Search of associative memory
Abstract
Describes search of associative memory (SAM), a general theory of retrieval from long-term memory that combines features of associative network models and random search models. It posits cue-dependent probabilistic sampling and recovery from an associative network, but the network is specified as a retrieval structure rather than a storage structure. A quantitative computer simulation of SAM was developed and applied to the part-list cuing paradigm. When free recall of a list of words was cued by a random subset of words from that list, the probability of recalling one of the remaining words was less than if no cues were provided at all. SAM predicted this effect in all its variations by making extensive use of interword associations in retrieval, a process that previous theorizing has dismissed. (55 ref)
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Models of free recall such as Search of Associative Memory and SIMPLE use the previously recalled word to cue the next word, and have been productively used to account for the dependencies seen when people attempt to recall a list of words.
“Models of free recall such as Search of Associative Memory [95] and SIMPLE [96] use the previously recalled word to cue the next word, and has been productively used to account for the dependencies seen when people attempt to recall a list of words.”
From Bayesian Brains without Probabilities (2016) · cites this paper as [95]
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- Authors
- Raaijmakers, J. G., & Shiffrin, R. M.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- ORCID
- Shiffrin, Richard M.
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 1981-03
- Volume
- 88
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 93-134
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W1982914430
- Semantic Scholar
- 062d5eecccf8cc93eb781b85da130ec675da018d
- Cited by
- 1,696
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 63 · 2014: 72 · 2013: 73 · 2012: 69
- FWCI
- 23.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- long-term memory retrieval, probability sampling, free recall
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