ABSTRACT
The central idea of this book is that the memory is not simply a mechanical function of successful or unsuccessful coding and decoding processes, but that it is basically dependent on the nature of the code which, far from being static, changes in accordance with the pre-operational or operational structures, and hence with the schemata proper to the intelligence. Depending upon the characteristics of these schemata, the models presented for coding may give rise to memories that improve as the schemata themselves develop (for instance, in the case of seriations; see Chapters 1 to 2); to systematic distortions (as with corresponding lengths; see Chapter 4); or to mistaken or correct recollections depending on the subject's grasp, not of a given structure, but of a problem raised by virtue of the available schemata (as in the case of unequal levels; see Chapter 14). Using this approach we were quite naturally forced to ask ourselves whether or not distinct stages in the organization of the memory corresponded to the successive stages in the solution of a problem involving operational conservation.
