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Alice F. Healy and Danielle S. McNamara
Department of Psychology, Muenzinger Building, University of Colorado, Campus Box 345, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0345
KEY WORDS: memory models, primary memory, secondary memory, working memory
ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on recent research concerning verbal learning and memory. A prominent guiding framework for research on this topic over the past three decades has been the modal model of memory, which postulates distinct sensory, primary, and secondary memory stores. Although this model continues to be popular, it has fostered much debate concerning its validity and specifically the need for its three separate memory stores. The chapter reviews research supporting and research contradicting the modal model, as well as alternative modern frameworks. Extensions of the modal model are discussed, including the search of associative memory model, the perturbation model, precategorical acoustic store, and permastore. Alternative approaches are discussed including working memory, conceptual short-term memory, long-term working memory, shortterm activation and attention, processing streams, the feature model, distinctiveness, and procedural reinstatement.
INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on recent research concerning verbal learning and memory. A prominent guiding framework for research on this topic over the past three decades has been the modal model of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968, Glanzer & Cunitz 1966, Waugh & Norman 1965), which postulates distinct sensory, primary, and secondary memory stores. Although this model continues to be popular, it has fostered much debate concerning its validity and, specifically, the need for its three separate memory stores. In this chapter, we review research supporting and research contradicting the modal model as well as alternative modern frameworks. We begin by summarizing the empirical support for the original model. The remainder of the chapter addresses in turn issues concerning each of the three memory stores.
BACKGROUND
An initial statement of what has since been termed the modal model can be traced to James (1890), who distinguished between primary and secondary memory. James described primary memory as that which is held momentarily in consciousness and secondary memory as unconscious but permanent. An important impetus to modern versions of the modal model was the discovery that a short sequence of items is forgotten within seconds when rehearsal is prevented by a distractor task interpolated between item presentation and recall (Brown 1958, Peterson & Peterson...