
Richard M. Shiffrin
Indiana University
Election Year: 1995 Primary Section: 52, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Secondary Section: 28, Systems Neuroscience Membership Type: Member |
Research Interests
I have developed quantitative and computer simulation models of cognition and tested these against human data. A great number of experimental studies led to the development (with Richard Atkinson) of what has come to be known as the "modal" model of memory, based on an active and temporary short-term memory system and a passive and permanent long-term memory system. Later I developed a model of parallel access to long-term memory underlying the recognition of recent events and sequential sampling from memory to govern recall (with Jeroen Raaijmakers). I also developed (with Walter Schneider) a theory of the way that attentive and automatic processes cooperate to overcome our cognitive capacity limitations. I am now working on a general and new theory of memory that applies not only to storage and retrieval of recent events, but also to the domain of general knowledge, and shows how a single set of cognitive processes can predict both sets of phenomena.