ABSTRACT
For many years now, Ben Murdock and I have shared an interest in attempting to apply memory theory to data collected from across a wide range of different tasks. Our theoretical style however has differed quite markedly; I simply do not have the mathematical competence even to follow his work in detail, let alone to develop new theories, and consequently I have opted for a style of theorizing that depends on simple models constrained by a range of robust effects studied both within and outside the memory laboratory. In recent years however, it has become clear that if such qualitative models are to continue to develop, then it will be necessary to make them more specific and quantitative. I have consequently begun to work with colleagues who do have the appropriate skills. It is particularly timely that this invitation to help celebrate Ben Murdock's contribution to the study of memory should come at a time when my own work is once again moving closer to his. I want therefore to begin by outlining the qualitative approach to memory in general, and to phonological memory in particular, that has characterized my work, before going on to more recent work on the classic problem of serial order that brings together my own empirical work with the theoretical predictions of the TODAM model.
