Different Ways to Cue a Coherent Memory System: A Theory for Episodic, Semantic, and Procedural Tasks

An associative theory of human memory is proposed, which serves as a counterexample to claims that disassociations between episodic, semantic, and procedural memory tasks necessitate separate memory systems. The theory is based on task analyses of matching (recognition and familiarity judgments), retrieval (cued recall with list associates, extralist associates, and part-word cues), and production (producing the first word that comes to mind). These analyses are then embedded in a distributed storage model, and it is shown how proactive interference from old memories can be largely eliminated by combining cue strengths interactively at study and test. A distinction between modality-specific and more central, modality independent, memory codes is also introduced. The model is extended to the performance of amnesic patients, and the general approach to human memory is then evaluated.