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Memory as Behavior: The Importance of Acquisition and Remembering Strategies

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Abstract

The study of memory has traditionally been the province of cognitive psychology, which has postulated different memory systems that store memory traces to explain remembering. Behavioral psychologists have been unsuccessful at empirically identifying the behavior that occurs during remembering because so much of it occurs rapidly and covertly. In addition, behavior analysts have generally been disinterested in studying transient phenomena such as memory. As a result, the cognitive interpretation has been the only one that has made and tested useful predictions. Recent experimental evidence acquired while having participants “think aloud” suggests that a behavioral approach to memory may provide a superior account of memory performance and allow applied scientists to observe and modify memory-related behavior with well-known applied behavior-analytic techniques. We review evidence supporting and extending the interpretation of memory provided by Palmer (1991), who described memory in terms of precurrent behavior that occurs at the time of acquisition in preparation for problem solving that occurs at the time of remembering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306-1270, USA

    Peter F. Delaney

  2. Western Michigan University, USA

    John Austin

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  1. Peter F. Delaney
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  2. John Austin
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Correspondence to Peter F. Delaney.

Additional information

We thank J. S. Bailey and K. A. Ericsson for their advice and encouragement throughout the preparation of this work, as well as D. C. Palmer, S. Seraci, and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments.

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Delaney, P.F., Austin, J. Memory as Behavior: The Importance of Acquisition and Remembering Strategies. Analysis Verbal Behav 15, 75–91 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392925

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