get us into trouble. It is suggested that memory's misdeeds can be classified into 7 basic "sins": transience, absentmindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. The first three sins involve different types of forgetting, the next three refer to different types of distortions, and the final sin concerns intrusive recollections that are difficult to forget. Evidence is reviewed concerning each of the 7 sins from relevant sectors of psychology (cognitive, social, and clinical) and from cognitive neuroscience studies that include patients with focal brain damage or make use of recently developed neuroimaging techniques. Although the 7 sins may appear to reflect flaws in system design, it is argued instead that they are by-products of otherwise adaptive features of memory.     

中学生英语词汇记忆的策略训练研究

词汇记忆在中学英语学习中有着举足轻重的地位。本研究从策略入手 ,致力于探索记忆策略训练对英语词汇学习的积极效果。研究者在综合前人的策略分类观点和参照英语词汇学习本身特点的基础上提出了五种基本策略 ,并对之作了训练研究。从训练结果可知 ,这些策略若训练充分得当 ,能大大提高学生的词汇记忆成绩。研究者还对如何在英语词汇学习中运用策略帮助记忆提出了一个粗略的模型。从该模型中 ,我们可以清晰地看到词汇记忆的整个过程 ,以及影响策略选择和使用的各种因素     

AD/HD,Psychoanalysis, and Neuroscience: A Survey of Recent Findings and Their Applications

Research findings and review articles in the neurosciences relevant to AD/HD are surveyed. Summaries of results in the areas of attention and executive control, learning, and neural plasticity and memory suggest that, as hypothesized, AD/HD is an apt field for the interdigitation of psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. Two case reports of adult AD/HD patients demonstrate the intricacy of the clinical picture.     

The psychology of memory,extended cognition,and socially distributed remembering

This paper introduces a new, expanded range of relevant cognitive psychological research on collaborative recall and social memory to the philosophical debate on extended and distributed cognition. We start by examining the case for extended cognition based on the complementarity of inner and outer resources, by which neural, bodily, social, and environmental resources with disparate but complementary properties are integrated into hybrid cognitive systems, transforming or augmenting the nature of remembering or decision-making. Adams and Aizawa, noting this distinctive complementarity argument, say that they agree with it completely: but they describe it as “a non-revolutionary approach” which leaves “the cognitive psychology of memory as the study of processes that take place, essentially without exception, within nervous systems.” In response, we carve out, on distinct conceptual and empirical grounds, a rich middle ground between internalist forms of cognitivism and radical anti-cognitivism. Drawing both on extended cognition literature and on Sterelny’s account of the “scaffolded mind” (this issue), we develop a multidimensional framework for understanding varying relations between agents and external resources, both technological and social. On this basis we argue that, independent of any more “revolutionary” metaphysical claims about the partial constitution of cognitive processes by external resources, a thesis of scaffolded or distributed cognition can substantially influence or transform explanatory practice in cognitive science. Critics also cite various empirical results as evidence against the idea that remembering can extend beyond skull and skin. We respond with a more principled, representative survey of the scientific psychology of memory, focussing in particular on robust recent empirical traditions for the study of collaborative recall and transactive social memory. We describe our own empirical research on socially distributed remembering, aimed at identifying conditions for mnemonic emergence in collaborative groups. Philosophical debates about extended, embedded, and distributed cognition can thus make richer, mutually beneficial contact with independently motivated research programs in the cognitive psychology of memory.     

Some neglected contributions of Wilhelm Wundt to the psychology of memory

Wilhelm Wundt, whose name is rarely associated with the scientific study of memory, conducted a number of memory experiments that appear to have escaped the awareness of modern cognitive psychologists. Aspects of Wundt's system are reviewed, particularly with respect to his experimental work on memory. Wundt investigated phenomena that would fall under the modern headings of iconic memory, short-term memory, and the enactment and generation effects, but this research has been neglected. Revisiting the Wundtian perspective may provide insight into some of the reasons behind the historical course of memory research and in general into the progress of science in psychology.     

Working memory and phonological awareness as predictors of progress towards early learning goals at school entry

This study investigates whether working memory skills of children are related to teacher ratings of their progress towards learning goals at the time of school entry, at 4 or 5 years of age. A sample of 194 children was tested on measures of working memory, phonological awareness, and non‐verbal ability, in addition to the school‐based baseline assessments in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, speaking and listening, and personal and social development. Various aspects of cognitive functioning formed unique associations with baseline assessments; for example complex memory span with rated writing skills, phonological short‐term memory with both reading and speaking and listening skills, and sentence repetition scores with both mathematics and personal and social skills. Rated reading skills were also uniquely associated with phonological awareness scores. The findings indicate that the capacity to store and process material over short periods of time, referred to as working memory, and also the awareness of phonological structure, may play a crucial role in key learning areas for children at the beginning of formal education.     

Wilhelm Wundt's psychology of memory

Summary The work of Wilhelm Wundt and his students in the psychology of memory is reviewed. Wundt rarely used the concept memory, but he dealt extensively with a number of problems that today are often discussed under the heading of memory. Four components of his theory are distinguished and traced through the successive stages of the evolution of the theory: the theory of dispositions, the concept of the memory image, the revised doctrine of associations, and the taxonomy of recognition and recollection. The experimental work of the Leipzig laboratory is reviewed as it relates to the conceptual framework developed by Wundt. Some implications of the Wundtian perspective for modern cognitive psychology are outlined.     

Individual differences in learning and memory: A unitary information processing approach

Recent research in the area of individual differences in learning and memory is reviewed from a cognitive perspective. Using the two-state model of memory as a framework, individual variations in attentional, short-term store, and long-term store processes are discussed. The focus is on using individual differences to evaluate nomothetic cognitive models, as well as on using cognitive models in guiding research on individual differences. Both within-individual and between-individual differences in basic processes are examined. In so doing, the importance of strategy choice is stressed using the concept of cognitive flexibility. Several promising directions, both methodological and theoretical, are noted and the value of using specific information processing models in the study of individual differences is emphasized.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity and dual-process theories of the mind

Dual-process theories of the mind are ubiquitous in psychology. A central principle of these theories is that behavior is determined by the interplay of automatic and controlled processing. In this article, the authors examine individual differences in the capacity to control attention as a major contributor to differences in working memory capacity (WMC). The authors discuss the enormous implications of this individual difference for a host of dual-process theories in social, personality, cognitive, and clinical psychology. In addition, the authors propose several new areas of investigation that derive directly from applying the concept of WMC to dual-process theories of the mind.     

Complex span and n-back measures of working memory: A meta-analysis

Working memory is a construct of primary relevance to many areas of psychology. Two types of tasks have been used to measure working memory, primarily in different research areas: Complex span tasks are commonly used in behavioral studies in the cognitive and individual-differences literature, whereas n-back tasks have been used more frequently in cognitive neuroscience studies investigating the neural underpinnings of working memory. Despite both categories of tasks being labeled as “working memory” measures, previous empirical studies have provided mixed evidence regarding the shared amount of overlapping processes between complex span and n-back tasks. The present meta-analysis showed that the complex span and n-back tasks are weakly correlated, although significant heterogeneity across studies was observed. A follow-up analysis of unpublished data indicated that the sample composition affects the relationship between the complex span and n-back tasks, following the law of diminishing returns. Finally, a separate meta-analysis indicated that the simple span and n-back tasks are correlated to the same extent as are the complex span and n-back tasks. The present findings indicate that the complex span and n-back tasks cannot be used interchangeably as working memory measures in research applications.     

Cognitive style,working memory and learning behaviour and attainment in school subjects

Background: Both working memory capacity and cognitive style have independently been found to affect performance on school‐type tasks, but their effects in interaction have not been considered. Aims: The aims of this study were to consider the relationship between working memory, cognitive style and gender on (a) overall learning behaviour, and (b) performance on a range of school subjects. Sample: The sample comprised 206 13‐year‐old secondary comprehensive school Year 8 pupils, being all pupils in that year who completed the principal assessments. Method: The pupils did an assessment of working memory efficiency — the Information Processing Index (Riding, 2000a). They also completed the Cognitive Styles Analysis (Riding, 1991) to determine their positions on the two fundamental cognitive styles, which were indicated by two ratios: the Wholist‐Analytic ratio and the Verbal‐Imagery ratio. Overall learning behaviour was rated by the pupils' tutors. In addition, attainment in each of 10 subjects was rated by their subject teachers. Results: For overall learning behaviour, there was an interaction between working memory capacity and cognitive style. With the Wholist‐Analytic style dimension, memory made a marked difference for Analytics but had little effect for Wholists, and with the Verbal‐Imagery dimension Verbalisers were affected but not Imagers. With the school subjects, these differed in terms of their sensitivity to gender, memory and style. Conclusion: The results were discussed in terms of differences between the styles in terms of information‐processing demands. Practical ways of improving learning performance were also considered.     

Declarative working memory: A bio-inspired cognitive architecture proposal

Memory is considered one of the most important functions since it allows us to code, store and retrieve knowledge. These qualities make it an indispensable function for a virtual creature. In general, memory can be classified based on the durability of the stored data in working memory and long-term memory. Working memory refers to the capacity to maintain temporarily a limited amount of information in mind, which can then be used to support various abilities, including learning, reasoning, planning and decision-making. Unlike short-term memory, working memory is not only a storage site, but it is also a framework of interacting processes that involve the temporary storage and manipulation of information in the service of performing complex cognitive activities. Declarative memory is a type of long-term memory related with the storage of facts and events. This research focuses on the development of a cognitive architecture for the type of working memory that maintains and manipulates declarative information. The construction of the model was grounded in theoretical evidence taken from cognitive sciences such as neuroscience and psychology, which gave us the components and their processes. The model was evaluated through a case study that covers the encoding, storing, and retrieval stages. Our hypothesis is that a virtual creature endowed with our working memory model will provide faster access to the information needed for the ongoing task. Therefore, it improves the planning and decision-making processes.     

工作记忆对知觉类别学习的影响:问题与构想

人们学习将感知到的客体按照不同的标准或规则分类存储,即类别学习。而工作记忆作为多种认知加工的基础,对类别学习具有重要作用。基于已有研究,分别梳理了言语工作记忆和视空工作记忆对基于规则和信息整合类别结构的影响。目前,执行功能是否影响内隐类别学习系统、工作记忆负荷对内隐外显类别学习系统的影响是否一致还存在争议。此外,工作记忆影响知觉类别学习的认知加工阶段尚不清晰。未来的研究还需明确工作记忆负荷对内隐和外显类别学习的影响,进一步验证工作记忆影响类别学习的认知加工阶段假设的合理性。     

Evading conceptual self-annihilation: Some implications of Albert Bandura's theory of the self-system for the status of psychology

There are two cognitive revolutions occuring in psychology. The first in the fields of perception, memory, language and thought uses information processing and computer models of cognition. The second in learning theory and behavioral therapy uses folk psychological concepts of cognition. To test the philosophical compatibility of these cognitive revolutions I examine the implications of Albert Bandura's theory of the self-system for the disputed question of the status of folk psychology. I argue that if the theory of the self-system is correct, then strong eliminative materialist claims about the falsity of folk psychology are disconfirmed, functionalist homunculi hypotheses need modification, and certain constraints are imposed on neurophysiological accounts of the self. Thus I conclude that the cognitive revolution in learning theory and behavior therapy is making its own distinctive contribution to the new philosophical psychology emerging from the cognitive revolution in psychology as a whole.