Memory is as memory develops: the view today, but where tomorrow? Book Reviews
✍ Scribed by Mark L. Howe
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 69 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0888-4080
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
to related fields. The chapter creates enthusiasm for both the historical and future role of cognitive psychology.
Part II (Chapters 2±4) begins with a discussion of sensation and perception, including overviews of signal detection theory, pattern and object recognition, and schemas. Chapter 3 provides a clear summary of filter and capacity theories of attention and integrates them into a single perspective. It then reviews automaticity and attentional spotlight effects, but does not clearly tie them to the earlier discussion. Chapter 4 reviews classic findings from research on memory, including the distinction between implicit and explicit memory, and closes with a discussion of the multiple-memory-systems debate.
Part III (Chapters 5±7) continues the discussion of memeory begun in Chapter 4 by addressing issues in encoding, retrieval, and context. Chapter 5 considers constructive processes in recall and includes reviews of eyewitness memory and memory for gist. Chapter 6 moves from a discussion of memory processes to the representation of knowledge in long-term memory, defining concepts and conceptual organization and examining competing models of concept acquisition. Chapter 7 reviews expertise in the domains of memory and problem solving.
Parts IV and V (Chapters 8±13) mark a major change in the focus of the text. Whereas the first seven chapters focus on general cognitive mechanisms, the last seven present cognitive behaviors in specific domains that draw on these mechanisms. The chapters of Part IV (Chapters 8±10) address issues in the structure, comprehension, and production of both written and spoken language. Part V (Chapters 11±13) addresses the psychology of intelligence, discussing components of intelligence such as problem solving, creativity (Chapter 11), reasoning, and decision making (Chapter 12). Chapter 13 presents various models of intelligence.
The lone chapter in Part VI considers the implications of cognitive psychology for our understanding of consciousness. The chapter includes a discussion of cognitive components of dreaming and daydreaming, and ends by considering the mind±body problem.
Although this text provides a comprehensive overview of findings in cognitive psychology, I am left with three misgivings. First, the text relies exclusively on the computer metaphor for the mind (complete with box-and-arrow models), and alternative models are largely overlooked. For example, although connectionist models are mentioned in passing, the text never actually presents a model or describes parallel distributed processing. Second, nearly all of the figures in the text were reprinted directly from journal articles. The use of original materials could be viewed as an asset, but the relatively sparse explanations given in the text may stymie students. My final concern is the lack of theoretical organization within chapters. In the memory chapter, for example, the serial position effect was discussed before sections on the capacity and temporal limits of short-term memory. As a result, readers were asked to remember a phenomenon that they had not yet encountered ( p. 103). This tendency to list a set of effects without clearly motivating their order or interrelations makes the text more cumbersome to read. In sum, this text could serve as a good resource for instructors seeking a comprehensive review of findings couched in an information-processing framework.