Superior Memory

This book examines the nature and causal antecedents of superior memory performance. The main theme is that such performance may depend on either specific memory techniques or natural superiority in the efficiency of one or more memory processes. The authors provide a comprehensive review of existing evidence on superior memory performance and relations between memory ability and other cognitive processes. They then survey current views about the structure of memory and discuss whether common processes are identifiable which might underlie general variation in memory ability, or whether distinct subsystems exist, the efficiency of which varies independently. The monograph raises many interesting questions concerning the existence and nature of individual differences in memory ability (a previously neglected topic), their relation to other cognitive processes and implications for theories concerning the structure of memory.