MEMORY
Memory is far more than simply bringing to mind information encountered at some previous time. Whenever the experience of some past event influences someone at a later time, the influence of the previous experience is a reflection of memory for that past event. It is easy to see the role of memory in the case of a student who attends a lecture and later brings to mind what was taught. It may be less obvious that memory still plays a role even when the person does not ‘remember’ the lecture or the information, but merely uses information from the lecture, possibly without thinking about the lecture itself or the specific information at all.
There are even more subtle and less obvious effects of memory. If the same student later develops an interest (or a marked disinterest) in the topic of the lecture, that interest may reflect memory for the earlier lecture, even though the student might not be able to recall having ever attended a lecture on that topic. Memory plays a role to the degree that the student’s attitudes about the topic were influenced by the lecture. In the same vein, memory plays a role whether or not we intended to learn during the ‘past event’. In reality, comparatively little of our time is spent trying to ‘record’ events for later remembering; most of the time we are simply getting on with life. But past events only have to influence our thoughts, feelings or behaviour to provide evidence of our memory for them.
Just as memory is not dependent upon an intention to record events, it also plays a role regardless of our intention to recall or draw upon those past events. Many of the influences of past events are unintentional; indeed, they may even be quite counter to our intentions (e.g. Jacoby, Woloshyn & Kelley, 1989).
Memory is far more than simply bringing to mind information encountered at some previous time. Whenever the experience of some past event influences someone at a later time, the influence of the previous experience is a reflection of memory for that past event. It is easy to see the role of memory in the case of a student who attends a lecture and later brings to mind what was taught. It may be less obvious that memory still plays a role even when the person does not ‘remember’ the lecture or the information, but merely uses information from the lecture, possibly without thinking about the lecture itself or the specific information at all.
There are even more subtle and less obvious effects of memory. If the same student later develops an interest (or a marked disinterest) in the topic of the lecture, that interest may reflect memory for the earlier lecture, even though the student might not be able to recall having ever attended a lecture on that topic. Memory plays a role to the degree that the student’s attitudes about the topic were influenced by the lecture. In the same vein, memory plays a role whether or not we intended to learn during the ‘past event’. In reality, comparatively little of our time is spent trying to ‘record’ events for later remembering; most of the time we are simply getting on with life. But past events only have to influence our thoughts, feelings or behaviour to provide evidence of our memory for them.
Just as memory is not dependent upon an intention to record events, it also plays a role regardless of our intention to recall or draw upon those past events. Many of the influences of past events are unintentional; indeed, they may even be quite counter to our intentions (e.g. Jacoby, Woloshyn & Kelley, 1989).
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