Theories of human learning and memory.

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Introduction

Theories of human learning and memory tend to emphasise either of two approaches.  Although the majority of theorists would acknowledge the importance of both in the acquisition, storage and retrieval of information, models incline to focus on either the structures or processes involved in memory.

The structural approach is typified by the multi-store (or modal) model of memory expounded by several theorists (e.g. Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968, cited in Eysenck and Keane, 1995).  This model proposes three types of memory store (sensory, short-term and long term), with information being transferred from one store to another via the mechanisms of attention and rehearsal.  This model is represented in figure 1 taken from Eysenck and Keane (1995, p125).

Figure 1        The multi-store model of memory

Much of the evidence for this model came serial position studies (e.g. Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966, cited in Eysenck and Keane, 1995) and studies on memory impaired patients (e.g. Baddeley & Warrington, 1970, cited in Eysenck and Keane, 1995).  Although it has been demonstrated that these memory stores differ from each other in terms of temporal duration, capacity, forgetting mechanisms and the effects of brain damage, as Eysenck and Keane (1995) point out, the model is over-simplified particularly in the view of the memory stores being unitary and the over emphasis on the role of rehearsal in the transfer of information from short to long term memory. The approach has also been criticised for its concentration on the structure of memory with a concomitant lack of attention to the processes involved (Eysenck and  Keane, 1995).

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In contrast to the above Craik and Lockhart (1972, cited in Eysenck and Keane, 1995) focused on the processes involved in long term memory, an approach known as ‘levels of processing’.  According to this framework the depth (or level) of processing conducted on material determines the strength of the memory trace laid down in long term memory which will in turn determine subsequent recall ability.  It is not the time spent processing neither the stimuli nor the amount of rehearsal of the information, which defines ‘depth’ but rather the meaningfulness of the stimuli.  Craik and Lockhart (1972, cited in ...

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