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Abstract From the earliest moments in their lives, infants begin to build memories about their past and accumulate knowledge about the world. In this article, we focus on the distinction between memory forspecificevents and memory forgeneralinformation, and the ongoing debate about which type of memory provides the foundation for the development of the other. Some researchers argue that specific memory developmentally precedes general memory, whereas others support the opposite position. Our literature review suggests that the latter position is inconsistent with many empirical findings and theoretical principles of memory captured by computational models capable of accounting for these findings. We propose thatjust good enoughmnemonic acuity could be a starting point for memory development, and that it can support both specific and generalized memories. 

In explaining how humans selectively attend, common frameworks often focus on how attention is allocated relative to an idealized allocation based on properties of the task. However, these perspectives often ignore different types of constraints that could help explain why attention was allocated in a particular way. For example, many computational models of learning are well equipped to explain how attention should ideally be allocated to minimize errors within the task, but these models often assume all features are perfectly encoded or that the only learning goal is to maximize accuracy. In this article, we argue for a more comprehensive view by using computational modeling to understand the complex interactions that occur between selective attention and memory. Our central thesis is that although selective attention directs attention to relevant dimensions, relevance can be established only through memories of previous experiences. Hence, attention is initially used to encode features and create memories, but thereafter, attention operates selectively on the basis of what is kept in memory. Through this lens, deviations from ideal performance can still be viewed as goal-directed selective attention, but the orientation of attention is subject to the constraints of the individual learner.