Anderson & Schooler (1991)

Reflections of the Environment in Memory

Psychological Science, 2(6), 396-408

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DOI

Abstract

Availability of human memories for specific items shows reliable relationships to frequency, recency, and pattern of prior exposures to the item. These relationships have defied a systematic theoretical treatment. A number of environmental sources (New York Times, parental speech, electronic mail) are examined to show that the probability that a memory will be needed also shows reliable relationships to frequency, recency, and pattern of prior exposures. Moreover, the environmental relationships are the same as the memory relationships. It is argued that human memory has the form it does because it is adapted to these environmental relationships. Models for both the environment and human memory are described. Among the memory phenomena addressed are the practice function, the retention function, the effect of spacing of practice, and the relationship between degree of practice and retention.

Reference

Anderson, J. R., & Schooler, L. J. (1991). Reflections of the environment in memory. Psychological science, 2(6), 396-408.

What Rests on This

1 mechanism cites this source. Each finding below is quoted as it appears on that mechanism's own page.

Forgetting Memory Processes

Definition

Forgetting is the loss of access to stored content in a way that tracks how likely that content is to be needed; how available a memory stays follows the frequency, recency and spacing of past encounters, and records of the environment (newspaper headlines, speech to children, email) show the same statistical patterns, so forgetting is an adaptive bet rather than simple wear