CHANGING PERSPECTIVES ON BASIC RESEARCH IN ADULT LEARNING AND MEMORY

It is argued that whether the course of cognitive development is charac‐erized by growth, stability, or decline is less a matter of “fact” than a matter of the metamodel on which the theories and data are based. Such metamodels are representations of reality that are not empirically testable, but which determine the basic parameters of theory and research. Three, historical shifts in basic research on adult learning and memory are reviewed. The associative approach, dominant until the late 1950s, is rooted in the mechanistic metamodel. Within this approach, learning and memory are seen as the formation and dissolution of stimulus‐response bonds. The associative approach has projected an irreversible decrement view of aging and learning/memory performance in which the principle processes are interference and decay, and the principle antecedents are biological. The information processing approach, dominant from the early 1960s until the present is rooted in the organis‐mic metamodel. Within this approach, learning and memory are governed by storage structures and control processes, and active processing on the part of the learner is emphasized. The information processing view has projected a decrement with a compensation view of aging and learning/ memory performance. Finally, it is argued that a contextual approach is emerging in the present historical context. Within this approach, what is learned and remembered in a given situation depends on its total context. The contextual approach, based on ecologically valid measures, may project a nondecremental view of aging and learning/memory performance.