Searching For Memory : The Brain, The Mind, And The Past

Memory. There may be nothing more important to human beings than our ability to enshrine experience and recall it. While philosophers and poets have elevated memory to an almost mystical level, psychologists have struggled to demystify it. Now, according to Daniel Schacter, one of the most distinguished memory researchers, the mysteries of memory are finally yielding to dramatic, even revolutionary, scientific breakthroughs. Schacter explains how and why it may change our understanding of everything from false memory to Alzheimer's disease, from recovered memory to amnesia with fascinating firsthand accounts of patients with striking -- and sometimes bizarre -- amnesias resulting from brain injury or psychological trauma. Drawing On His Own Work And That Of Other Cognitive, Clinical, And Neuroscientists, Schacter Gives Us Overwhelming Evidence For The Thesis That We Possess More Than One Memory System, Which Explains Why Some Brain-damaged People Cannot Remember Past Events, And Others Cannot Acquire New Knowledge Or Call Up Old. He Also Shows Us How New Breakthroughs In Brain Imaging Are Allowing Us To See, For The First Time, The Many Parts Of The Brain That Must Interact To Enable Us To Encode Or Retrieve A Memory. Searching For Memory Contains Fascinating Firsthand Accounts Of Patients With Striking - And Sometimes Bizarre - Amnesias Resulting From Brain Injury Or Psychological Trauma. Schacter Also Takes Us Into The Hidden World Of Implicit Memories - Unconscious Influences Of The Past That, Outside Our Awareness, Affect Our Judgments, Preferences, And Actions. And He Examines The Nature And Accuracy Of Emotionally Traumatic Memories, Using The Latest Advances In Cognitive Neuroscience To Clarify Vexing Issues In The Heated Controversy Over Repressed Memories Of Childhood Trauma. Introduction : Memory's Fragile Power -- On Remembering : A Telescope Pointed At Time -- Building Memories : Encoding And Retrieving The Present And The Past -- Of Time And Autobiography -- Reflections In A Curved Mirror : Memory Distortion -- Vanishing Traces : Amnesia And The Brain -- The Hidden World Of Implicit Memory -- Emotional Memories : When The Past Persists -- Islands In The Fog : Psychogenic Amnesia -- The Memory Wars : Seeking Truth In The Line Of Fire -- Stories Of Elders. Daniel L. Schacter. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 350-385) And Index. The mysteries of memory are finally yielding to dramatic, even revolutionary, scientific breakthroughs. Drawing on his own cutting-edge research and that of other cognitive, clinical, and neuroscientists, Schacter explains how and why this research may change our understanding of everything from false memory to Alzheimer's disease, from recovered memory to amnesia.;Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1, On Remembering; 2. Building Memories; 3. Of Time and Autobiography; 4. Reflections in a Curved Mirror; 5. Vanishing Traces; 6. The Hidden World Of Implicet Memory; 7. Emotional Memories; 8. Islands in the Fog; 9. The Memory Wars; 10. Stories of Elders; Notes; Bibliography; Index. Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 16 1, On Remembering 30 2. Building Memories 54 3. Of Time and Autobiography 87 4. Reflections in a Curved Mirror 113 5. Vanishing Traces 149 6. The Hidden World Of Implicet Memory 176 7. Emotional Memories 207 8. Islands in the Fog 233 9. The Memory Wars 263 10. Stories of Elders 295 Notes 324 Bibliography 365 Index 402 Breakthroughs have been made in understanding how memories are stored and how they are retrieved. This book provides an account of what these discoveries mean. Using case studies, it explains how our past experiences influence the formation of new memories, and how and why memory changes as we age. Daniel Schacter lets the public in on the developments made in understanding the way memories are stored and retrieved. With case studies he explains how past experiences influence the formation of new memories, and why memory changes with age "MY FIRST LOOK at the Boston Garden was years ago and it wasn't love at first sight," the Boston Globe sportswriter Will McDonough commented on the venerable arena before its closing on 1995.