Some targets for memory models

This introductory article to the Journal of Memory and Language special issue on memory models discusses the progress made in the field of memory modeling during the last few decades in terms of a number of previously suggested criteria, using the articles in this issue as examples. There has been considerable progress, both at a technical level (e.g., concerning model comparison and model analysis techniques) and at a psychological level (as evidenced by the increasingly tight interplay between theory and data on human memory). The article concludes by proposing a few generic targets for future modeling work.