Psychology : $b A study of mental lifeWoodworth, Robert Sessions
Science
Psychology : $b A study of mental life
Woodworth, Robert Sessions
Psychology
Memory plays a part, not only in "memory work", and not only in
remembering particular past experiences, but in all sorts of thinking.
Recall furnishes the raw material for thought. A large share of any
one's daily work, whether it be manual or mental, depends on the
recall of previously learned reactions. Most of the time, though we
are not exactly trying to remember facts committed to memory, we are
recalling what we have previously learned, and utilizing the recalled
material for our present purposes. For example, in conversation we
recall words to express our meaning, and we recall the meanings of the
words we hear. In adding a column of figures, we recall the sums of
the numbers. In cooking a meal, we recall the ingredients of the dish
we wish to prepare, and the location of the various materials and
utensils required for our purpose. In planning a trip, we recall
places and routes. Any sort of problem is solved by means of recalled
facts put together in a new way. A writer in constructing a story puts
together facts that he has previously noted, and any work of the
imagination consists of materials recalled from past experience and
now built into a new composition.
What Can Be Recalled
If recall is so important in thinking and acting, it is worth while to
make a survey of the materials that recall {367} furnishes. In
general, using the term "recall" rather broadly, we say that any
previously learned reaction may be recalled. Writing _movements_ may
be said to be recalled when we write, and speech movements when we
speak. "Higher units", like the word habits and phrase habits of the
telegrapher and typist, are in a broad sense recalled whenever they
are used. The typist does not by any means recall the experience of
learning a higher unit, but he calls into action again the response
that he has learned to make. In the same way, the word habits and
phrase habits of vocal speech are called into action, i.e., recalled,
whenever we speak.
Besides these motor reactions, _tendencies_ to reaction can be
recalled. The attitude of hostility that may have become habitual in
us towards a certain person, or towards a certain task, is called into
activity at the mention of that person or task. The acquired interest
in architecture that we may have formed by reading or travel is
revived by the sight of an ambitious group of buildings. A slumbering
purpose may be recalled into activity by some relevant stimulus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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