Events & Activities

Paul Whitney, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology
Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts

Psych 499x -A Users' Guide to Human Memory- (1 credit)
(509) 335-8386
pwhitney@wsu.edu

Required Reading:
Your memory; a user's guide, new illustrated edition.
Baddeley, Alan
Firefly Books Ltd., [c]2004
1-55297-985-7

Required Attendance: Live October Seminar

Course Grade: A passing grade will be awarded for completing a take home quiz with a score of 70% or better. The quiz will ask you to briefly discuss the memory principles that support or refute commonly held beliefs about memory. You will also have the opportunity to critique the claims of an advertisement for a memory improvement product.

Seminar Description:
Who we are and how we function in the world is largely a product of memory system. In this seminar we will address three overarching questions about how your memory works:

I. Is memory like a muscle: Use it or lose it?

Topics: The worst memory ever; models and systems of memory

II. Is memory like a video recorder?

Topics: The best (?) memory ever; what gets stored in memory and why; the problem of eyewitness testimony; memory improvement techniques

III. Is memory permanent?

Topics: Why we forget; amnesia; aging and dementia; repression.