Daniel L. Schacter

I started this book some time ago, soon after it came out, probably, in 1996. That was during the height of the recovered memory movement, and this volume is partly a response to that hysteria from a professional psychologist with an interest in memory. The author reviews current theories on memory from both a clinical and a experimental psychology viewpoint. He has several interesting stories to tell, about examples of limited memory loss for certain classes of words, or pictures, and the show more limited evidence for complete repression of memory. The issue of the difficulty that people have with citing the source for a memory is particularly interesting - Ellen is always asking me how I know something and I cannot tell her. It may cause problems with attribution of credit in scholarly works, however. show less

I found it interesting but at times a bit bogged down with the author's own research. He did deal with a number of bigger society issues as well such as the "truth" of memoir, the conflict over recovered memories of sexual abuse - real or fabricated, and the role of memory and story telling for the elderly for themselves and for society.

Schacter approaches his task like a teacher. He focuses on seven problems with memory that have undoubtedly been experienced by the average reader:

1. Transience - Our memories weaken over time.
2. Absent-mindedness - We don't focus on what we need to remember.
3. Blocking - It's in our memory somewhere, but we can't find it.
4. Misattribution - We are wrong about where we learned something.
5. Suggestibility - Other people can "plant" false memories in us.
6. Bias - We rewrite the past with the show more pen of present beliefs.
7. Persistence - We keep remembering things we'd like to forget.

For each of these problems, he gives understandable examples. In the final chapter, the problems are discussed as a group, and the author states the opinion that these problems are a small price to pay for a memory capability that performs extraordinarily well.

In the early part of the book, there are references to specific functions of the various lobes of the brain and how those lobes may affect the processes of memory. As the discussion moves on to the rest of the “sins,” there are fewer references to objective scientific data, and more references to hypotheses and activity testing of various types. Professor Schacter does a thorough job of referencing the works of other psychologists, and summarizing their opinions.

An informative book, intended for non-technical people who want an overview of the field and a basic understanding of academic progress. show less

This book talks about seven memory miscues that irritate people and argues that they indicate a memory that is working well. It is well written and contains a bibliography and other source notes if you are interested in following the matter further. It also contains tips on how to deal with the mistakes that your memory might make, which also works pretty nice.