From Conditioning to Conscious Recollection: Memory Systems of the Brain: 35 (Oxford Psychology Series) - Softcover

Eichenbaum, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195178041 ISBN 13: 9780195178043

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

This cutting-edge book offers a theoretical account of the evolution of multiple memory systems of the brain. The authors conceptualize these memory systems from both behavioural and neurobiological perspectives, guided by three related principles. First, that our understanding of a wide range of memory phenomena can be advanced by breaking down memory into multiple forms with different operating characteristics. Second, that different forms of memory representation are supported by distinct brain pathways with circuitry and neural coding properties. Third, that the contributions of different brain systems can be compared and contrasted by distinguishing between dedicated (or specific) and elaborate (or general) memory systems. A primary goal of this work is to relate the neurobiological properties of dedicated and elaborate systems to their neuropsychological counterparts, and in so doing, account for the phenomenology of memory, from conditioning to conscious recollection.

About this title

Review

The book succeeds brilliantly as a description of the idea of multiple memory systems in the brain and places this view in a rich historical context. Experiments to support the view are discussed thoroughly, with myriad graphs and diagrams to clarify exposition. (The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology)

Psychologists Eichenbaum and Cohen explore the notion that memory is implemented in the brain by multiple systems operating in parallel, each with distinct operating characteristics and mediated by separate brain pathways. They consider the history and implications of the theory, the evidence that supports it, and the nature of the systems discovered so far. The theory has been developed through recent studies in cognitive neuroscience. (SciTech Book News)

[A] comprehensive, data-rich treatment... The strength, and the usefulness, of the book lie in the enormous amount of data that is presented... This volume is a welcome summary of what has been accomplished to date and a compelling account of how the function of the hippocampus and related structures can be understood in terms of spatial and non-spatial relational memory. (Nature Neuroscience)

About the Author

Howard Eichenbaum is University Professor and Professor of Psychology at Boston University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195178041
• ISBN 13: 9780195178043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 600