Essays
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Concepts and Semantic Memory - Malt, Barbara C.
Humans accumulate vast amounts of knowledge over the life span. Much work aimed at understanding this knowledge store has been called either concepts or semantic memory research. This essay reviews early research on the nature of concrete concepts (concepts of concrete objects) and their organization in memory. It then raises considerations of abstract and relational concepts and of how action affects representation and vice versa. Additional advances discussed come from statistically based views of semantics, connectionist modeling, and neuroscientific evidence, all showing how distributed sources of information can be integrated to create semantic or conceptual content. Cross‐cultural and cross‐linguistic evidence indicate, though, that models based on evidence from any one cultural or language group may not apply well to others. The essay concludes by arguing that key issues for future research include broadening the kinds of knowledge structures that are studied and clarifying how language and nonlinguistic representations are related. -
Implicit Memory - McBride, Dawn M.
Implicit memory involves the influence of memory without intention and often without awareness. For example, many of the tasks we perform without conscious control are considered implicit tasks. These include tasks with which we have experience such as riding a bicycle, driving a car, or typing. In this essay, the study of implicit memory is briefly reviewed beginning with discussion of foundational studies in this area that followed either a processing or memory systems perspective on this topic. Some current, cutting edge research is reviewed with primary emphasis on questions that hold promise for new knowledge about implicit forms of memory: (i) In what ways is conceptual implicit memory (memory without intention) similar to explicit memory (memory with intention)? (ii) What roles do item‐specific (focus on details of an item) and relational (focus on connections between items) processing play in implicit memory retrieval? (iii) What is the role of attention in implicit memory retrieval? Examination of these questions provides avenues for future research in this area. -
Memory Gaps and Memory Errors - Neuschatz, Jeffrey S.
Memory is a reconstructive process, relying on pre‐existing shared knowledge to help us comprehend and interpret what we experience. A reliance on prior knowledge is a vital aid to communication and comprehension, but, as a consequence, results in the modification of some details in an event, the addition of other details, or even the fabrication of entire new events. We review classic research that first demonstrated the phenomenon of reconstructive memory and the capability of prior knowledge to influence what people remember. We next discuss cutting‐edge research involving memory gaps and memory errors, including autobiographical memories, distinguishing true from false memories, memory conformity, and potential adaptive reasons for memory errors. Finally, we point to directions for the future research. -
Social Aspects of Memory - Hirst, William
No one doubts that memories are shaped by the social context in which they are formed or later remembered. In this essay we focus on how the social context of remembering and memorizing with others shapes the way both the speaker and listener remember the past, what we refer to as collaborative remembering. In addressing the mnemonic consequences of collaborative remembering, we discuss 1) how it shapes what is occurrently remembered in the group and 2) how it affects both what the speaker and listener subsequently remember. In terms of the former, we discuss the robust collaborative inhibition literature; in terms of the latter, we discuss the social contagion, retrieval induced‐forgetting and socially shared retrieval‐induced forgetting literature. In conclusion, we highlight areas in need of future research within the area of “social aspects of memory”: 1) whether the mnemonic effects of collaborative remember propagate across a group, that is, to move beyond dyadic interactions and examine larger groups; 2) examining the evolutionary advantages of human memory being susceptible to the influence of others; and, in turn, 3) how this mnemonic susceptibility may help foster social bonds.