Customer Reviews

Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book presents a clear and friendly overview of the Working Memory (WM) field, but is by no way simplistic in its form. The reader will learn a lot about the system/process(es) debate, about the implication of WM in cognitive tasks, an so on. Contributors, as well as editors, are top level researchers in the domain.

MUST be kown by any scientist working on the topic.

If you are a layperson who wants to learn more about the topic of 'human memory', this is not the book for you (as evidenced by one of the earlier reviews). However, if you are a scientist, educator or serious student who wishes to know more about the concept of working memory, this book is essential reading. The editors have done an excellent job in identifying the 8 most important issues/questions in the field and then asking the authors of the 10 most influential models to attempt to answer these questions using their model. This lets the reader see the different strengths and weaknesses of the different models (in their authors' own words) and their commonalities and differences. The editors then are kind enough to summarize the major issues on which there is consensus, what remains to be debated and useful future directions for research. There is no ultimate conclusion as there is still much work to be done.

In a nutshell, students if you want to know about working memory, this is THE book. The reason I say students is that all the top researchers in working memory already own a copy of this book.

There are many different scientific models of how human memory works. This book's authors posed the same eight questions to a dozen different experts in memory research. The hope was that intense contrast and comparison between different and seemingly contradictory models of how memory works would guide the reader to the next level of enlightenment.

This book fails for two reasons. First, in each instance some of the questions asked are inappropriate given the model under discussion. No current theory of how human memory works addresses all issues; rather than to state the limits of her model, each contributing researcher tended to respond to some of the questions via informal discussion or even handwaiving.

The second, and more serious failure, is the inability of the editors to guide the reader to any meaningful conclusions. By the end of the book we see twelve different models of human memory as nothing more than twelve different models of human memory; no "ahaa" has occured, no enlightenment via contrast and comparison.

There are many, many better tomes. Save your time and money for these.

There are many different scientific models of how human memory works. This book's authors posed the same eight questions to a dozen different experts in memory research. The hope was that intense contrast and comparison between different and seemingly contradictory models of how memory works would guide the reader to the next level of enlightenment.

This book fails for two reasons. First, in each instance some of the questions asked are inappropriate given the model under discussion. No current theory of how human memory works addresses all issues; rather than to state the limits of her model, each contributing researcher tended to respond to some of the questions via informal discussion or even handwaiving.

The second, and more serious failure, is the inability of the editors to guide the reader to any meaningful conclusions. By the end of the book we see twelve different models of human memory as nothing more than twelve different models of human memory; no "ahaa" has occured, no enlightenment via contrast and comparison.

There are many, many better tomes. Save your time and money for these.