Memory Psychology (Second Edition)

Author: Yang Zhiliang et al.
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1999-06-01
Features: Memory (memory), this psychological phenomenon once shrouded in mystery, has attracted experts and scholars from all over the world throughout history and has drawn attention from almost the entire human race. Memory is extremely important, as all learning is, at the same time, a form of memory. If we cannot retain any memory of past experiences, we cannot learn anything. Moreover, our thinking also entirely relies on memory to proceed smoothly. Among all things, only humans possess a concept of past, present, and future time, primarily because humans have memory. Everyone aspires to become a highly memory-capable individual who can store all meaningful information in their brain, yet memory is a complex psychological process and is often difficult to control at will. So, what exactly is memory? Most psychology textbooks and dictionaries define memory as the reflection of past experiences in the human brain. The Chinese term "memory" succinctly indicates that people's reflection of past experiences always comes first with "to remember" () before "to recall" (). From an information processing perspective, memory is explained as the encoding, storage, and subsequent retrieval of input information under certain conditions. For example, if we have thoroughly memorized a poem by Li Bai and can recite it days later, this is achieved through memory. Since Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909), a German psychologist, published his experimental report in 1885, memory has become one of the most extensively studied areas in psychology. Subsequently, memory theory and research methods have continued to evolve. The information processing theory (or information processing theory), which emerged in the 1950s, regards memory as the process of encoding, storing, and retrieving input information. According to the duration of storage, memory is divided into sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Although researchers in this period used different specific methods, materials, instruments, and experimental conditions, these studies shared an important common point: they viewed memory as the conscious, external recovery of prior experiences. In recent years, however, some new perspectives have challenged this view. Increasingly, researchers have proposed that memory should not be seen as a single entity but rather as composed of different structures (forms), systems, or types, each with distinct functions (Schacter, 1985). They introduced the term "multiple memory forms" (multiplememoryform). The multiple forms of memory refer to different categories or combinations of memory, which are the results of memory effects induced by functionally independent processes. Over the past decade, growing evidence has revealed the existence of a relatively independent memory system alongside conscious, explicit memory (explicitmemory), known as implicitmemory (). The characteristic of this memory is that people are not consciously aware of its existence, but it is only manifested in performance on specific tasks. Research on implicit memory has become a central topic in contemporary cognitive psychology. Virtually every one to two years, authoritative figures publish lengthy reviews of the main areas of implicit memory research, such as Schacter (1987), Tulving et al. (1990), Moscovitch et al. (1993), Roediger et al. (1994), Engelkamp et al. (1995), and Jac0by et al. (1997), and research in this field has continued to grow. For instance, in the first six issues of the "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition" in 1997, half of the articles were related to implicit memory research, while the "Psychological Research" journal even dedicated its combined 1995 issues 3 and 4 to an implicit memory special edition. Implicit memory refers to experiences that people cannot recall consciously but can demonstrate in behavior through post-event effects (Roediger, 1993). Its operational definition is the unconscious retrieval of previously acquired information in tests that do not require conscious or explicit recall of specific past experiences (Graf and Schacter, 1985). Ebbinghaus made outstanding contributions to memory research, and his "forgetting curve" is widely known. He categorized memory into three major types, one of which was implicit memory. This type of memory "reflects on current thoughts and behaviors but has no trace of conscious participation in the process." He also noted that this type of memory cannot be detected through "introspection." Due to the limitations in detection methods, research on implicit memory remained interrupted for a long time after Ebbinghaus. It was not until the 1960s and 1970s, when research on amnesia brought implicit memory back into the spotlight, that it became one of the hot topics of study. The progress of scientific research largely depends on innovations in research methods. To date, the study of implicit memory has mainly gone through three stages: before 1991, the task dissociation paradigm was primarily used; starting in 1991, separation procedures were employed to study implicit memory; and recently, the study of implicit memory has entered the modeling stage. The widespread attention paid to implicit memory research and its status as a frontier and hotspot in contemporary cognitive psychology are significant for both theoretical implications and practical prospects. The main reasons for this include: This book is the result of the "Memory Research" research team at the Department of Psychology, East China Normal University, which was compiled on the basis of completing three National Natural Science Foundation projects, the National Education Commission's "Nineties" key research programs, and the National Education Commission's humanities and social sciences research projects. It incorporates the findings of decades of research and references to a vast amount of domestic and international literature. It is the first systematic work in China to introduce the research achievements of memory both domestically and internationally, as well as a textbook reflecting the latest findings, methods, and technologies in memory research.