This new edition of Human Memory: Theory and Practice contains all the chapters of the previous edition (unchanged in content) plus three new chapters. The first edition was published at a time when there was intense interest in the role of consciousness in learning and memory, leading to considerable research and theoretical discussion, but comparatively little agreement. For that reason, the topic was regretfully omitted.

Since that time the field has crystallised, making it possible to incorporate three additional chapters concerning this, the most active area of memory research over the last decade. Specifically, the new chapters are concerned with: the philosophical and empirical factors influencing the study of consciousness; implicit knowledge and learning; and the evidence for implicit memory and its relationship to the phenomenal experience of "remembering" and "knowing".

The book is aimed at a university or college student taking a course in human memory, but assumes that memory lies at the centre of cognition. Consequently, the links between memory and attention, perception, action and emotion are stressed, making it a useful core text for a more general course on cognitive psychology.