Human Memory

This undergraduate text presents a view of current research on human memory that relates traditional laboratory-based work to the rich and growing body of evidence from the study of memory in everyday life and in the clinic. The text has three parallel strands; First, an account of what laboratory-based studies have told us about the structure and function of human memory, and how theories are developed and tested. This includes a clear exposition of the relationship between theory development and experimental data and involves a detailed description of key experiments. The links with theories of learning based on conditioning in animals are also explored, particularly the practical implications of such work for the modification of habits and the treatment of emotional disorders. The methods of Artificial Intelligence and Connectionist models of memory based on Parallel Distributed Processing approaches to cognition are considered. The second strand of the book is rather less conventional, approaching the analysis of human memory by starting with the problems people encounter in the world, and using these to motivate an interest in the study of memory in the laboratory.
The third strand that runs through the book is concerned with the breakdown of memory in brain-damaged patients. In addition to work on amnesic patients "Human Memory" uses neuropsychological data in order to demonstrate the everyday importance of memory, and includes detailed description of individual patients with memory deficits of various types. The account covers both the theoretical implications of the various deficits and the light they throw on the importance of memory in everyday life. Finally the question is raised of how psychology can help the patients using specific case histories to illustrate the range of single-case and group treatment designs that are now being applied. The book is aimed at a university or college student taking a course in human memory, but assumes that memory lies at the centre of cognition. Consequently the links between memory and attention, perception, action and emotion are stressed, making it a useful core text for a more general course on cognitive psychology.
"Human Memory" aims to teach aspects of human learning and memory that will be useful to readers both in understanding their own memory, and in providing a background for a range of possible subsequent courses which might involve education, law, medicine or any of a range of social sciences.