Memory

Essential Reads Chosen by the editors

When Willpower is Strong and Memory is Weak

By Meg Selig on March 5, 2010 in Changepower

Willpower is like a spotlight. But what if you can't remember where the spotlight should focus? Read More

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It really is back to the past.

By Art Markman, Ph.D. on March 9, 2010 in Ulterior Motives

An amazing facet of human thought is our ability to travel through time mentally. We can think back to past events and reminisce with friends. We can look forward to future events. We can make detailed plans for the future that require envisioning what will happen at some later time.
How are we able to think about the future? Read More
When Willpower is Strong and Memory is Weak

By Meg Selig on March 5, 2010 in Changepower

Willpower is like a spotlight. But what if you can't remember where the spotlight should focus? Read More
Rethinking the Power of Now

By Mark Freeman, Ph.D. on March 5, 2010 in Hindsight

While there is no questioning the power of now, there is also no questioning the power of hindsight. Looking backward, we can often see aspects of experience that we either could not or would not see in the immediate moment. In addition, we have the opportunity to situate the episodes of our lives in story, giving new meaning and significance to the personal past. The now remains powerful here too. But it is the now of reflective recollection, and it's a key feature of living the examined life. Read More
The benefits of "Snowpocalypse"

By George Michelsen Foy on March 2, 2010 in Shut Up and Listen!

It took an awe-inspiring natural disaster to rip the author out of the noise of his daily life and, in the ensuing quiet, connect to a long-forgotten fear. Read More
Brain Cosmetics and Herculean Memory

By Joshua Gowin on February 16, 2010 in You, Illuminated

Over the course of your life, you may have seen a demonstration of brain volume related to body size, indicating that bigger brain-to-body-size ratio means more cognitive power. Read More
Are your problems your parents' fault? -- Parent Blaming II

By F. Diane Barth, LCSW on February 13, 2010 in Off the Couch

A client's wife says his parents screwed him up. She wants him to go to therapy so that he won't do the same to his own children. But he thinks that his parents didn't do such a bad job. Is he just sticking his head in the sand? Read More
How the Catcher in the Rye Pushed Us Over the Edge

By Jefferson Singer on February 13, 2010 in Life Scripts

As a psychologist who studies memory, I was fascinated to see how the death of J.D. Salinger brought back a distinct and powerful memory for me. I would like to believe it is a memory shared by a vast number of middle-aged readers, who came of age in the 1960s and early 1970s when the popularity of The Catcher in The Rye was at its zenith. Read More
How to Better Identify a Suspect in a Lineup

By Daniel R. Hawes on January 27, 2010 in Evolved Primate

Psychologists test a model of face recognition and create fairer lineups for suspects with distinctive features... Read More
Play nice with the 2000s

By Jamil Zaki on January 23, 2010 in Your Brain On Us

Negative opinions about the last decade may stem not only from all the bad things that happened in the last ten years, but also from the biased way in which we store and recall memories. Read More
Doing the Dishes: A Who-Done-It Mystery Story

By Ira Hyman on January 23, 2010 in Mental Mishaps

The dishes are piled high in the sink. The recycling bin is overflowing. Unfortunately, kitchen conversations in our house always become mystery stories: Who did the dishes last time? Why can't we agree on who should do the dishes?
Read More
Memories...A Window to Your Mind

By Stephen Mason, Ph.D. on January 19, 2010 in Look At It This Way

I recently wrote a column dealing with recovered memory syndrome. And it really is a syndrome because so many of the bits and pieces from one case seem to fix so perfectly into the next. The victims all appear to be remarkably alike. Since Drs. Read More
The Examined Life

By Robert Wilson on January 13, 2010 in The Main Ingredient

Paul and I were sixteen years old and had taken high school Spanish for a year. We called each other every night on the phone and spoke to each other in our new language. More than anything we wanted to test our skill with a real Spanish speaking person, but we did not know any. Then we got the idea to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. For two boys who had never dined out without their parents, this was a big adventure. We were so motivated that when we made reservations, we asked to be seated with a waiter who could not speak English. Read More
Unfiltered Mind

By Nancy Rappaport, M.D. on January 11, 2010 in We Are Only Human

For many people—myself included—Alzheimer’s is a consuming and frightening disease, dreaded for the devastation and havoc it wreaks not only on the victim’s mind, but also on his or her family. Read More
Mom and Dad Love(d) Me Best. Are You Sure?

By Susan Newman, Ph.D. on January 10, 2010 in Singletons

An only child clearly has the advantage of always being mom and dad's favorite. When there is more than one child in the family, favoritism seems to be an abyss parents can't escape even when they try. Read More
Why is "aging on earth" the most important risk factor for Alzheimer's disease?

By Howard Fillit, M.D. on January 7, 2010 in Alzheimer's: Hope on the Horizon

Why is aging "on earth" the most important risk factor for Alzheimer's disease? Read More
Global Warming is Dead. Long Live Global Warming!

By Sam Sommers on January 6, 2010 in Science Of Small Talk

Baby, it's cold outside. Not just up here in New England, but across continents. Citrus farmers in Florida are worried about freezing crops. Britain is experiencing its worst cold spell in three decades. There's record snowfall in China. You know what this means, of course. Brace yourself for yet another spate of obituaries declaring the end of global warming... Read More
What is déjà vu?

By Art Markman, Ph.D. on January 5, 2010 in Ulterior Motives

After I graduated from college, I backpacked around Europe with a few friends. It was the first time I went to Europe. Our first day in Athens, we got off a bus, and suddenly I was standing in front of a restaurant and shop, and I was sure that I had been there before. I knew that I hadn't been there, of course, but it was a powerful experience of déjà vu.
How strange. Read More
Where Will You Be Next January? Write it Down Tonight.

By Regina Barreca, Ph.D. on December 31, 2009 in Snow White Doesn't Live Here Anymore

My journal for the year beginning in January 1972 opens with resolutions: "eat less greasy food, start homework earlier, get fingernails to grow, stay away from Tom because he will never love me the way I want him to and he'll only break my heart again if I let him, drink less soda."
The only thing I have managed to do is get my fingernails to grow and even for THAT I get professional help. Read More
Quick, Without Checking: What Day Of The Week Is It?

By Regina Barreca, Ph.D. on December 28, 2009 in Snow White Doesn't Live Here Anymore

C’mon, really, didn’t you have to pause--even just a little bit-- in order to answer correctly? Didn’t you want to say today is “Sunday” because yesterday felt more like a Saturday than a Sunday? Read More
Conversations on Creativity with Daniel Tammet- Part IV, IQ and Human Intelligence

By Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D. on December 24, 2009 in Beautiful Minds

On August 18th and August 19th, 2009, Daniel Tammet was gracious enough to let me peer into his world. Over the coming days, I will reveal my complete interview with Daniel, laid out in six parts. In this fourth part, Daniel talks about IQ testing, intelligence, gifted education, labeling, Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, and definitions of savantism.

Read More

Memory Basics

Memory is a crucial part of human identity. Maybe you think of it as just "a record of stuff that happened," but if you don't know where you've been, you can't know who you are or where you're going.

Go to the Memory Basics page for more on Memory including:

Current Issue

The Expectations Trap

Why we're conditioned to blame our partners for our unhappiness.