The Evolution
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is a cognitive machine designed by evolution to survive in a particular
kind of physical environment, then a study of the properties and con-
straints available for exploitation in that environment should reveal
something about the information-processing strategies used by memory.
The possibility of deducing the strategies employed by memory
without experimentation was stressed by Simon (1975):
Discovery of what subjects learn can be approached
experimentally, but important preliminary insights
can be gained by analyzing the structure of the
task itself to determine the possible alternative
ways of performing it....Different subjects may in
fact learn different things in the same task
environment, and a formal analysis of the environ-
ment and help define the range of possibilities, (p. 268)
Although Simon's use of the word environment is not specifically
a reference to an evolutionary environment, there is no reason why
it cannot be taken as such, as the environment in which man evolved
is the ultimate "task environment." In what follows it will be
demonstrated that some of the most fundamental information-processing
techniques employed by memory can be deduced using the above method.
The Statistical Information Available to Memory
Two Incomplete Definitions
It is not enough that memory links together what it perceives; it
must also organize its perceptions so as to reflect the physical nature