ABSTRACT
This discussion concerns two earlier chapters that focused on experimental methods and results pertaining to human sensory memory: 'Iconic Memory and Attentional Processes in the Aged' by D. A. Walsh and M. J. Prasse and 'Echoic Memory and the Study of Aging Memory Systems' by R. G. Crowder. Research conducted within the last 15 years has strengthened and refined the view that under certain experimental conditions a subject extracts stimulus information primarily from such a sensory image rather than from a categorized or encoded version of the stimulus. But research has not yet produced convincing evidence of systematic changes in sensory memory as a function of subject age; while experimental results for iconic memory are inconsistent, results for echoic memory are nonexistent. Confounded age effects certainly challenge the ingenuity of investigators who study iconic memory, as is clear from the work reviewed by Walsh and Prasse.
