OBSERVATION AND INFERENCE
Remember that memory is evident to the degree that a past event influences later behaviour. So how can we know whether the later behaviour was influenced by the past event? Try this: write down the first 15 animals that come to mind – do not read ahead – stop now and jot down a list. Next, compare your list to that on page 246. You probably had several matches. Does that mean that you correctly recalled those words? Obviously not! If you had studied the list first, could I infer that your report of an animal name was influenced by the past event? Some items you might consciously recall, some you might think of due to an unconscious influence from studying the list, and some you might think of just because they are animals – not as a result of studying the list. Would the number of matches between your list and the study list be a good measure of your memory for the list? No – the matches might occur for any of the above reasons. The demonstration with the animal list captures an important issue in memory reset arch. Memory is not observed directly – it is inferred from performance on a task. But performance on the task will be influenced by other factors as well as memory for the original event. So it is clearly important to be careful about what is observed and what is inferred in memory research.
Remember that memory is evident to the degree that a past event influences later behaviour. So how can we know whether the later behaviour was influenced by the past event? Try this: write down the first 15 animals that come to mind – do not read ahead – stop now and jot down a list. Next, compare your list to that on page 246. You probably had several matches. Does that mean that you correctly recalled those words? Obviously not! If you had studied the list first, could I infer that your report of an animal name was influenced by the past event? Some items you might consciously recall, some you might think of due to an unconscious influence from studying the list, and some you might think of just because they are animals – not as a result of studying the list. Would the number of matches between your list and the study list be a good measure of your memory for the list? No – the matches might occur for any of the above reasons. The demonstration with the animal list captures an important issue in memory reset arch. Memory is not observed directly – it is inferred from performance on a task. But performance on the task will be influenced by other factors as well as memory for the original event. So it is clearly important to be careful about what is observed and what is inferred in memory research.
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