Working Memories Postmen, Divers and the Cognitive Revolution

Technological developments during the Second World War led to an approach that linked ideas from computer science to neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy and psychology, known today as the Cognitive Revolution. Leaving behind traditional behaviourist approaches popular at the time, psychology began to utilise artificial intelligence and computer science to develop testable theories and design groundbreaking new experiments. The Cognitive Revolution dramatically changed the way that psychological research and studies were conducted and proposed a new way of thinking about the mind.

In Working Memories, Alan Baddeley, one of the world's leading authorities on Human Memory, draws on his own personal experience of this time, recounting the radical development of a pioneering science in parallel with his own transatlantic, vibrant and distinguished career.

Detailing the excitement and sometimes frustration experienced in taking psychology into the world beyond the laboratory, Working Memories presents unique insights into the mind and psychological achievements of one of the most influential psychologists of our time.

Contents

Preface

Further Reading

Leeds 1934-53

Chapter 1 – Growing up in Yorkshire

London 1953-56

Chapter 2 - Psychology in the 1950s: Seeds of the Cognitive Revolution

Princeton - Los Angeles 1956-77

Chapter 3 – The Trip of a Lifetime

Leeds and Bristol 1957-58

Chapter 4 – In Search of a Job

Cambridge 1958-67

Chapter 5 – From Cognitive Science to Applied Psychology

Chapter 6 - Psychology Under Water

Chapter 7 – Practical Applications and Theoretical Implications: Postmen and Watchkeepers

Chapter 8 - Acoustic and Semantic codes: Evidence for Separate Memory Systems?

Sussex 1967-72

Chapter 9 – From Full-time Research to a New University

Chapter 10 –Amnesia

San Diego 1970-71

Chapter 11 – California and New Directions in Memory Research

Chapter 12 - The Emergence of Semantic Memory

Returning to Sussex 1971-72

Chapter 13 – Working Memory and the Phonological Loop

Stirling 1972-74

Chapter 14 - Working Memory and Visual Imagery

Cambridge 1974-95

Chapter 15 – Returning to the Unit

Chapter 16 – Encounters with the Law

Chapter 17 – Stress: From Sky Diving to Anaesthetics

Chapter 18 - When Long-term Memory Fails

Chapter 19 – Working Memory and Language

Chapter 20 – Boston and the Central Executive

Chapter 21 – Psychology Around the World

Bristol 1995-2003

Chapter 22 –The Episodic Buffer

Chapter 23 - Patients, Parasites and Mobile Phones

Stanford 2001-02

Chapter 24 – Working Memory in Context: Neuroscience, Emotion and Philosophy

Returning to Yorkshire 2003 -

Chapter 25 - Exploring the Episodic Buffer

Chapter 26 – Summing up: From Behaviourism to Cognitive Neuroscience

Alan Baddeley is Professor of Psychology at the University of York and one of the world's leading authorities on Human Memory. He is celebrated for devising the groundbreaking and highly influential working memory model with Graham Hitch in the early 1970s, a model which has been cited over 10,000 times to date. He was awarded a CBE for his contributions to the study of memory and is a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the British Academy, of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His outstanding record of personal achievements and significant contributions to the advancement of psychological knowledge were recognised in 2001 by the American Psychological Association Distinguished Contribution Award, in 2012 by the Lifetime Achievement Award of the British Psychological Society and in 2016 by the International Union of Psychological Sciences Award for Major Achievement in Psychological Science.