Introduction Psychology 398 Research in Memory and Attention Two Approaches to Memory Neisser (1978; 1981) High road to find basic mental mechanisms that can be demonstrated in well-controlled experiments Low road to understand the specific manifestations of memory in ordinary human experience The Modal Model Sensory Memory Short-term Memory Long-term Memory A sensory store for EACH Sense modalities 1 Neisser s (1978) Critique of the High Road Provide no answer to questions of our layperson friend Why is it difficult to remember appointments? Findings are obvious Kreutzer, Leonard & Flavell (1975) Ecological validity The Reply Banaji & Crowder (1989) Lay questions Lab studies are interested in lay questions but seek to answer them by generalizing laboratory findings why should lay people decide what is interesting? Findings are obvious many do find them interesting confirmation of preconceived theories is important preconceived theories are often wrong Ecological validity assumes that lifelike methods will always lead to conclusions that will generalize to other situations Array of Approaches Banaji & Crowder (1989) Ecological Validity of Methods High High Generalizability of Results Low Low 2