Important+Contributors

__ Important Contributors and Their Findings __

** William James ** (1890) provided some of the earliest research available on the topic of long-term memory. James suggested that the human brain could be divided into “primary memory” and “memory proper”. Primary memory consists of the perceptual experience one may have of their immediate environment. This is the information that one is “immediately conscious of”. Memory proper is events from our past can actually be stored. These titles and classifications are the forerunners of the ideas of “short-term” and “long-term” memory (Fulcher, 2003).

** Georg Müller ** (1900) was a professor at the University of Gottingen, Germany. Müller and his student, Alfons Pilzecker, were the first to define and explain “memory consolidation”. In their published findings they discuss the impact that time may have on our consolidation of memories. Memories that would be found in our long-term memory would not be easily corrupted. While memories of events that we have just experienced may be “vulnerable to disruption”. Müller and Pilzecker elaborate further on their findings explaining that time may be responsible for the decaying of memories. These new findings led generations of researchers to dig deeper into the inner workings of the mind and brain system (Lechner, 1999).

 ** George Armitage Miller ** was one of the founders of cognitive psychology. He is well known in the field for his work on the human memory. In 1956, Miller published his paper “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two”. This paper was his most famous work, in which he notes the difference between short-term and long-term memory. Miller proposes that while short-term memories can only be remembered for a certain period of time, long term memory is “a limitless store for information”. These findings have inspired a great deal of research about the differences between these two systems (Hirst, 2012).

 ** Donald Broadbent ** was an influential figure in psychology in the 1950s and 1960s. His work with memory contributed a great deal to our understanding of human cognition. In this specific area of study, Broadbent is best known for the “Broadbent's filter model”. This model was based off of the research findings of William James (1890). His model displayed a type of “filter device” that works between a sensory information storage unit (S-system) and a “higher level processing” memory storage unit (P-system). His model is portraying the idea that information that is intentionally rehearsed and remembered will be stored in the long-term memory, while information that is “unattended” will be held in our short-term memory and eventually forgotten (Fulcher, 2003). 


 * The Atkinson-Shiffron model ** was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffron in 1968. It is known as a “multi-memory model” because it breaks down memory into three different stages. Their model claims that the human memory is made up of sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is the information that humans take in unintentionally everyday from their surroundings. Atkinson and Shiffron claim that this information is only stored for a few seconds due to the fact that it is “unprocessed”, or not heavily focused upon. Short-term memory is the limited storage site for information that is learned and remembered for a short time, but then forgotten. Long-term memory is the site for a limitless amount of information that is stored for a greater period of time or for a lifetime. The model also shows the idea that information that is stored in the short-term memory may be moved to long-term memory if it is rehearsed. While the information in long-term memory will only be forgotten due to the decay of memory through time (Walsh, 2008).




 * Endel Tulving ** was a cognitive neuroscientist whose work, published in 1972, helped researchers to further break down the human memory into different categories and processes. Tulving proposed that long-term memory can be broken down into three types: episodic, semantic, and procedural. These differences allowed the psychology community to categorize memories and to better understand different ways that these memories may have been stored. Tulving and his colleagues were also the first to propose the idea of explicit and implicit memory. They stated that these two systems derived from two separate parts of our brains. These classifications revolutionized our ideas about memory and its inner functions (McLeod, 2010).


 * Nelson Cowan **, a professor of psychology at the University of Missouri, has published a great deal of research on the topic of long-term memory. Cowan has devised a model that organizes memory into two levels. The first level that Cowan describes is for the long-term and consists of unlimited, activated memories. The second level is one that Cowan calls the “focus of attention”. In this second level the capacity for memories is limited and can only hold a certain number of memories. This level experiences the issue of “temporal decay” of memories as well. In this model, Cowan strives to provide a better view of the differences between long-term and short-term memory (Cowan, 2009).




 * __ Table of Contents: __**

Welcome History & Key Findings Important Contributors Objections References