The recent attempt to move research in cognitive psychology out of the laboratory makes autobiographical memory appealing, because naturalistic studies can be done while maintaining empirical rigor. Many practical problems fall into the category of autobiographical memory, such as eyewitness testimony, survey research, and clinical syndromes in which there are distortions of memory. This book's scope extends beyond psychology into law, medicine, sociology, and literature. Work on autobiographical memory has matured since David Rubin's Autobiographical Memory appeared in 1986, and the timing is right for a new overview of the topic. Remembering Our Past presents innovative research chapters and general reviews, covering such topics as emotions, eyewitness memory, false memory syndrome, and amnesia. The volume will appeal to graduate students and researchers in cognitive science and psychology.

In Remembering Reconsidered the new ecologically-oriented study of memory makes contact with more traditional approaches. The problems considered by the authors include memory for randomly selected daily events, for folk ballads, for early childhood experiences, for thoughts, for events known secondhand, for knowledge acquired years before and subjected to "reminding" in the laboratory, and for a variety of stimuli presented with theoretical questions in mind. The theme unifying the contributions, which is developed by the editors in their separate introductory chapters, is concerned with the adaptive significance of memory in daily life together with careful analysis of the variables on which it depends.

Recollections of unexpected and emotional events (called "flashbulb" memories) have long been the subject of theoretical speculation. The fourth Emory Symposium on Cognition brought together everyone who has done research on memories of the Challenger explosion, in order to gain better understanding of the phenomenon of flashbulb memories: How do flashbulb memories compare with other kinds of recollections? Are they unusually accurate, or especially long-lived? Do they reflect the activity of a special mechanism, as has been suggested? The book also addresses more general issues of affect and accuracy: Do emotion and arousal strengthen memory? If so, under what conditions? By what physiological mechanisms?

Significantly revised in 2009, the WMS-IV is now directly linked to the WAIS-IV-the leading intelligence test-and includes four new subtests. This latest volume in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, authored by the test's developers, covers every new update to the world's most widely used memory test. Packaged in the popular and user-friendly Essentials series format, this book provides the necessary information to administer, score, and interpret the Fourth Edition of the Wechsler Memory Scales. Mental health practitioners will find this book's practical guidance a valuable resource.

Elements of Episodic Memory was a seminal text in the memory literature, highly cited and influential. It has been unavailable for some years, but is now back in print as in its original form, with this reissue. The book examines the critical role that retrieval processes play in remembering. It proposes that the nature of recollective experience is determined by the interaction between the 'episodic' trace information and the 'semantic' retrieval information. This basic theme is elaborated by tracing the development of the ideas considering relevant empirical evidence, relating a proposed theoretical framework to the ideas held by other theorists, and dealing with criticisms advanced by others. These issues are discussed from two perspectives. Firstly, from the point of view of 'detached science': the emphasis here is on ideas, hypotheses, evidence, logic and theory. The second is a personal commentary on the development of ideas at the first viewpoint, and provides observations about the psychology and sociology of a developing science.

We tend to think about memory in terms of the human experience, neglecting the fact that we can trace a direct line of descent from the earliest vertebrates to modern humans. But the evolutionary history that we share with other vertebrates has left a mark on modern memory, complemented by unique forms of memory that emerged in humans. This book tells an intriguing story about how evolution shaped human memory. It explains how a series of now-extinct ancestral species adapted to life in their world, in their time and place. As they did, new brain areas appeared, each of which supported an innovative form of memory that helped them gain an advantage in life. Through inheritance and modification across millions of years, these evolutionary developments created several kinds of memory that influence the human mind today. Then, during human evolution, yet another new kind of memory emerged: about ourselves and others. This evolutionary innovation ignited human imagination; empowered us to remember and talk about a personal past; and enabled the sharing of knowledge about our world, our culture, and ourselves. Through these developments, our long journey along the evolutionary road to human memory made it possible for every individual, day upon day, to add new pages to the story of a life: the remarkably rich record of experiences and knowledge that make up a human mind. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Evolutionary Road to Human Memory will be enjoyable reading for anyone interested in the human mind.

Forgetting is the most obvious feature of human memory, whether this is everyday forgetfulness, like leaving your keys at home, or more serious medical conditions, such as amnesia. Forgetting: Explaining Memory Failure uses the most up-to-date evidence available to examine the psychological processes behind these extremes and everything in between. It explores why we have so little recollection of our childhood lives, as well as why we may create false memories of events that never happened. In this book, Michael Eysenck & David Groome use cutting-edge research to examine one of the central issues in the study of memory: forgetting. It challenges assumptions about the processing of memory, offering insights into key debates, as well as providing readers with the critical skills to develop their own conclusions on the topic. With chapters from leading figures, this book also emphasises the positive aspects of forgetting, an important and often overlooked area in the field.

In the final volume of his historical neuroscience trilogy, prize-winning author Alan J. McComas recounts the research that led to recognition of the hippocampus, a structure deep within the brain, as being primarily responsible for memory. This intriguing and exciting account includes observations on patients with memory loss as well as insights from ingenious laboratory experiments. Using several arguments in support, McComas suggests that it is the electrical impulse activity of neurons in the hippocampus that creates consciousness and that the latter is, in fact, the ever-changing sequence of short-term memories. He show us how a deeper knowledge of the hippocampus can help us develop a fuller understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other disorders of memory and behaviour, including 'long COVID. Lavishly illustrated, Aranzio's Seahorse will be of value not only to neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers but to all those interested in the workings of the brain and in the history of its exploration.

In the summer of 1953, maverick neurosurgeon William Beecher Scoville performed a groundbreaking operation on an epileptic patient named Henry Molaison. But it was a catastrophic failure, leaving Henry unable to create long-term memories. Scoville's grandson, Luke Dittrich, takes us on an astonishing journey through the history of neuroscience, from the first brain surgeries in ancient Egypt to the New England asylum where his grandfather developed a taste for human experimentation. Dittrich's investigation confronts unsettling family secrets and reveals the dark roots of modern neuroscience, raising troubling questions that echo into the present day.

Over the last several decades, video testimony with aging Holocaust survivors has brought these witnesses into the limelight. Yet the success of these projects has made it seem that little survivor testimony took place in earlier years. In truth, thousands of survivors began to recount their experience at the earliest opportunity. This book provides the first full-length case study of early postwar Holocaust testimony, focusing on David Boder's 1946 displaced persons interview project. In July 1946, Boder, a psychologist, traveled to Europe to interview victims of the Holocaust who were in the Displaced Persons (DP) camps and what he called "shelter houses." During his nine weeks in Europe, Boder carried out approximately 130 interviews in nine languages and recorded them on a wire recorder. Likely the earliest audio recorded testimony of Holocaust survivors, the interviews are valuable today for the spoken word (that of the DP narrators and of Boder himself) and also for the song sessions and religious services that Boder recorded. Eighty sessions were eventually transcribed into English, most of which were included in a self-published manuscript. Alan Rosen sets Boder's project in the context of the postwar response to displaced persons, sketches the dramatic background of his previous life and work, chronicles in detail the evolving process of interviewing both Jewish and non-Jewish DPs, and examines from several angles the implications for the history of Holocaust testimony. Such early postwar testimony, Rosen avers, deserves to be taken on its own terms rather than to be enfolded into earlier or later schemas of testimony. Moreover, Boder's efforts and the support he was given for them demonstrate that American postwar response to the Holocaust was not universally indifferent but rather often engaged, concerned, and resourceful.

"Memory in Culture" is an introduction to one of the most exciting new interdisciplinary fields of research: cultural memory studies. Who was Maurice Halbwachs, and what are the "social frameworks of memory"? What can Aby Warburg's work tell us about the "memory of art"? How do Pierre Nora's "lieux de memoire" connect history and memory? Where does the ancient art of memory meet the neurosciences? How do media shape our most personal memories? And can remembrance become globalized? "Memory in Culture" addresses these and many other questions about the socio-cultural dimensions of remembering, offering a unique overview of the history and theory of memory studies. With the concise presentation of key concepts from history, sociology, political sciences, anthropology, psychology, literary, art and media studies, it documents current international and interdisciplinary memory research in an unprecedented way.

Memory is typically thought of as a set of neural representations - 'memory traces' - that must be found and reactivated in order to be experienced. It is often suggested that 'memory traces' are represented by a hierarchically organized system of analyzers, modified, sharpened and differentiated by encounters with successive events. Remembering: An activity of mind and brain is the magnum opus of one of the leading figures in the psychology of memory. It sets out Fergus Craik's current view of human memory as a dynamic activity of mind and brain. The author argues that remembering should be understood as a system of active cognitive processes, similar to (perhaps identical to) the processes underlying attending, perceiving and thinking. Thus, encoding processes are essentially viewed as the mental activities involved in perceiving and understanding, and retrieval is described as the partial reactivation of these same processes. This account proposes that episodic and semantic memory should be thought of as levels in a continuum of specificity rather than as separate systems of memory. In addition, the book presents Craik's views on working memory and on age-related memory impairments. In the latter case the losses are attributed largely to a difficulty with the self-initiation of appropriate encoding and retrieval operations compensated, when needed, by support from the external environment. The development of these ideas is discussed throughout the book and illustrated substantially by experiments from the author's lab, but also by empirical and theoretical contributions from other researchers. A broad account of current ideas and findings in contemporary memory research, but viewed from the author's personal theoretical standpoint, Remembering: An activity of mind and brain will be essential for researchers, graduate and postdoctoral students working in the field of human memory.

Working memory refers to how we keep track of what we are doing moment to moment throughout our waking lives. It allows us to remember what we have just done, focus on what we are doing now, to solve problems, be creative, think about what we will be doing in the next few seconds, and continually to update in our mind changes around us throughout the day. This book brings together in one volume, state-of-the-science chapters written by the most productive and well known working memory researchers worldwide. Chapters cover different approaches to understanding how working memory works, using behavioural experimental techniques, neuroimaging, computational modelling, how it changes from childhood through to healthy old age, how it is affected by dementia and brain damage, and how it is used in everyday life. A unique feature of the book is that each chapter starts with answers to a set of common questions for all authors. This allows readers very rapidly to compare key differences in theoretical assumptions and approaches to working memory across chapters, and to understand the theoretical context before going on to read each chapter in detail. Uniquely, all authors consider evidence that is not consistent with their theoretical assumptions, whereas it is common for authors to ignore contradictory evidence. This approach leads to new interpretations and new hypotheses to test in future research and greatly enhances our understanding of this crucial human ability. Written and edited by the leading researchers in the field, the book will be an important and influential addition to the memory literature.

The topic of autobiographical memory has held a prominent role in memory research for the past 30 years, as it has proven indispensable to the understanding of human memory and cognition. An important focus of autobiographical memory research is uncovering the basic structure, nature, and organization of the autobiographical memory system. This book explores the organization and structure of autobiographical memory. Based on over thirty years of research, and the latest empirical findings, it presents the major theories and problems in the science of autobiographical memory organization. At its core are two influential global views on the organization, structure, and function of autobiographical memory (chapters 2 and 3). In addition, the volume examines the organization of autobiographical memory from a developmental perspective (chapter 4). It includes a chapter examining the neuroscience of autobiographical memory organization (chapter 7), and a chapter examining organization from a functional perspective (chapter 6). Also covered is the role of culture in forming autobiographical memory (chapter 5), the role of the self in organizing autobiographical memory (chapter 8), insights from the reminiscence bump on organization (chapter 9), and a chapter on the organization of episodic autobiographical memories (chapter 10). For students and researcher with an interest in memory, the volume is a timely and important addition to their literature.

In antiquity and the Middle Ages, memory was a craft, and certain actions and tools were thought to be necessary for its creation and recollection. Until now, however, many of the most important visual and textual sources on the topic have remained untranslated or otherwise difficult to consult. Mary Carruthers and Jan M. Ziolkowski bring together the texts and visual images from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries that are central to an understanding of memory and memory technique. These sources are now made available for a wider audience of students of medieval and early modern history and culture and readers with an interest in memory, mnemonics, and the synergy of text and image.The art of memory was most importantly associated in the Middle Ages with composition, and those who practiced the craft used it to make new prayers, sermons, pictures, and music. The mixing of visual and verbal media was commonplace throughout medieval cultures: pictures contained visual puns, words were often verbal paintings, and both were used equally as tools for making thoughts. The ability to create pictures in one's own mind was essential to medieval cognitive technique and imagination, and the intensely pictorial and affective qualities of medieval art and literature were generative, creative devices in themselves.

We remember in social contexts. We reminisce about the past together, collaborate to remember shared experiences, and, even when we are alone, we remember in the context of our communities and cultures. Taking an interdisciplinary approach throughout, this text comprehensively covers collaborative remembering across the fields of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, discourse processing, philosophy, neuropsychology, design, and media studies. It highlights points of overlap and contrast across the many disciplinary perspectives and, with its sections on 'Approaches of Collaborative Remembering' and 'Applications of Collaborative Remembering', also connects basic and applied research. Written with late-stage undergraduates and early-stage graduates in mind, the book is also a valuable tool for memory specialists and academics in the fields of psychology, cognitive science and philosophy who are interested in collaborative memory research.

Imagination allows individuals and groups to think beyond the here-and-now, to envisage alternatives, to create parallel worlds, and to mentally travel through time. Imagination is both extremely personal (for example, people imagine unique futures for themselves) and deeply social, as our imagination is fed with media and other shared representations. As a result, imagination occupies a central position within the life of mind and society. Expanding the boundaries of disciplinary approaches, the Handbook of Imagination and Culture expertly illustrates this core role of imagination in the development of children, adolescents, adults, and older persons today. Bringing together leading scholars in sociocultural psychology and neighboring disciplines from around the world, this edited volume guides readers towards a much deeper understanding of the conditions of imagining, its resources, its constraints, and the consequences it has on different groups of people in different domains of society. Summarily, this Handbook places imagination at the center, and offers readers new ways to examine old questions regarding the possibility of change, development, and innovation in modern society.

Current theories about human memory have been shaped by clinical observations and animal experiments. This doctrine holds that the medial temporal lobe subserves one memory system for explicit or declarative memories, while the basal ganglia subserves a separate memory system for implicit or procedural memories, including habits. Cortical areas outside the medial temporal lobe are said to function in perception, motor control, attention, or other aspects of executive function, but not in memory. 'The Evolution of Memory Systems' advances dramatically different ideas on all counts. It proposes that several memory systems arose during evolution and that they did so for the same general reason: to transcend problems and exploit opportunities encountered by specific ancestors at particular times and places in the distant past. Instead of classifying cortical areas in terms of mutually exclusive perception, executive, or memory functions, the authors show that all cortical areas contribute to memory and that they do so in their own ways-using specialized neural representations. The book also presents a proposal on the evolution of explicit memory. According to this idea, explicit (declarative) memory depends on interactions between a phylogenetically ancient navigation system and a representational system that evolved in humans to represent one's self and others. As a result, people embed representations of themselves into the events they experience and the facts they learn, which leads to the perception of participating in events and knowing facts. 'The Evolution of Memory Systems' is an important new work for students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and biology.

There are few terms or concepts that have, in the last twenty or so years, rivaled "collective memory" for attention in the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, use of the term has extended far beyond scholarship to the realm of politics and journalism, where it has appeared in speeches at the centers of power and on the front pages of the world's leading newspapers. The current efflorescence of interest in memory, however, is no mere passing fad: it is a hallmark characteristic of our age and a crucial site for understanding our present social, political, and cultural conditions. Scholars and others in numerous fields have thus employed the concept of collective memory, sociological in origin, to guide their inquiries into diverse, though allegedly connected, phenomena. Nevertheless, there remains a great deal of confusion about the meaning, origin, and implication of the term and the field of inquiry it underwrites. The Collective Memory Reader presents, organizes, and evaluates past work and contemporary contributions on the questions raised under the rubric of collective memory. Combining seminal texts, hard-to-find classics, previously untranslated references, and contemporary landmarks, it will serve as an essential resource for teaching and research in the field. In addition, in both its selections as well as in its editorial materials, it suggests a novel life-story for the field, one that appreciates recent innovations but only against the background of a long history. In addition to its major editorial introduction, which outlines a useful past for contemporary memory studies, The Collective Memory Reader includes five sections-Precursors and Classics; History, Memory, and Identity; Power, Politics, and Contestation; Media and Modes of Transmission; Memory, Justice, and the Contemporary Epoch-comprising ninety-one texts. In addition to the essay introducing the entire volume, a brief editorial essay introduces each of the sections, while brief capsules frame each of the 91 texts.

Current theories about human memory have been shaped by clinical observations and animal experiments. This doctrine holds that the medial temporal lobe subserves one memory system for explicit or declarative memories, while the basal ganglia subserves a separate memory system for implicit or procedural memories, including habits. Cortical areas outside the medial temporal lobe are said to function in perception, motor control, attention, or other aspects of executive function, but not in memory. 'The Evolution of Memory Systems' advances dramatically different ideas on all counts. It proposes that several memory systems arose during evolution and that they did so for the same general reason: to transcend problems and exploit opportunities encountered by specific ancestors at particular times and places in the distant past. Instead of classifying cortical areas in terms of mutually exclusive perception, executive, or memory functions, the authors show that all cortical areas contribute to memory and that they do so in their own ways-using specialized neural representations. The book also presents a proposal on the evolution of explicit memory. According to this idea, explicit (declarative) memory depends on interactions between a phylogenetically ancient navigation system and a representational system that evolved in humans to represent one's self and others. As a result, people embed representations of themselves into the events they experience and the facts they learn, which leads to the perception of participating in events and knowing facts. 'The Evolution of Memory Systems' is an important new work for students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and biology.

Epilepsy is the most common potentially serious disorder of the brain, and these patients often suffer from memory problems. There are a number of reasons for this: seizures can directly affect the brain in ways that disturb memory; epilepsy often results from trouble in brain regions closely linked to memory; the treatment of epilepsy can affect memory; epilepsy can cause psychological problems, like depression, which interfere with memory. The study of epilepsy and the study of human memoryare interwoven.
Epilepsy and Memory comprehensively reviews all aspects of the relationship between this common and potentially serious neurological disorder and memory, one of the core functions of the human mind. The authors, acknowledged experts in their fields, review the history of the subject, the clinical features of memory disorder in epilepsy, neuropsychological, neuroradiological, neuropathological and electrophysiological findings, the roles of anticonvulsant side effects and psychiatric disorder, and the scope for memory support and rehabilitation. The study of patients with epilepsy has revealed much about the workings of memory, yet there has been no recent review of this fertile field of research. This book fills this gap and is a valuable new addition to the brain sciences literature. It will be of wide interest to clinicians and basic researchers in the brain sciences.

Experimental research by social and cognitive psychologists has established that cooperative groups solve a wide range of problems better than individuals. Cooperative problem solving groups of scientific researchers, auditors, financial analysts, air crash investigators, and forensic art experts are increasingly important in our complex and interdependent society. This comprehensive textbook--the first of its kind in decades--presents important theories and experimental research about group problem solving. The book focuses on tasks that have demonstrably correct solutions within mathematical, logical, scientific, or verbal systems, including algebra problems, analogies, vocabulary, and logical reasoning problems.

The book explores basic concepts in group problem solving, social combination models, group memory, group ability and world knowledge tasks, rule induction problems, letters-to-numbers problems, evidence for positive group-to-individual transfer, and social choice theory. The conclusion proposes ten generalizations that are supported by the theory and research on group problem solving.

"Group Problem Solving" is an essential resource for decision-making research in social and cognitive psychology, but also extremely relevant to multidisciplinary and multicultural problem-solving teams in organizational behavior, business administration, management, and behavioral economics.

Our longstanding view of memory and remembering is in the midst of a profound transformation. This transformation does not only affect our concept of memory or a particular idea of how we remember and forget; it is a wider cultural process. In order to understand it, one must step back and consider what is meant when we say memory. Brockmeier's far-ranging studies offer such a perspective, synthesizing understandings of remembering from the neurosciences, humanities, social studies, and in key works of autobiographical literature and life-writing. His conclusions force us to radically rethink our very notion of memory as an archive of the past, one that suggests the natural existence of a distinctive human capacity (or a set of neuronal systems) enabling us to "encode," "store," and "recall" past experiences. Now, propelled by new scientific insights and digital technologies, a new picture is emerging. It shows that there are many cultural forms of remembering and forgetting, embedded in a broad spectrum of human activities and artifacts. This picture is more complex than any notion of memory as storage of the past would allow. Indeed it comes with a number of alternatives to the archival memory, one of which Brockmeier describes as the narrative approach. The narrative approach not only permits us to explore the storied weave of our most personal form of remembering-that is, the autobiographical-it also sheds new light on the interrelations among memory, self, and culture.

Working memory has been one of the most intensively studied systems in cognitive psychology. It is only relatively recently however that researchers have been able to study the neural processes might underlye working memory, leading to a proliferation of research in this domain.
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory brings together world class researchers from around the world to summarize our current knowledge of this field, and directions for future research. An historical opening chapter by Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch sets the context for the subsequent chapters. The scope of the book is exceptionally broad, providing a showcase for leading edge research on all contemporary concepts of working memory, using techniques from experimental psychology, from single cell recording, from neuropsychology, from cognitive neuroimaging and from computational modelling.
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Working Memory will be an important reference text for all those seeking an authoritative and comprehensive synthesis of this field.