Reminding

Any memory system must have the ability to cope with new information in a reasonable way, so that new input causes adjustments in the system. A dynamic memory system is altered in some way by every experience it processes. A memory system that fails to learn from its experiences is unlikely to be very useful. In addition, any good memory system must be capable of finding what is contained within itself. This seems to go without saying, but the issue of what to find can be quite a problem. When we process events as they happen, we need to find particular episodes in memory that are closely related to the current input we are processing. But how do we define relatedness? What does it mean for one experience to be like another? Under what labels, using what indices, do we look for related episodes?

The phenomenon of reminding sheds light on both the problem of retrieval and our ability to learn. This crucial aspect of human memory received little attention from researchers on memory prior to the first edition of this book. (For example, in a highly regarded book that attempts to catalog research by psychologists on memory [Crowder 1976], reminding does not even appear in the subject index.) Yet reminding is an everyday occurrence, a common feature of memory. We are reminded of one person by another, or of one building by another. More significant are the remindings that occur across situations. One event can remind you of another.