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

searching ��

for ��

memory

Searching for Melllory

The Brain, the Mind, and the Past

DANIEL L. SCHACTER ... BasicBooks A DIVIJIQO'I of ,-b.rpcrCo![;nsPlob.'is«n

For III)' /l/OI1ier, H(/f(;et

Copynght 0 1996by D�lIiel L. Sch�cter. Published by l3aslcBooks. A DI"isian ofH;IrperCollms Pubhshen.lnc. All nghts reserved. PTinted III Ihe Unl1C"d SUtCS ofArnenca. No p�rt of Ihls book m�y be reproduced 111 �ny manner wh�t:socver without WTII­

It'n pl'rmi'�lon CXCCpl in tit...

c.u...

ofbncf qu ot:lf10n s embodiedin cri1-

ic�llTl1c1cs and rcvicw>. For i nfornmion. addr\'SS Ua;LcUooks. 10 East 53rd StrcCI. N...wYork. NY 10022-5299. FIRSr U)lTION

Dcslgned by Ellio(\ Heard ISlIN 0-465-02502-1 9697989900 :Iin. A� he paints, he con­ fi-onts the discrepancy bc[\'.'ccl1 the view of memory as a static repro­ duction and what his own experience is telling him. I-Ie writes:

if Illy memory ought to be an accur:ue replica of the original expe­ rience, if that was so, my p ..inting was hopcll.!ssly maccurate. It was

In this book I identify and discuss different enlble us to hold information for brief periods o( time, to learn skills and acquire habits, to recognize evcryday objects, to retain conceptu31 information, and to recollect specific evcms. Acting in concert, thest! memory systcms allow us [Q accomplish the tasks of our day-to-day lives while also supplying our intellect and emotions with ideas and feelings from the past that allow us to act with purpose and live rich emotional lives. But memory involves morc than JUSt our rcmelll­ br:mcc of things past. As we h:we come to learn that memory is not one single thing, we've opened up a whole new world of implicit. nonconscious memory that underlies our abilities to carry out efo f rt­ lessly such tasks as riding a bicycle or playing a piano, without having to direct each movemem consciously every time we attempt the t:l�k. Many of us chink of this type of memory as being stOred in our fin­ gers, but new research is uncovering that specific brain systems are involved in the non conscious effectS We now know enough about how memories are stored and retrieved [Q demolish another long-standing myth: that memories are passive or literal recordings of realiry. Many of us still see our memo­ . ries as a series of f 1mily pictures srored in the photo album of our minds. Yet it is now clear that we do not store Judglnent-free snapshots

a bad painting of a fuzzy memory. But [ preferred to think th:lt

of our past experiences but rather hold on to the meaning, sense, and

memory is never frozen, nor should it be. My painting was a suc­

emotions these experiences provided us. Although serious errors and

cessful rendering of the dynamiC memory that had simply begun

distortions occur relatively inCrequently, they furnish significant clues

with the orlgmal ewnt.., . My painting. I figurl.!d. was so vcry

abollt how we remember the past because they arise from, and pro­

accurate III its depiction of this memory th:lt it would inevitably

vide a window on, somc of the fundamental properties of our mem­

look wrong when compared to the original model.' Philosophers and writers have sought to penetrate memory's I11Ys­ teries for centuries. and scienti�{S have struggled with remembering

ory systems. One especially important such property is that we cannot separate our memories of the ongoing events of our lives from what has hap­ pened to tiS previously. Imagine that for a set time period, two people

6

Sl'llfr/dtlg for Melllory

Intro d u c t i o n

7

were tied together so thal each could witness only whar the other saw,

tOols to bear on undersranding baffiing cases of amnesia. Clinicians

rcad on1y what the other read, learn only what the other learned, and

interested in memory loss drew increasingly on the techniques and

have only the emotional experiences the other experienced. Unless

theories developed by cognitive psychologists, and used new methods

these tWO people WCfC identical personalities with identical pam, their rncl\\ories of the tiH1C period could be vastly different. Wilat has hap­

(or visualizing (he brain, Stich as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to provide precise characterizations of br. lin danuge in tht'ir patients.

pened to

At the same time, neuroscience made stunning progress, facilitated by

LIS

in the past dctt.!rrnines what we take OUt of our daily

encounters in life; memories arc records of how we have experienced

technical breakthroughs that allowed increasingly refined explorations

events, not replicas of the evellts themselves. Expcricnces 3rc encoded

of the brain and by the development of powcrful new theories using

by brain networks whose connections have already been shaped by

neural networks. More and more neuroscientists bCbran to relate their

previous encounters with the world. This preexisting knowledge powerfully influences how we encode and store new memories, thus

thc past few years, ncw functional neuroimaging techniques, stich as

fmdings with rats and monkeys to human memory. And during just

contributing to the nature, tex(Ure, and quality of wha( we will recall

positron emission tomography (PET scanning), have allowcd us to see

of the m01l1!.:llt.

the brain in action while people remember. Cognitive psychologists,

Not surpri�ingly, these insights and others have taught us much

clinicians, and neuroscientists are all now contributing to pathbreak­

about the vulnerability of memory-why Ollr recollections are some­

ing neuroimaging research that is providing a novel window on mem­

times pr!.:disposed to corruption by suggestive influences, and how we

ory and brain. A synthesis has emerged during the past tWO decades

sometimes distort the past for no illmlcdiately apparent reaSOH. And

that is exciting and vast in scope.

we are beginning [0 unde�tand why some memories have the power

I decided to write this book because I believe it is time to tell the

to induce us to cry, to laugh. or [0 tremble. We are still far from being

talc from the perspective of someone who has been part of it. For

able to say that we have a complete picture of how human memory

much of my career I have attempted to link cognitive psychology,

works. but after centuries with little Sllccess, we are starfing to fmd

clinical observations, and neuroscience into a cohesive approach to

places for many pieces of the puzzle.

understanding memory. I-I ere I try to paint the big picture of mem­

One reason for the emerging synthesis is that students of the brain and the lnind, after years of going separate ways, have C0111C together [0

ory as I have come to sec it. tlut my goal in writing this book goes beyond describing the ncw

develop an integrated approach that has transformed the study of

synthesis in memory research and relating SOllie of my own discover­

Illemory: cognitive neuroscience. A mere two decades ago, the study

ies and ideas, to include consideration of a puzzle that many of these

of memory was carried out by separate tribes of cognitive psycholo­

findings highlight. Memory, that complex and lIsually reliable asset,

gistS, clinicians, and neuroscientjsl�. Cognitive psychologists studied

can sometimes dcceive liS badly. Yet even though memory can be

memory in the laboratory, but showed scant interest in the world of

highly elusive in sOllle situations and dead wrong in others, it still

memory outside the lab and little or none in the brain. Clinicians-psychologists.

neurologists,

and

forms the foundation for our lllosr strongly held beliefS about our­

psychiatrists­

selves. A head-injury patient I once interviewed who had lost Illany

described fascinating disorders of meTllory, but were unfamiliar with

treasured memories felt that he had also lost his sense of self. He

thl.! elegant techniques llsed by cognitive psychologists to dissect

became so obsessed with the Illissing pages of his past that he could

meillory. Neuroscientists studied memory by removing particular

think or talk of little clse.

parts of animals' brains and then observmg the efe f cts. hardly noticed the findings and ideas of cognitive psychologists or clinicians.

"I can't review my life," he kept telling mc. This important duality-memory's many limitations on the one hand and its pcrvasive influencc on the other--is at the heart of thjs

In the 19805, cognitive psychologists began to emerge from the

book because it is central to understanding how the past shapes the

confines of the laboratory. Some swdied memory in everyday life,

present. I refer to it as fragile power, and it has afft'cted increasing

adding a new richness to their work. Others began to test patients

numbers of us in recent years. An intense controversy has exploded in

with memory disorders, bringing their vast arsenal of experimental

therapy settings. courtrooms, and the popular mcdia as people clailn,

111(rodUClion

Srarchi"g for Ml'lIIory

8

with passionate cOllviction, to have recovered long lost memories of sexual abuse during childhood. Are some of these allc�,.ations based 011 illusory "memories" created, rather than uncovered, in psychotherapy? We have also seen a steady parade of child care workers and others

9

in sOl11e of this re your first date-is constructcd from influences operating in the pres­

an idea with profound implications: memory is not a self-comamed

ent as well as from information you have stored about the past.

entity, as many researchers once believed, but instead depends on a

In chapter

2 I explain some of the fundamental processes that give

variety of different syStems in the bram.

rise to ollr memories. I will show how understanding the nature of

The study of amnesic p3tiellts has also helped to opcn up the pre­

encoding can help us to fathom the spectacular feats of memory of a

viously hiddcn world of implici, memory--when past experiences

long-distance runner who could recall long strings of digitS and an autistic savant who had an extraordinary ability to remember visual

unconsciously inRut'nce our perceptions, thougiltS, and actions. When I first began doing research. psychologists studied explio·, memor), for

patterns bUl little else. I will illustrate the complexities of the retrieval

recent experienccs by asking people deliberately to recall or recognize

process when I introduce a brain-damaged boy who could recall his

words or orher materials they had been shown a few minutes earlier.

recent experiences through writing but not talking. And we will see

l3ut in the early 19805, a series of stunning experimentS showed that

how PET scanning studies arc beginning to alter our thinking about

people can be influenced by recent experiences even when they �Irc

how the brain accomplishes encoding and retrieval. I have taken part

unable to recall or recognize them explicitly. As we will see in chap-

11

Selnciliug for Memory

Introduction

rer 6, brain-damaged patients who lack explicit memory for recent events nonetheless rctam implicit memory for them. Most of us know little about implicit memory, because it operates outside Ollf aware­ ness. But it is a pervasive influence in all our lives, and I will show how it affects everyday situations involving legal battles over intellectual property and disputes about plagiarized ideas.6 The power of memory is most forcefully illustrated by the pro­ found effects of emotionally traumatic events, which I explore in chapter 7. I introduce llleTl and women who have experienced terri­ ble traumas that they could never forget: narrowly escaping a life­ threatening fire, years of abuse in a Nazi concentration camp, or tcrrifying wartime incidents. And I discuss how recent discovcnes in neuroscience have begun to illuminate the underpinnings of these potent recollections. Yet even though traumatic events are generally better remembered than ordinary experiences, these memories, like more mundane ones, are complex constructions-not literal record­ ings of reality. Emotional trauma does not, however, always lead to VIvid recall; sometimes emotionally intense e>.:pericnces result in far-reaching anUleSlas. Chapter 8 considers mystifying cases of psychogenic amne­ sia, such as a young man who suddenly lost nearly aU of his personal past after a psychological trauma. I examine what happens when peo­ ple develop amnesia for shocking events, like a murderer who forgets committing a brutal crime. I also consider the controversial phellomenon of multiple personality, now referred to as dissociative identity disorder. Docs this disorder provide an important window on mem­ ory and identity? Or, as skeptics claim, arc multiple personalities now observed so frequently that we must question their validity? Having studied patients with dissociated identities, I agree with the critics that dubious diagnosis and treatment are serious problems, but I do not believe that all such cases can be explained in this way. I will discuss some of these perplexing cases in light of recent discoveries about the effects of stress-related hormones on the brain. Questions concerning traunn and amnesia are central to the bitter debate over repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, which I examine III chapter 9. This controversy is often thought of as a winner-take-all b::tttle royal between advocates of recovered memories and proponents of false memories. I believe that we need to step back from lhe rhetoric, and recognize that thIS is an unfortunate oversim­ plification of an issue with many intermingled parts that need to be disentangled. Although it is likely that some therapists have helped to

create illusory memories of abuse, it also seems clear that some recov­ ered memories are accurate. I conclude by considering what happens to memory as we age. We have learned that cell loss in some parts of the brain that are crucial for memory is either trivial or nonexistent, and that different kinds of memory are affected differently by aging. We have promismg leads about what parts of the brain are hit hardest by aging and new insights into what this means for memory. Evcn as I write these words, my own research group and others are carrying out studies of aging mem­ ory with PET scans that are providing a direct window on memory and the aging brain that has ncver been previously available. Looking at memory in older individuals, I hope to show, offers valuable insights into the nature of memory's fragile power.

10

Science is typically more concerned with understanding mechanisTlls than with appreciating personal meanings, but to fathom memory's fragile power we must pay attention to both. Thus I delve 1I1to the personal stories of patients who have developed amnesia as a conse­ quence of neurological or psychological trauma, and I tell of writers and artists whose lives have been affected to an unusual degree by attempts to recapture their pasts or by traumatic memories. I also make use of artworks that focus on the nature or filllction of memory. AU art relies on memory in a general sense---v -e ery work of art is affected, directly or indirectly, by the personal experiences or the artist-but some artists have made the exploran and Squire have shown tha( severe deficits of recognition memory result

from damage to a duster of cortical structures in the Illcdial temporal lobe (the emorhinal, perirhinal. and par:lhippocampal cortices) that are adjacent to, and a major source of input for. rhe hippocampus and amygdala.'� Mishkin's early finding 11m joint damage to the hjp­ pocampus and amygdala causes amnesia resulted [rom inadvertent damage to adjacent cortical areas during surgery. The neweT findings are consistent with observations concerning human amnesia: some of the temporal cortex adjacent to the hippocampus and amygdala were removed in the severely amnesic patient HM, but such areas were not damaged in cases of milder amnesia such as Rll

144

145

Korsakoff's S)'tldrollle Taken together, studies of human patients and experiments with monkeys show convincingly that damage to the medial temporal lobe can cause amnesia. But the stOry of the brain and amnesia doesn't stop here, because bTain damage in some amnesic patienes is found pri­ mariJy outside the medial temporal region. For example, patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, who have a long-term history ofakohol abuse, show a profound loss of Illcmory for recent expeTiences that likely results from a thiamine deficiency sometimes linked to alcoholism. AlcoholisTll itself can lead to mild memory problems. but most alco­ holics do not develop a full-blown Korsakoff's syndrome and associ­ ated amnesia. If> The onset of Korsakoff's syndrome is u�ually accompanied by a transient episode in whjch the patient suddenly becomes disoriented and confused. While in this acute stage of the illness, a person's behav­ ior may change radically from one moment to the next. One Kor­ sakoff patient interviewed in 1959, for example. knew the year he was born and correctly figured out that he was sixty years old. The next minute, he insisted thar it was 1 928 and that he was still a young man. Another conceded that he had been all a hospital ward for two weeks, but IJunutes later laullched into :I talc of having gone to church and dinner \Yllh his doctor the previous Sunday. One patient denied being married when a psychologist asked her about the wedding ring she wore. Then she proceeded to "recall" three f.tbricated husbands. The next day, everything she talked abollt involved her real husband. l1 When thjs confusional state ends after several days or weeks, patients emeTge with a chronic and debilitating memory impairment. In addition to memory loss. Illost patients with Korsakoff's syndrome

Sea r c h i llg JOT M e m o ry

Va n i s h i n g T r a c e s

have cognitive and motivational problems-they tend to be cogni­

medial tcmp0r:ll lobe or to the diencephalon. These two regions are

146

tiveiy apathetic and to show linle affect. The psychologist Howard G:mincr relates a conversation from the carly 1 970s with a typical Korsakoff patiem that illustrate's these qualities. When he encountered Mr. Q'Dolilldl on the ward of the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, the p:ltient was Ripping through a mag:tzinc with a cover story on the explosive issue of the day: the Watergate cover-up. Asked

147

connected by :1 structure known as the fornix, which is a major om­ pUl pathway of the hippocampus. The interconnectedness of the rwo areas suggests that a brain network involving both the medial tempo­ ral and the diencephalic regions plays a key role in explicit memory, and that damage to structures in either the medial tempor:ll or dien­ cephalic components of the network may cause memory problems.l!1

what was in the magazine, Mr. O'Donnell responded, " Oh, politics

This idea fits well with the recent work on brain-lesioned monkeys

and all that. I don't fo llow it much."When Gardner asked specifically

that h:ls highlighted the import:lnce of the encorhin:ll :lIld adjacem

about Watergate, the patient remained indifferent: ;;Oh, I don't pay it

cortices in memory function. These ateas funnel inputs from earlier

much mind. I've been busy lately and haven't been keeping up." But

processing stations all over the brain that deal with difTerelH aspects of

surely, Gardner con(inued, you mllst have he:lrd of W:uergate. "Oh,

experiences-the sights, sounds, and smells that make lip everyday

yeah if you say so, Doctor," O'Donnell conceded, "but I don't have

episodes-to the hippocampus, amygdala, and their targets in the

any opinions about that sort of thing:' Could the patient say anything

diencephalon. Here, the inputs :Ire linked or bOllnd together to form

at :III about Watergate? " Oh, they got sonle stool pigeon, or something

engr:nns that underlie explicit memories for day-to-day episodes.

like that. It's all the same to me.""

Damage to the emorhinal region, then, should have grave conse­

Despite a generally bland state of mind, Korsakoff patients, like

quences. If the emorhinal cortex is dysfullClional, thell the entire

other amnesic patients, achieve IQ scores in the normal range and

medial temporal-diencephalic network is sure to pay a heavy price,

generally 20 to 40 points higher than their MQs. In other words, their

because little information can enter the system.

motivational and COb>11itive deficits arc not suffici('m to explain their memory loss.

These considerations provide possibly important insights inco the devastating memory loss I witnessed during my twO rounds of golf with Frederick. Recall that he W".IS in the early stages of Alzheimer'.) disease. Severe memory impairment is one of the most COlll1110n early

Alllllesia lIlId rl,c D;CllfCplw/o/l Postmortem studies of Kors:lkofT patients' br:lins h:lve rcve:lled the

signs of the illm!ss; in some cases, amnesia may bl' the only major sign of pathology until the disease runs its inevitable course and produces a global deterioration of imelleclu:l1 function. There is now consider­

presence of extensive d:lmage in a collection of subcortical struCtures

able evidence that the major pathological signs of Alzheimer's disease

known as the diencephalon. Two prominent components of the dien­

(known as neuritic or amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles) arc

cephalon :Ire the thalamus (an important switching station in the br:lin

initially concentr:lted ill the encorhiml cortex, as well as the hip­

through which vinually all sensory input passes) and the mammillary

poc:llnpus.ll Frederick could perceive ongoing events during a round

bodies (a nucleus of cells located just below the thalamus; see figure

of golf, but those perceptions could nOt be transformed inco explicit

S . I ) . The thalamus, you may recall, was damaged in patient GR, who

memories because the critical input padnvay to hippocampal and

lo�t and bter recovered his emire past, and also in patient PS, who

diencephalic networks was probably ravaged by accumulating deposits

lived with the delusion that he would soon be sailing on a ship dur­

of neural debris.

ing World War 11. KorsakotTpatients usually have abnormalities in both

Studies of human amnesia and dellH!lltia, together with findings of

the thalamus and the Illammillary bodies. Studies of the brains of some

memory impairment in monkeys, convey a profound lIleSS:lge: a

Korsakoff patiellts, using either MI't1 to visualize damaged tissue in

neural system within the medial temporal-diencephalic region carries

living patients or direct examination of pathology in postmortem

Ou( functions that arc vital to e�tablishing new explicit memories.

cases, have revealed abnormalities in the hippocampus :md other parts

This system allows us to link together the varied components of

of the medial temp0r:ll lobe as well.'9

everyday episodes into integrated records of experiences: what we see

The amnesic syndrome, then, can result from damage either to the

and what we hear, what we think and how we feel. Medial temporal-

Stare/rillS Jo r .\ltmory

Va n i s h i n g Traces

diencephalic structures arc thus essential to episodic memory, and th�y also contribute to the formation of new semantic memories. AmneSIC patients gener-illy have difficulty learning novel f:'lcts and vocabulary, . although with enough repetition some of them can acqUIre new semantic knowledge. And in addition to failing to recollect episodes in rich detail, they feel licde of the rudimentary sense of familiariry about recent events chat most of us experience routinely. For instance, in experiments that required participants to say whether they actually "remember" specific details of a recent event or just "know" that it seems familiar. amnesic patients made fewer remember and fewer know responses than peoplc with normal melllory fUllction.n Dam­ age to medial temporal and diencephalic structures dot:s not destroy all forms of memory: even amnesic and demented patienrs can be unconsciously influenced by ongoing experiences and can acquire new skills. Out these implicit melT10ries appear to be based on isolated slivers of information, rather than on the multimodal engrams that underlie explicit relm:mbering. Our ability to form explicit memories of day-to-day experiences is inextricably intertwined with the normal Row of information inro and out of the cluster of cells and synapses, hidden deep within the innermost regions of brain, that comprise the medial te.mporal-diencephal,c circuie.

these types of knowledge depends on the integrity of specific con­ stclbtions of underlying brain structures and processes. Gene helped teach me some of these lessons. He developed amne­ sia when he sustained a serious head injury during a 1 98 1 motorcy­ cle accident th:1C damaged large sectors of his frontal and temporal lobes, including his left hippocampus.l.lThirty years old al the time of the accident, Gene. like Frederick, is now unable to recall day-to-day experiences except for a few isolated new facts (see chapter 4). In addition to his anterograde amnesia. however, Gene also shows a remarkable fornl of retrograde amnesia. Unlike amnesic patients who obey R..ibot's Law, Gene is unable to recall a single specific episode from any time in his life. Asking Gene about his personal past is an almost unnerving expe­ rience. He is a quiet, polite. and affable young man who always tries his best to come up with answers to questions that are posed to him. But no amount of prompting or ctleing helps Gene recall specific past eventS, whether happy or 5.'ld. at school or at work, or including fam­ ily or friends. Even when detailed descriptions of dramatic events in hi� life are given to him-the tragic drowning of his brother, the derailment, near his house, of a train carrying lethal cheulicals that required 240,000 peoplt· to evacuate their homes for a week�Gene does not generate any episodic memories. Though he had bet:n an avid motorcyclist prior to his injury. Gene no longer remembers any of the numerous trips he had made Wilh his cycling buddies. or can he recall the frequent visit.� to bars he used to make with his friends. Whereas other amnesic patients usually can dredge up some episodes from the distant past, Gene remembers absolutely nothing. I-Ie looks at me with a puzzled expression, as if he understood that he should be able to provide a response to my questions. Gene appreciates that peo­ ple are generJlly able to recall specific incidents from their pasts. Sit­ ting quietly trying to come up with an episodic memory, he is apt to emit a nervous laugh-a sort of recognition chat it is strange, almost silly, that he cantlot come up with anything. Then there is usually a sigh of resignation as Gene acknowledges that nothing is going to cOllie to him. Within a couple of minutes, this incident, too, vanishes into the black hole of his episodic memory. A life without any episodic memory is psychologically barren-the mental equivalent of a bleak Siberian landscape. Nothing much hap­ pens in Gene's mind or in his life. He has few friends and lives quiedy at home with his parents. He performs many of the saille routine activities again and again. And just as his recollections of the past arc

WHEN THE PAST D I SAPPEARS Retrograde Amnesia a n d the Structure of Memory

We have already seen that patients with damage re�trictcd to the medial temporal lobes have retrograde amnesias that obey Ribot's Law: such patielltS can remember many experiences from the distant past but few from the reccnt past, juSt prior to their brain injuries. Dut . . I1UO when brain damage extends out�ide the medial temporal regIOn, areas of the cortex where engrams arc :lctuames during freshman year"), and

changes, Endel Tulving asked him and his mother to rate various

game o f the season"). Gene and SS have n o problem recalling lifetime

aspects of his pn:selll and past personal traits. The two gencr:llly agreed

period knowledge, and even show some knowledge of general events.

about the char:lCleristic features of Gene's previolls and current per­

But neither has :lIly access to event-specific knowledge. Since Gene

sonalities. Despite an uner inlbility to remember a single episode of his

and SS have complete loss of episodic memory and panial loss of

OW11 behavior, Gene has managed to learn something about his new

semantic memory, perhaps lifetime periods and general events are part

traits. This is problbly because he is still capable of gradually accumu­

of semantic memory, while event-specific knowledge is part of

lating semantic knowledge on the basis of repeated experienccs.l4

episodic memory and preserves the details ofindjvidual expericnces.lIfi

152

S e a r c h i ng for Mem(HY

Ncuropsychologisrs have described patients who are in some sense

Vanish i n g T r a c e s

153

Shallicc described four patiems with encephalitis who had great diffi­

mirror images of Gene and SS: they can recall specific episodes from

culty identifying Itvmg things but easily identified most man-made

their lives, bur have lost much general knowledge of lhe world. For

objects. One patient, a forty-eight-year-old naval officer known by

instance, in a CJse of encep halitis descnbed by the Italian neurologist

the initials SHY, defined a wheelbarrow as an "object used by people

Ennio De Renzi, damage was largely confined to the from portion of

to take material about," a towel as "material used to dry people," ;md

the temporal lobe. a part of the brain that is important for semantic

a submarme as a "ship that goes underneath the sea." This same man

memory. This patient no longer knew the meanings of COlllmon

called a wasp a "bird that Aies," a crocus "rubbish material," and a spi­

words, had forgonen virtually everything she once knew about his­

der a "person looking for thmb'S; he was a spider for a nation or COUIl­

torical cvcnts and famous people, and retained little knowledge of the

try." More recelltiy, other patients have been described who exhibit

basic attributes of animate and inaJ1lmace objects. She had difficulty

the opposite pattern: greater difficulty identifying inanimate objects

indicating the color of a mouse, and had no idea where soap would

than living things. And even finer-gr;lin distincdons between pre­

ordinarily be found. Her semantic memory-the bedrock of our gen­

served and impaired categories have been observed. The neurologist

eral knowledge of the world�\Vas horribly impaired. However, when

Amonio Damasio has described a patient who can recogmze tools but

asked about her wedding and honeymoon, her Lither's illness and

not clothes, and another who has little difficulty recognizing man­

death. or other specific past episodes, she readi l y produced detaIled

made objects except for a terrible problem with musical instruments.2'I What accounts for these unusual impairments? Does the brain

and accurate recollections':'? A similar pattern has been seen in some elderly adults with a dis­

orgalllze �elllantic knowledge along strictly categorical line�? Proba­

order called "semantic dementia."These patients have difficulty nam­

bly not. Damasio and others have suggested that apparent category­

ing common objects, and have an impoverished vocabulary and poor

specific disorders arc related to the kinds of information that are used

comprehension of individual words. Over time, their semantic knowl­

to identify panicular emities. We tend to distinguish among animals

edge of words, objects, and facts gradually dissolves. Although they still

and plants based on details of their Visual appearance, whereas we tend

have general categOrical knowledge-they can distingUish between

to distinguish among tools based on actions we perform when using

living and nonliving rhinb'S, for example-they retain little or no

them. Patients with problems recognizing objects 011 the basis of

knowledge about specific attributes of objects. One patient, for

appearance would therefore also tend to have particular difficulties

instance, was asked to identify a picture of a deer and responded, "Ani­

recogmzing living things, whereas patients with problems recognizing

mal, gives milk, like sheep." Another was shown a picture of a violin

objects on the basis of functions would tend to have particular diffi­

and responded, "Is it an instrument? I think it's made of metaL"These

culties recognizing such man-made objects as tools.

same patients can remember what they had for breakfast or where

A recent PET scanning study by Alex Martin and colleagues at the

they went on a recent vacation; their episodic memories arc preserved.

National Institute of Mental Health provides some insight into these

The semantic impairments in such patients resemble similar deficits

startling disorders. When healthy volunteers identified pictures of

that h;tve been documented in patients with Alzheimer's disease. BtH

either animals or tools during separate brain scans, areas in the lower

in Alzheimer's patients, disorders of semantic memory arc genera.11y

pans of the temporal lobes that participate in the perception of com­

accompanied by severe deficits

episodic memory. Patients with

plex objects showed heightened aerivity (blood flow increases) com­

semantic dementias are important because they Indicate that semantic

pared to control conditions. But when they Identified picrures of

memory can be seriously impaired even when episodic memory

tools, there was also mcreased blood flow in the left premotor cor­

functions reasonably well.28

tex-an area that becomes extremely aerive when people simply

III

Semantic memory may sometimes break down in bizarre ways [hat

imagine rnoving their ha.nds to grasp an objecr. Identifying tools W:IS

provide important clues to how our general knowledge of the world

also associated with heightened activity i n a part of the left hemi­

is represemed in the brain. I n some particularly intriguing cases,

sphere (rhe middle temporal gyrus) that is involved in producmg

patients lose only certain categories of knowledge. For example, i n

action words (such as write) . These results suggest that knowledge of

1 9 8 4 the British neuropsychologists Elizabeth Warrington and Tim

tools, but not of animals, depends 011 brain regions that represent

Illovements and actions: things people do when using tools. These areas of the brain are typically d:lln:l£ed in patients with problems naming man-made objects, wherca� regions toward the rcar of the brain that represent distinct visual features of complex stimuli tend to be damaged in patients with problems nanting living things. The peculiar category-�pecific impairments seen in some brain-damaged patients arise because distinct brain networks are responsible for knowledge of different properties of objects.:ltl When

functioning smoothly,

the brain

155

Va n i s h I n g T r a c e s

Sea rcllitlg for Memory

systcrl'lS

that

suppOrt

episodic and semantic memories allow us to recognize object.� ill the world, to tr:lvcI in time, and co cons{ruct our life stOries. Bur when they are disrupted by brain d:l.Ill:lgC. we are afforded a glimpse of the building blocks from which we build tht" tales of our past that confer coherence and lIle:ming on our day-to-day lives.

culties. His observation has been confirmed by many subsequent . . deSCriptions of patients with Korsakoff's syndrome. When Howard Gardner spoke to Mr. O'Donnell. he 6r:lve him several words to remember and asked him to recall them sev('fal minutes later. Mr. O'Donnell could not remember :my of tlwm.

"

I guess I wasn't paying

enough attention," reasoned Mr. O'Donnell. Gardner repeated the exercise, but the outcome was the same. "Sometimes I get preoccll­ pied," the patient explained. " My memory's fme, J think ."}l Korsakoff amnesics often overestim:lte how well they will pe,form 011 memory rem. Like Mr. O'Donnell, they believe their memory is jusr fine, so they think they will remember as much as anybody else. Simply telling the patients that they have a memory problem has lit­ de efTecr.H Patients who develop amnesia as a tesult of head injurie� are also often unaware, or only panly aware, of their memory prob­ lems, :ts arc patients who develop memory problems as :1 consequence of burst :tneurys1lls in the anterior communicating artery. The ante­

EXPERIENCING AMNESIA A w a r e n e s s a n d U n a \\' a r e n e s s o f M e m o r y L o s s We have aU had the experience of forgetting a routine act we have just per(onned. [n the midst of a long drive on the in terstate, deeply immersed in ollr private reflections, we Illay suddenly realize th:n wc can't remember any of the sccl1l:ry for the past several miles. This kind of ":mmes1a" occurs because attention is required to form new

episodic memories, and when our anentional resources are consumed by internal thouglm and feelin&"S, there are few left over for dealing with the world outside. We can corn fort oursdves by attributing such lapses of memory to being on " alltomatic pilot," but what if life were always like that? When Frederick and I played golf, he sometimes failed to remelll­ ber a shot he had hit minutes before; when I told him about it, he was amazed and bewildered. Frederick knew he had a problem with his memory, but he did llot appreciate how f.1r-reaching it was. Within minutes, however, he would inv:lriably forget what he had forgot­ ten-another testimony to the depths of his memory disorder-and resume the enjoyable business of striking the ball. There is a kind of poetic justice at work for patients with amnesia: the impairment might mercifully serve a protective function by pre­ venting patients from becoming aware of the catastrophic nature of their memory loss. In

1 889,

Sergei Kor�akoff noted that his patients

expressed little awareness of, or concern about, their memory diffi-

rior communicating artery supplies blood to the basal forebrain. a subcortical structure that provides the medial temporal lobes with a chemjcal messenger, acetylcholine. that is important for memory function. This artery also supplies blood to a lower sector of the frontal lobes known :IS the orbiofrontal region. Patients who have suffered ruptured amerior conummicating artery aneurysms have great diffi­ culty recalling recently presented information, but unlike

other

amnesic patients. seem to possess relatively imace feelings of familiar­ ity: they can show normal recognition of recendy acqUIred informa­ . tion when asked to choose between familiar and unf1mjliar alternatives. Like patients with frontal lobe damage, they have prob­ lems generating useful retrieval str.ltegies, and they also freqm:ncly en6'." When

he asked what I}art of town she lived in, " 1 felt panic . wash over me anew as I searched my memory and found It blank ' ." �'

SIX

It is excruciating for family members to wimess a patient's p:tinful

�

awareness of his own vanishing mcmory. " Alzheimer's is the cruelc t . of diseases" acknowledges the writcr Glenn Collins, reAecung on 1m _ f.'Hher's str ggle with :I ruthlessly advancing d eJlle' tia. "What s bad is . _ the meanness of it. The knowledge of forgemng. I he frustration and

�l

�

�

confusion and sh:tme of forgening."�l As cognitive function deteriorates over a period of years, mosl

�

�

Alzheimer's patients become progressively les aware of the extent, r . . even the existence, of their deficit... r�ecent eVldencc mdlcates . that thiS

T H E H I D D E N WOR L D O F I M P L I C I T M E M O RY

�

dimming of awareness in Alzheimer's patients is accoll1�alli d by an increase in conf.'lbllbtions on memory tests and by a decline III frontal lobe function. However, signs of frontal dysfunction arc probably 110t , . a necessary precondition for unawareness of deficit: some AlzhclIners

scn�

parient that people did not remember seeing earlier as for

Why did amnesic patients do so well when given letter cues as hints

words they did remember seeing. The resules pushed us toward a

for recently swdied words? If these cues tapped into some sort of non­

strong, seemingly un:lvoidable conclusion: priming occurs indepen­

con�ciolls memory that is preserved in amnesic pati!.!nts, shouldn't it

dent of conscious memory,7

be possible to uncover something similar in peopl!.! without amnesia?

These findings hit us with the force of an avalanche. We behewd

We designed an !.!xperimenr to find out. Our reasoning was simple:

that \w had been able to get a handle on the peculiar kind of mem­

if lener cues tap into a fOflll of memory that is sp ared in amnesic

ory that Warrington :lnd Weiskrantz had documCl1led in amnesic

patients, then we might be able to elicit sllch memory in healthy vol­

patients with th!.! letter cueing task. This "other" kind of memory

lInteers by giving them letters from a previously studied word and

seemed to be lurking in the minds of healthy adults, and could be

asking them to try to guess the answer. Weiskrantz had observed that

tapped by giving the word fragmenr-completion test. We felt a bit like

amnesic patients treat the letter cue test as a gues.�ing game, If young

astronomers must feci when discovenng :l new star or an entire galaxy

adults could also be induced [Q treat the test as a guessing game, we

whose existence had been only suspected: a whole new world of pos­

reasoned, then they might rely on the same kind of memory that War­

sibilities is suddenly open for exploration. I also started to notice manifestations of priming in everyday life. It

rington and Weiskr:lIltz had observed in amnesics.

\Ve carried out our experiment in the summer of 1980. For you

is likely involved in instances of unintentional plagi:trism. Probably the

to get a feel fm our procedure, you should study each of the follow-

best-known case in recent dec:ldes involved the former I3e:ttle George

OC/OpIiS. aI!ocado,

mystery,

Harrison and his 1 970s hit "My Sweet Lord." Unfortunately for Har­

slll'rm; and dimare, Now imagine that you go about your business for

rison, his melody nearly duplic:lted the tlille of a 1962 classic by The

an hour and then return to take a couple of tests. First I show YOll a

Chiffons, "He's So Fine," When a lawsuit was brought against him,

1I1g words carefully for five seconds: assassin,

series of words and ask whether you remember seeing any of them

Harrison conceded that he had heard "He's So Fine" prior to writing

on the earlier list: IwiliglH, assassill, dilloslHlr, and mystery. Presumably

"My Sweet Lord," but denied that he had ilHentionally borrowed

you had little difficulty here.

from the earlier song. Reasoning that the resemblance between the

ext I [ell you that I am going to show

you some words with missing letters. Your job is [Q fill in the blanks

two was simply too strong to be {he product of coincidence, the trial

as best you can: ch----nk. o-t--us, --og--y- - - , -I-Ill-te. You

judgc "held that Harrison's work did infringe through what the courtS

prob:tbly had a hard time coming up with a correct answer for twO

felt rnust have been unintcntional copying of what wa.� in Harrison's subconscious nlcmory." 8

of the word fragments (chipmllllk and bogeymall). But with the other two fragments, the correct answers probably jumped out at you. The

You Illay have enCOlintered instances of this kind of printing, too.

reason thcse fra.gments arc so ea�y to complete. of course, is that you

You propose an idea to a fellow employee or a friend, who seems

just sa\\ the words octopllS and dimate in our study list. This kind of

unimpressed by it or even rejectS it altogether. Weeks or months later,

memory is called prilllillg: seemg the words on the list seems to prime

that person excitedly relates your idea as if he had just come up with

your ability to come up with the correct solution when you try to

it. \Vhen you dra.w this inconvenient fact to his attention-with an . edge in your voice betraying exasperation-you may be f1ced with

complete a word fra.gment. We tested people either one hour or one week after they studied

either heated denial or a sheepish apology born of a sudden dose of

168

S e a r( h i fJ�1? for il'lemory

T h e H J d d e n Wo rl d of i m p l i c i t M e m o r y

explicit memory. A n incident from Sigmund Freud"s life clearly illus­ trates this. Freud had lnaintaim:d for years an intense and tUl11uhuous friendship with the Derlin physician Wilhelm Flie�. He frequently confided his latest ideas and insights to Fliess, and was emotionally dependent on his approval of them. When Freud announced to li(..'Ss a momentOuS new insight-that every person is fundamentally bIsex­ ual-he fully expected Hess to be amazed by the idea. Instead, Fliess responded by reminding Freud that he himself had made � xactly the same discovery two years earlier and told Freud alJ about It, and that Freud had rejected the idea. Freud eventually explicitly remembered the earlier incident, commenting that " [i]t is painful to h:lVe to surren­ der one's originality this way." Inspired by such observations, psychol­ ogists have recently been ablt, to demonstrate a kind of unintentional plagiarism in the bboratOry and tic it directly to prinung.9 R.esearch into priming exploded during the early 1 9�Os, as provocative new articles appeared in scientific joun� als. Priming occurred on ;1 variety of tests in which people were IIlstructed to identify a briefly flashed word or object, or guess an answer, r:lther than try explicitly to remember a word or an object from a list they had studied earlier. For example, Larry Jacoby and Mark Dallas found similar amounts of priming after deep encoding (focusing on a word's meanings and associations) and shallow encoding (focusing on rhe illdividual lcners in the word)--a remarkable result, since deep encod­ ing yields Illllch higher levels of explicit memory than shallow encod­ ing. Yet the priming efTect could be easily elinun:ned. If people heard the target words on an audiotape dunug the study task but did not see a printed version of them, little or no primmg was observed on a later visual test. Something about perceiving the actual word form was cru­ cial for priming to occur.IO Considered together with the results of Ollr word fragmelH­ completion experimcnt, these findinb"S indicated that the new and mysterious phenomenon of priming obeys differcnt rules than the kind of memory th:lt researrhcrs had been investigating: for years. I t bt.!came increasingly clear that part of the Inystery could b e traced to the instructions people are given when their memories are tt.!sted. For example, when :nnnesic paticnt" arc given word beginnings or other cues, and arc instructed to think back to the study list to try to remember target words, they perform quite poorly. But when given the same test cues with instructions to guess or to provide the first word that pops to mind, they do just as well as people without mem­ ory problems. Likewise. depth of encoding inRuences later retention

�

169

when normaJ volunteers try to remember tht, target items, yet has linJe effect when the)' respond with the first word that comes ro mind.ll Scientists love a good mystery, and many researchers tried to figure ou( what printing effectS might mean. Tulving and I had aln:ady staked Out a position: because priming seemed unrelated to conscious recol­ lection, we reasoned that it does not depend on the episodic memory system that allows us to recollect specific incidents &om the past.That system plays a key role in much of what I have discussed in the book so far: remembering what happened at last year's Thanksgiving dinner, remembering where you hit a tee shot during a round of golf, or remembering that you saw the word octopus in a study list. Amnesic patients have little or no episodic memory, but they often show nor­ mal priming. We concluded that the source of priming must lie out­ side the episodic system. But where? Semantic memory-the intricate network of concepts, associations, and f.1cts that constitutes our general knowledge of the world­ seemed a reasonable place LO look. When an anmt'sic patient such as Mickey learns that the first game of baseball was played in Hoboken but does not remember the episode in which he acquired that f.1ct, semantic memory may be responsible. Likewiage the perceptual representation system (PitS) I comidered earlier. Interestingly, we observed bttle evidence of cross-personality

and roles come to be labeled with separate names. Somehow­

implicit memory when tasks involved semantically richt:r materials,

nobody underst3nds exactly how-these

sllch as sentences and stories. Showing Alice the phrase "The haystack

clusters of experience

become dissociated from one ;lIlother. When one identity and an asso­ ciated set of memories is " turned on;' some or all of the others are "turned off:' Some multiple-personality patients may llse dissociation (Q a pathological extent, but the term nlllltiple persollality may nOt be the best way to describe thi� process. Indeed, the recognized standard bearer in clinical psychiatry and psychology (the fourth edition of T1le Ditlglwstic II//(I Swtistica/ .Mm/llill of Memlll Disorders, or DSM-I V) has recl'ntly changed the term /IIu/tilJle persollality disorder to di5Sociatil'l' idellfil)1 disorder.lij

Persuaded thal the patient Dr. Nissen described was neither a fake nor a product of shoddy diagnosis :lnd treaunem, I agreed to collabo­ rate on a memory study. We wamed to find out whether a personal­ ity with no explicit memory for another personality's experiences could show some implicit memory for them. There was already evi­ dence suggesting that cny,s-personality implicit memory might occur. In a classic case from the e:lrly twentieth cemury. Morton Prince described a patient referred [0 as Miss Beauchamp, who possessed four

was important because the cloth ripped" along with the clue word "parachute" didn't help Bonnie come up with the clue word later wht:n she saw the sentence. Yet, as we have seen, even severely amnesic patients show priming on this task. Why didn't this type of printing transfer from Alice to Bonnie? Alice might encode the scn­ tence aile way, but Bonnie might imerpret it differemly. When a memory contains a large dose of an individual personality's uniquc thoughts and associations, even implicit tests rnay not breach the amnesic barrier. It is impossible to know from this single case whether our results generalize to mher patiencs.OG I was therefore excited when an oppor­ tllnity arose in 1 987 10 study another patient with dissociated identi­ ties. Ie had a history of amnesic gaps, sometimes turning up in unfantiliar cities without allY idea how she had arrived there. She was brought to a hospital emergency room by local law enforcement in early 1 987 after walking across a crowded highway and attempting to injure herself. It was then learned that Ie's husband had contacted the

I s l a n d s i n t h e Fog

SI!C/f{ilillg for M e m o ry

police several times in the preceding month when she had ruso tried to i1uure herself. Her behavior, he said, had become increasingly bizarre. She regularly acced like distinctly differem people, her voice and temperament changing suddenly and dramatically, yct later had no recollection of the changes and denied that they occurred. Over the course of several weeks in the hospital, several distinct personalities emerged. All showed varying degrees of a\vareness of each other, but IC was totally amnesic for all of the ahers and actively resisted the idea that she harbored dissociated identities. Unlike with Dr. Nissen's patient, we could not elicit IC's alters dur­ ing a testing session. When these :i1tcrnate personalities emerged, lC's psychological condition usually deteriorated, so it was best to avoid situations that caused her to dissociate into another identity. This meant that we could not conduct studies on transfer of implicit mem­ ory across personalitics.13ut IC knew that she had memory problems and was curious about the mjssing pages of her personal past.We were, roo, because the professional litcrature contained 110 hard information on the autobiographical memories of patients with dissociated iden­ tities. So we began to explore lC's ability to recollect incidents from her past, using a variety of cueing techniques and prorocols for assess­ ing autobiographical memories. One particularly striking finding emerged: IC \vas unable to recollect a single incident from her life that occurred prior to the age of ten, and she recalled only a few scattered episodes from between the ages of ten and twelve. All of liS are subject to childhood amnesia: we remember nothing prior to the ages of two or three, and little prior to the ages of five or si.'\':. Out nobody in our study except IC had difficulty recollecting childhood experiences prior to age ten. We could not say conclusively why, but one possibility centers on evidence that IC had been sexu­ . her during adolescence.O\ ally abused by her f'H At the time we were studying IC, in bte 1987 and early 1988, Illany clinicians and researchers involved with multiple-personality patients believed that childhood sexual abuse is closely associated with the development of dissociated identities. Several papers had been pub­ lished linking dissociative disorders with reports of childhood sexual abuse, and we had no reason to doubt them. I n the ye:lrs since then, however, this issue has become considerably more contentious. With the emergence in lhe carly 1990s of the controversy over recovered memories of forgotten childhood sexual abuse, critics have claimed that memories of sexual abuse in patients with dissociated identities may be the product of the same Hawed therapy that helps to create the

241

�

]nult ple personalities in the first place. The early papers associating multiple personalities with childhood sexual abuse, the critics charge, arc based on patients' uncorroborated recolJections of abuse. If these Il�emories are recovered during therapy that uses suggestive tech­ mques, then it is possible that they are illusory. Cases have been described in which something along these lines appear:' to have occurred. In Mtlking J\I[O//sters, a scalding attack on therapists who aggressively pursue hidden memories of sexual abuse

�

the social psychologist Richard Ofshe and the writer Ethan Watte

describe the wrenching story of a woman they call Anne Stone. Anne �ntered therapy because she was having emotional difficulties adjust� IIlg to � er llew baby. When she addressed her husband one morning . like character, Anne's therapist became convinced that she as a child harbored multiple personalities, and proceeded to pursue :lI1d find them. Anne was later treated by specialists in dissociative disorders who be le�ed that patients with multiple personalities are nearly always vlcttms of sexual abuse. Anne initially denied any such abuse,

�

but as therapy progressed she recovered increasingly weird recollec­ tions of years of sexual abusl' at the hands of a satanic cult. She came to believe that she had been a high pricstess in the cult and had com­ nutted despicable act.�, including sacrificing children and eating her own aborted fetuses. The allegations became so outlandish that the cult eventually evolved into a conspiracy that included "AT&T, Hall­ mark Greeting Cards, the CIA, and FTD Aorists."l1 Even the Federal Bureau of Investigation \vas brought in to look into the charges. Per­ haps not surprisingly, the FBI failed to substantiate the incredible sto­

�

ries. Ev , �rually, Anne abandoned her memories and her multiple persona mes and filed a lawsuit against the psychiatrist who treated l her.�l An October 1 995

�

Fromlille documentary presented two women who

were str kingly similar to Anne Stone, with a diagnosis of lIlultiple­ personality disorder leading to recovered memories of satanic cult abuse durin� therapy, ultimately followed by the patients' rejections of the per­ . and satanic cult memories after withdrawing from the thera­ sonalitJes peutic sening. I suspect that there arc many sllch patielll�, and believe that we should heed the critics' warnings that suggestive therapies can help to create both multiple personalities and illusory memories of sex­ ual abuse. If ill-conceived ideas about the widespread incidence of mul­ tiple personality arc leading some therapists ullwittingly to elicit disSOCIated identities during therapy, this is a tragedy for both the patients and the therapists.

2-42

I s l a n d s in [ h e F o g

Searc/ring Jtlr Memory

As a memory researcher, I would have grave concerns about study­ ing a patient whose persomlities emerged for the first tillle in ther­ apy, e Thc t:xistence of the bump appears to be wide­

adulthood-going to high school or college, beginning a job or career, entering mto marriagc..'-Illay provide the core.: of the emcrg­

spread among the elderly, as realized by Littlejohn McCain in Howard

ing adult life story that we carry around with us, largely unchanged,

Owen's novel: "It's funny how, looking back at it, tht:re's whole big

for the remainder of our adult lives. For Howard Hoffinan and others

chunks of my life that I don't remember too much about. Just work,

of his generation. the experiences of World War II 110 doubt played a

eat and sleep. And there's places where something se.:e.:med likt: it was

central role in their emerging adult identities and personal myths.

happening all the time. My fifteenth and sixteenth years was like tha(."l�

We can understand more fully the power that these highly accessi­ ble life stories may wield in the psychological landscape of the elderly

There is no single. agreed-upon explanation of why the reminis­

by considermg them in relation to the problems that olde.:r people.:

cence bUlllp occurs. I believe, however, that its nature and existence

have remembering recent experiences. I have suggested that these dif­

may provide clues concerning the power of the distant past in the lives

ficulties arise. at least in part. because older adults do not recall in uni­

of many elderly adults. To understand what the reminiscence bump

son all of the sights, sounds, and meanings of ongoing episodes as

may be telling us abom memory and aging, we need to know more

effectively as they once did. Our the narratives of self that wcre estab­

about what is fCmembered from the years of late adolescence and

lished in the distant past have been told and retold many times, mak­

early adulthood. The oral historian Alice Hoffman and her husband,

ing it easy for the oldet adults to recall together all the components of

the experimental psychologist Howard Hoffman, have performed all

an episode. Recollecting a familiar life story probably docs not require

unusual collaborative study that provides a unique window on this

(he kinds of contributions /Tom fromal and medial temporal brain sys­

issue. Howard, born in 1925, was drafted at age eighteen to serve as a

tems that are crucial to creating and accessing memories for recent

soldier in World War J I. Over thirty years after the war's conclusion,

experiences.

Alice began probing Howard's memories for his wartime experiences

This conception of memory's fragile power in old age may shed

in a serit:s of intt:rviews separated by intervals of se.:veral years. The

some light on a cognitive fu nction that older adults appear (Q perform

Hoffillans were able to recover a company log that recorded much of

more effectively than younger adult.�: telling stories. YOLI may remem­

what actually happened during the period, as wdl as other oflicial

ber a f.1Vorite grandparent. aunt, or uncle whose stories of their per­

docull1enL� and photographs that provided an external check on

sonal past WCfC so spdlbinding that you fdt as though yOli could sit

Howard's recollections.

and listen to them for hours. I can remember relishing the tales told

For the most part, tbe experiences Howard remembered wcre

by my grandfather Benjamin Fl:lI1zig. a Jewish immigram from Rus­

recalled accurately and consistently. When asked about the same events

sia who landed in New York City during Ihe early years of the twen­

on different occasions, separated by as much as four years, Howard

tieth century. He was a large, strapping man who loved nothing bener

remembered them in pretty much the same way. Attempts to cue

than captivating his grandchildren with stories of his travels as a young

Howard's memory via photographs, documcnts, and conversations

man, when he experienced adventures of all manner in far-off places

S e a rclri llg Jor i H e m o T ),

S r o r i e s of E l d e r s

thal he described in colorful detaii. We knew him a s Grandpa Ben, and

in American and other contemporary Western societies, where nega­

300

some of his stories verged 011 the unbelievable. In one of them, he was kidnapped

from a train in Pennsylvania and forced to labor in a mOllntain camp lImil he managed to escape. In another, he worked as a cowboy on a ranch in Wyoming. But even when Grandpa Ben told much more mundane tales of selling hatS in " low:'ly" or going to bascbaU games in "Cincinattuh," his melll­ ories callle alive with a sparkling quality that was irresistible. The sto­ ries that my parentS told of theiT own pasts never quite reached the magical level that Grandpa Ikn seemed to achieve so effortlessly. Recent research has conflnned what anyone who had listened carefully

to my Grandpa Ben would have predined. When older and younger adults were asked to tell some personal stories from anytime in their pasts, raters who read the narratives judged (he elderly's sto­ ries to be of higher quality-more engaging and dramatic-chan those of the young. [ n another similar study, the elderly cold morc complexly organized stories than did the young. When old and young adults had to retell an unt:'l.Iniliar story chat they had just heard for the first time, however, elderly adults recalled less of the story, told it less cohesively, and made more errors in retelling it than did the young. As long as they C:1I1 tell the t:1miliar stories that they have told many times before, older adults seem to do a better job of it But when they are required

than younger adults.

to rell a new story, the quality of the

retelling is undermined by the sorts of explicit memory problems that I outlined earlier in the chapter.)\I

more prominent

in many tribal societies with richly developed oral are seen as manifestations of wisdom that command special respect .fO The history of Native North Americans provides a harsh contrast

traditions, where the stories and knowledge of the elderly .

between these nvo perspectives. Elders in Native American tribes werc traditionally viewed

with deference as sourc(:s of cultural mem­ ories that provide essential guidelines for Ilumerous aspects of tribal life. These imergenerational memories frequently take the form o[ creation stories that are passed down from generation to generation by tribal elders, containing vital lessons about the origin of the tribe, how co behave toward others. hunt, prepare food, relate to ammals, treat the enVironment, and so forth. One such creation story told by a Seneca elder is referred co as "the remembering." People who take to heart the lessons of the remembering prosper and lead happy lives, but those arrogant enough to ignore the stories of their elders arc ulti­ mately doomed to repeating the mistakes of the past. "The remem­ bering could not serve those

whose self-imponance had blocked the Knowing Systems of the Anc estors who had created the memories," according to the elderly storyteller. "For those still living in harmony, a new understanding had been added

to the memories." N. Scott Momaday, a Native American and one of the world's preeminent writers, reflected on his own encounters with a storytelling tribal cider: "It did not seem possible that so mallY years-a century of ycars----could be so compacted and disrilled. An old whimsy, a delight in language and in remembrance, shone in her one good eye. She con­ being."'!

B r i d g i n g Generational Time

Tragically, the imposition of Western culture and religion that

The srorytelling abilities of elderly adults have important social and cultural implications. [n many societies, the primary function of elderly adults is to P:ISS on significant personal and cultural lore to younger members of the group-to tell stories about their own expe­ riences and about the tr.lditiollS and momentous events of the society. l3ecallse many of tile :nuobiogr:,phical memories of the elderly and

from the remote past, older

adults can draw freely on these highly elaborated and structured melllories. They can use their storytelling abilities to the fullt,st, unim­ peded by difficulties

tive stereotypes of aging are unfortunately all too cOlllmon. I t is far

jured lip the past, imagining perfectly the long continuity of her

A G I N G S T O RY T E L L E R S

the collective memories of society derive

301

that arise when they attempt to remember recent events. This storytelling function of old people is not fully appreciated

destroyed so much of Native life

had a devastating effect on the

respect accorded, and role played by, traditional modt:s of remember­ ing that centered on the stories

of elders. "With this replacing oflong­

held tribal reJjgious values," COlllments a prOininent Native scholar, "the Indians lost the basis of their old ways of life 3nd,just as impor­ tandy, their old ways of remembering. . . . Protestant and Mormon missionaries still appear to be working overtime to eradicate native tribal religions, by seeking to subven the long-honored wisdom of medicine-makers and elders of tribes."·l The Canadian

artist Carl Beam, a member of the Ojibwa tribe, has

created powerful artworks that explore the loss of memory and

Search i"g fo r Memory

302

FIGURE 1 0 . 3

decline of the storytelling elder in Native life. DC:Ull has struggled for years to integrate his Native heritage with his experiences as a member of modern Western society, as refleered in " Remembering is sometimes quite difficuh to do. . ." (figure Days" (figure

10.3) and " School 10.4).·) Beam seeks to redress cultural amnesia by

reminding Nativ('s and nOll-

atives alike that it is centrally impor­

tant to integrate personal and collcctive pasts with the concerns of the present. The decline of the aging storyteller in Native life led to a break in the chain of iJltergencrational memory that Iud disastrous consequences for many. Th('sc considerations highlight that a crucial task for elderly adults is to imegratt" the past with the present. In the arena of social and cultural memory. the experi{'ncc and knowledge of the elder can serve as a guide to the future for sllcceeding gener­ ations; in the arena of personal lnemory, the elderly adult's life review provides an opportun ity to reflect on the past in the context of the present. This integrative role is nowhere illustrated more poignantly than by the struggles of aging survivors ofche Holocaust. As they approach the conclusion of their lives, many elderly survivors have not successfully i ntegrated the traumas of the Holocaust into a more encompassing life story. The psyr.:hotherapist Yael Danidi has wrinen eloquently abollt the "conspiracy of silence" that made it difficult for survivors to imc­ grate their Holocaust experiences with the rest of their lives. Unable to mourn their losses and to fed that others understood their experi­ ences, the survivors' ll1emories of the Holocaust remained cut off from other knowledge and recollections." The process of life review that is important for llIany elders thus

-

becomes utterly urgent for aging Holocaust surviVors. Placmg these experiences in proper perspective is essential, Danieli reflects, if sur­ vivors are to understand that their feelings of helplessness do not mean that they are helpless people. or that their memories of evil events do nor necessarily mean that the world is cvil. lntegrating trau­ matic experiences into a broader lif!.! story is also necessary to ensure that the intcrgenerational chain of lnemory is not broken .4S As the

realization bas dawned that only limited time remains for

the last generation of eyewitnesses to the Holocaust, :lttempts to pre­ serve their legacies through mcmorials and videotapes have become more widespread. Danieli highlights that a central preoccupation of aging survivors focuses on the intergenerational extension ofremell1bering: "For the survivor, essenlial components of the aging person s '

preoccupation with 'Who loves Ille?' 'Who cares if I live' . . . are the

Carl Beanl, "Remembering is sometimes quite difiicult to do

.

.

.

"

•

1992. 14 x 10". Mixed media on plcxiglass. Courtesy of the artist. l3e:ull pri 1tS (he (itle of (he piece below a degraded photographic image of an � . ;ulIcdduvlan tribal ritual-thc kind of intergencrational memory [h:l.t is now

bardy knowll to llI:1.ny younger Ojibwa. A prtstine image of a feather servt.'s as a reminder of the tribal memories that an' lost to the prt"Scm gcner:ttion.

S t o r i e s of E l d e r s FIGURE 1 0 . 4

305

devast;ning questions 'Who will remember me?' 'Will rhe memory of my people and of rhe Holocaust perish?' ,,«, The need to pn:st'rve memories across intergenerational time, though accentuated in aging Holocaust survivors, is a fundamental human imperative. Remember Proust and Magnani: their unrelenting obscssions with the past emerged in part from a deep desire to impart

•

their recollections of Combray and !lomito to a brger network of rememberers who could keep these mcmories alive in the future. As the psychologist Merlin Donald has argued persuasively, a crucial step in the evolution of modern culture involves its increasing reliance on "e:-aernal symbolic slorage" for conserving and transmitting memo­ ries across gencrations.'7 Beginning with the development of the ear­ liest writing systems, and progressing more rapidly with the invention of the priming press, modern societies have relied increasingly on print and electronic media to preserve memory. It is no coincidence that the mnemonic systems I discllssed in chapter 2-once essential strands in the f.lbric of society-largely disappeared after printed stor­ age media became available on a widespread basis. As reliance on external storage devices has increased, the transmis­ sion of socially significant knowledge and events has relied less and less on the autobiograpillcal recollections of elders. This may have contributed to what has been termed a ;'crisi5 of memory."- Center III October 1993. ellti t "The Mcnlccd A-SSlssm"' e's Magrm for fxcept book. thiS ill ced All urworks reprodu i dISCUssed dcvdopmcm of thi!; collection s (figure 2.2), are part of our colh:cuon. The . tL\'l: c pe s er p �l c by White (1993) from a sociologi

311

13. The experiment concerlllng the effects of brrcfiy Rashed words IS described by RaJa r:t i reponed l � (1 993) and the study on dlvtded all('nllOIl and JJl(,lIIory for facC$ s m, Gardiner. and Rosser (in P""!IS). Previous siudics by G�rdlller and collraglTcs by PJrk showed Ihat dlVldmg attention when experrlllenol particIpants srudy � ItS! of words n-duco the hkcllhood of 1.1Ier "remembermg" th,..1 rhe words were pn:selll('d, but

has

lnti(' effee! 011 "kIlO\ving"thal the words were pn:semed. Cammer has also $hown that eXlell)lVe anal)'Sls of words

d uring dl(' study ph�sc of an

experrlllelll cnh.lnc("S mbsc­

qUt'lII "remember"' reipon5es but d0t':5 not incll'asc "know" responses. GardJller�

experrmenTS are sUIlUlurrud m Gardiner and jaVOl ( 1 993).

0" Ihe basis of numerous findin� showing [hal ('xpcnmrlll,,1 IIumpuJauons affeci

"rcmcmbe�" and "know" rt':ipOTl5t'S {htTerently. Gardmer and colleagues h;l\"e Jrb'tled

differences belween Ihe two forms of rccollect,,·(, experi"lIce. In COtl(in press) h:H rt'cemly come"ded that diff"ll'llcCS bctwCCII remClIl­ bermS and kll�'mg an' largely qummJtive. WIth "I"Cmember" simply mdicanng a slronger sensc of 6miliJTlty than "know." DOIu!dwn T:liscs wme imp orlam poiltls, bUI for qu�htJtlve

1r:tS�, OOIl)ldsoll

CHAPTER 1 P o i n t e d at T i m c " On RClll c m b e r i n g : " A Tele s c o p e Boston Guden. mcluding Will McOonoush'5 1 . The tioSl"" GIeI: ""Ord, pi"'l<J, differently II! Ihe t\\"O examples. Afl�r time has passed. the exp�ril1lcmen prubt:d memory for fhe critic word (pia..,,) by providing bri('f phnscs as retrieval cues. The cue "'something heavy" may remind you of a man strugglllg l to 1n0\'C" the pl..;I.no, bill it probably wtll not make }"OU thmk of all}"One pluckmg Ihe !trings. In conlnSt. the cue "somelhml/: with a lIice

(

(' C

(

(

�l

Notes

316

Notes

sound" will probably remmd )VII of someone pluckmg me strmgs. but "'IU not c\TIke a nllln auempring to mO\� the mSlrulJlI."m. This is t){:letly whal happened III B�rd.ay et a1.'s study. ··Something hnv{' elicited

or 3 \";Iriety o fother f3ctors. Rele''alll evidence and dISCUSSIon can be found ill Uuck­ ner lind Tuh'ing (1995). I)uekm'r Ct al. (1995). Gushy et al. ( 1993). SCh ..ct....r. Alpert. ....t

al. (1 996). and Ullgerielder ( 1995). 42. To dl5entlnglc reme"al effort from the �uhj....cti\"c I'"xpeflence of recollec tion, we \Iscd II depth-of-processing manipulation. Participants uw a it§t of ,,"Ords. They engJged in d....ep, dab()r�ti�... proccssmg of some words and Jhallow processing of othen.After the de....p ....neoding task. thl! mbJects dId not ha..... to work vcry hard to Tt""calJ th.... tlrget

good ree s i describc,d in detad b)' Vargha-Khadc1ll. l5:laC$. and Mishkm (1994). QUOtes an- from pp. 692-693 ofthllt article.The Inmor was III the pl!l�lIl region ofthe third ventricle.Allhough II ,,·... s treated �lIcct:SSfully. MR.J scan! aner trelltmcnt fC\,-ealed

approllcht'!i

to

memory. More n-eent de\-elopments and olher perspectives can be

found III Edelmlln ( 1992), Grossberg and Stone (1986), and McClclland ( 1995).

abnornulities in struCIUre5 thought 10 be: 1I11portlnt for memory. lIlcludmg the left hippocamplli formation. parts of the dlenceph.al.on. lInd thc fornix."hich connects th�

CHAPTER J

hip pocamp us and dicllccphalo,l.

Of T i m e a n d A u t o b i o g r a p h y

37. C..nmuu and Hilhs (1 9'.1 1).

38. For a read ble discus,ion of pOSSIble cellular baSCi of memor)' retrieVgT �

�

noi!.f' .�eJackson and Morton (1984).

11. For difft'rent t'ff«ts of deplh of encoomg effect! with dIfferent test inSfTUctlons, see Graf and M:l.ndIcr (1984). Gr:r.f. Squire. and Mandler (1984) showed thlt amnesic patients' performance on Ihe 5lem completion lest depends critically on usk instruc­ tions; 'lee also Cermak et al. (1 985) and xh�Cler, Bowl'n. and Booker (19R9).The gen­ el':ll pallen} in these experiments si that �5king normal subjects to think b�ck to the study lisl lI11provM rC(;III. but has little or no cffect on the performanct' of alllilesic patients. who tend to rely on primmg no matter whal they are instructed to do. 12. Tulving t't al. (1982), p. 341 . 13. For Mame dt' 131r:m's ideas, see Maine de UIl':ln (1929) lnd sumlll:l.rtes \II Schacter (1987a) �nd Sch�cter :l.nd TuIvmg (1 994). For short-term venus long-term memory. see Ihdde\ey (19M6). For the epi.\Odlc/s.t'mlllt1C dtSIUlClion. see Tulving (1972, 1 983). SillgJe-systell\ �lternativt"> to the IIlllluplc 1llt'1lI0ry SystCIIIS hypothesis gellel':llly foeus Oil the kinds of t'l!Codillg and retricval processcs c�rrted out by people III dif­ ferent 1Ilt'lIlory tlsks. RepraenLulw \'lews:l.rc discmsed by j�coby (1983). Masson :l.ud M:&eLeod (1992). Roediger, Weldon. Ind Ch:l.lhs (1989), and lutdiff :l.nd McKooII

329

"""--

-

ores

Notes

the dc\'dopllIO("I Siegfried Saswon. U;l.Tker's novd 15 a fictlon"l accoum of Rivers's treaum:m of S:ruoon and other soldiers. R i,'C'ns :.lelUal climul nscs and views arc describt-d lucidly In RJ\'Uli ( 19 18). 17. See. for example, \"lIn del' Kolk (199�). 18. Tt'fT (1994). p. 28. 19. I'rnoos :l.l1d Nader (1989). p. 238. 20. For tht 1988 school shooting 5CC Schwam, Kowalski. and McNally (1993). For (01111m tbshbach, ..c.... MacCurd)' (1918) and ;11>0 Pendergr.lsl (1995). 2 1 . Fr.ankd ( 1 994) . p. 329. Set' :1]St> Spkgel (1995). 22. Good (199"). For other eXllmplee Br�dlcy ln d l3:odddey (1m). Brewer (1988). �nd Ouna �nd Kanunl)o ( 1 967). 25. Chrislianson alld Loftus (1987). 26. For WC�pOll focus. see l.ofUl�. loftus. and Me5So ( 1 987): >ee Kr:.lmer. BuckhoUl. and EUl)ellLO ( 1 9'X1) for individual diffe the patient described by Adolph! et al. had amygrllb danuge SIIICC blTth. and Squlre' s pauen! only sustained It 111 adulthood. the fear rt'cogmuon fadure III Adolph!; et al:s patient may be altribuuble to an early fadun' 10 learn emonon.. 1 expre-ssions. For till' PET §c�nning srudy. s« Rauch. \'lI1I der Kolk. el Oil. (m press).This srndy must be mler­ p�ted cauuously. bea.u� It ucked a control group. In a related Slud) by Shin et aI. (1995), the rg i ht amygdala \\-;li �C1l\';llrd �Ild Broca's �rca de;tCU\-;lted whell Vlellum combat v('terarn widl posl-tr,lIInullc Stress dlsord{"r fOTlned mental muges of Tt'cemly �cn l:omb�t pictures. But nelthl't of these ctreclS WlIS obsen'ed in h..allhy comb�t \·cterans. 40. Thc dfeclll of )'ohunbme on memory �nd perception III Vietnam ,"Clerans arc described by �t1.l el �1. (1995). For eVldl"IICl" on catecho!anllncs. see Yehuda et OIL (1992) and Brown (1994). Krystal l't aJ. (1995). and \o;In der Knlk (1994) pfO\'ide reviews of �ychoblOlogical aspect! of post-tral1nallC l StTdS di'sponded in a similar manner to two independ�nt l'n'nu. 20. Van Dyke, Zilbt"rg, and McKinnon ( 1 985), 1'. 1072. 2 1 . Corial (1907). Tht" cause of amnesia '11dg('5 :U1d Wlrlow ( 1990) �11mcry IiiI/!: FrtJ/J:S

alldJohn­

Freud "st�tes that 'repn"ssion is the found.uion stont' on which the whole structure of p,ychoanalysis rests. Ihe most e-s�l'mial part of it' . . . we are to understmd .. Ihat Ir" is

7. A eoUewon ofpap...." pres.::med at th" conf"rence can be found 10 Schactc:r. Coyle. el

popubr title. beuus$/mn. Harrington clunetenzcs th� 1Il1St.1k� :I.'§ all undetected typo ill Ih.. m�nuscnpt"

repressed memOf} c.w::'i. Wakefield and Underwab't'f (I9IH), p. 87. report"d the results of a $un"t')' senl to accused parcnU who belong 10 the FMS I-uundmon. They found Imle ('\-Idenc.. for a hIstory of psrchopatholOf.:)' 111 Ihe accusers. Thu SlUd) is linnte.d by th� f.lct Ih3t 11 rdies on the n'lrospecuv( (1tllnares ofthc �ccus..c!. Howt."\'Cr. as tht;' authors poi11l (JUI, thf.." results �n: c01l5istell! wllh dat.1 reported by Spano) t;'t al. (1')')3), \\ ho found no evidence of scnoIU psychopathology 1/1 p\'. J l11ultUlnllion doll.lr I..w SUit I� filed aga11lst the alleged p<rpelntors. 29. r..hcLCJn (1993), pp. 391-395. dlscu� the reb(Jon bel"e i.. part of the largl""r rc:p-ort from the Na1l01l�1 Center

for Child Abusc. sUlllm�Tlzed by Goodman l""t at (1 994). For an informati\"e allai),!i5 of the mual abuse: pht""lIonlenon . sec Naliun and Snc:dc:kcr (1995).

39. japanest' sources report tlul

over 300 people ha\"e vanished since joi rung the euII tlut . has been Implic:ued m the nerve g:u attack ami that they ha\� r cO\"ered .1 � ing machi"... thaI nlay luve b een uscd to disposl"" of the rem�ms of the VICtims. �he

SlOry is

reported

�n�_gnnd_

in th� /1.:'$rO" GlolH, 'japan Cull May Havt"" Ground Up 300

Brnhc:s,

Medll Report ' (May 25. 1995). ·

40. N elson and Simpson (1 994).

41. Ibid., p.

126. For other compelhng 5tonC5 of retractors. sec Goldstein and F.1rmer

(I'J9J) and Puley ( 1994) . 42. Spanos et al. (1991). 4.3. II lurvey of o\'rr 800 psyeholhcnplst5 by the dinil""i.1n Michael Yapko suggeSts th.al

nUllly are IIOt familiar with. or put lillie

. stock in. weU-colllrol1l""d nudl(� of hypnosIS.

Yapko asked respondents to indic:ue whelhcr they agrec or dl�� wlIh a Vomety of

queslions about h)'Pnosls and other npects ofther.opy. Forty-5e\'en percenl ofthe ther­ .

apiSts agreed either dlghd)' or stTOngly wllh Ihe sUlelllt·nt ··Psychot he�pl51S can have . greater fmh m the del;)lls of a tr.IUIIIltic e\'rnt when obtJ1Iled hypnouo. lly than oth­ erwlsc" ; 31

pereent

agret""d wllh Ihc st3tement ··Whl""n someone has a ml""l1Iory o f a

IT;l.UIll;o in hypnoSIS. 1\ obJecth'rly must have occurred·'; 54 percent agreed With the

S{";owmem ··Hypnosis c�n be: uscd

to

reco...er memones of al""lual �'{.""nts as f.1r back as

birth'·; and 28 pc:rc....m agreed with the SlJtelllenl ··HypnoslS can be used 10 reco\-er Jccur.lte memories of past liv.:s:· No SCientific evidence exisls to support any

stJtcments. I t is somew hat reaMurmg Ihat I«l percellt ofthc

fI.""'lpondents

of thest'

inYapko's SUT­

\"C}' agn:t""d with Ihe statement "It s i posSible to suggC1t false mt""lIlori..-s to someone

who Ihen IIlcorpontC5 them as true l11....mories."· But it also uuplles that one-fifth of

his sample believes th.1t It

IS

not possIble 10 su�1 faisc memoriC$. Ste Yapko

(1994.

write about known trJUm3S thaI Ihey o:.-.:plidtly remember, :IS Pt""lInebaker has dOIll"". and having pe0l'lt· h unt for repn:ul""d melllories Ih;1I mighl or 1II1ghl not have occurred hy " ntlllg down whatever pops 10 miud. as was do ne In I)Iana Halbrooks} thcr.tpy. The c:ue of Neil discu� in chaptl""r 2-the )·oung 1>0). who could remem­ ber hiS recent experiences by Wntlllg but not ulklllg--suggests different retriev.lol palhways for wrlllen and spoken materials. BUI Neil's ("a5l"" s.ays nothing �bout Ihe p-Olt'mial accuracy of forgotten cxpericnces retrievcd Ihrough tr:r.ncc writing. 45. Sec. for example. UafoS and Davis (1988. 1(94). Frederickson (1992). and Hnm:1II (1992).

3 collection of papers dealmg with social influen ces 011 memory, sce the volume edited by Middleton .1nd Ed,,"�nh ( 1 990) . 47. For therapeutic c:rreCls of illl3smal rehving of actull tr.tuma. � Foa el al. (t 99 I). For imagining uIITl""lIIernbered abusc. see Frederickson (1 992) . pp. 108--1 12. Hym an el al. (in press) report effects of mugery on fJIsc: memory creallOT!. For a summaT)' of work

46. r'Or

KoW)'n

on imagery. perception. and the br.oin. sel"" (1994). 48. The survey ofpsychother.tplsts IS reported by Poolc el .:U. (1995). r'Or a dl""t:ed :lli analy­ ,is and di§cu",on of ml""lllory teChlllqllM used in psyehot!ll""r.op'..-s concerned wllh d"ldhood sexual ahllse.see Unds:ty and ReJd (1996).

49. For sOJrply contrd'ling e:nim�tcs of the prevalence of illusory lIIt""lIlories of sexual abuse:. see Whitfield (1995). who c1ainu on the basis of clinical experience that false memones of s.exual abuse hardly e'·er OCCUT, and PCndl""rgrasL (1995). who reasollS that the phenomenon h.1s reached c:pidcmk proportluns. 50. The quote; are from a book t""ntltled Ffl'I5!f jill" '''I/I(t'$ by ther.tpi�rs [bndler and Grinder (1979), p. %. They arc reproduced in Hacking (1995).

(1987a) reviews early anecdotal e\'ldt'ncl"" concerning implicit memory and trance or aUlomatic writing. Swdle$ by Penneb:tker and colleagues have shown that wnung

about tr.oumatic experiences cm Yield ther.tpeuuc benefits (for revlcw. sce Harber &

Pennebaker. 1(92). HO\\'C\'Cr. thn.c: benefits were observed III Cwhcre in the chapter. Oldcr �dult:l are sometime5 less able young people to suppress irrd",,-ml though ts and .ide:l.5 whel� curymg out a cognitive . task, :md tins Ill:l)' sometimes gel 111 the w�y of n-tnevmg .>pee.fie names.

�

26. SCI' U VOle :md LIght (199�) (or a systematic revIew of priming and aging. HOW" (1996) ;ma DJVIS and Bernstem (1992) also pril our expeTlmcntal p�rtlC:lpants' ability to recall and Tt'(:ognize all the e\'enu that wcrt' shown III Ihe origmal videot�pc.

50. The quotes from Ben Freeman arc in the exhihition (:atalog Nl'tll/lrtim 1994: 111ri.rg raousideffll: Ecdogical m,,/ lmdiliOiral "pprooc/Jrs 1"""� �pl... New York: Ballanune. BooIZIII. R. R.. KihlsIJQIll.J. F. . &' Schaeter, D. 1.. (Eds.) (1990). S/up Illhllognirrotl. Washlllb>ton. DC: American Psychological A�ciJtioll. BorgC"$,J. L. (I %2). Fiaionu. Nl'W York: GTQ\..... Both......U,R K.. Ddr..nbacher, K.A.,& Bngham.J. G. (1987). CorreLmon of eyewitness accu­ racy and confidence: Opunuhty hypothesI! n:vrSlted. j01gicd/ ,md tr [J L. (1994). Perceptual �pecificity of auditory priming: Implicit memory for \iUice intonalion and fundamental frequt""llcy.j"''''lUi ogy: ullmiug, MemtJ')'. mId Cogm'liou, 20, 521-533.

Clark. D. M., &- Teasdale. ).

D.

bI1 facultiC'l. l..nrll:fr, 2. 588-590. DUlt:I. 5.. & Kanungo. Il... N. (1967). ItCICIlUOJ\ of � /T ("cti... c mater i�l: A further "erific�tion of the InterlSlty hypothcsls.joumal '!/ PmorJ
dIsorder

and counseling.Jouffldl of CotJlullltl.� fltX (pp. 1 12-1 21). Berlm: Sprmg..r-Verlag. Go[dstem. E_, &: Fanner, K. (1992). Cmfolmlill

lotJS: C""li"SfolJ, mi'"Onl'J, datroyingfomilrfJ.

BIX� Raton, FL: SIRS Books. Co . E" &' F;lrmer. K. (1993). T f1lf swn'(S IIjfaur

�::��

m("/lloria. Boc� Raton, FL: SIRS

Go[om�,J., Kluger. A .. �e Leon. M. J.. Ferris. S. H.. Com·it. A., Mittleman, M. S.. Cohcn .J.. RllStl" l,'0 amnesic p�ticna: Sud­ den recovery offorgoucn memorics. Brain. l son.A.A.. Houle. S.. & I3rown. G. M. (1994). Neu­ Kapur. S.. Crollk, F. 1 . Mo, Tulvmg. E.. Wi roalluomlCal correl)tcs of �ncod1llg III epIsodIC memory: Levels ofproccssmg effeci. Pro­

K3mptner.

urJillgs

oj rk

MlIIOII. brJi'l$, dud sO(ie'its r/'{OIIStrurt tire ,,�SI (pp. 150-172). Cambndge: Harvard University Pr...ss. Kuhn. A. (1991). Remembl"rance. In J. Spence & P. Hoiland (Eds.). Emlily stlllPj: The me,,,,­ i"g, of dOlllfSli( "/lOwgraplry (pp. 17-25). London: Virago. Kunst- Wilson. W. R., & Zajonc. II,.. B. (1980). Affen;"e disaimination of stimuli that can­ not be re Arademy uf Sri­

608, 543-571 .

UIU\\-:lrt'UCSS of ddicit �nd un�\\':lrencss of knowled� i n panems 4 drfim after I,M;'I iujury: CJ;II;(1I1 111111 Ii'COrfli(al iUlle.! (pp. 1 27- 1 51 ). New York: Oxford University Pl"("Ss. Sch�cler. D. L (1 992). illlplicil knowledge: New perspecn\"CS on unconscioll� procascs. Pro­ rt1'dillf$ ojl/,e ,"allgi", 20, 523-532. Sehacler, D. L.,Vcrfacllic. M .. '" Pr.lderc. U. (III press).The neurops)'eholog)' ofmemory lilu­ $IOII!: F:ilic recall and rccogilltion in amncsic patients.journal afMemory rmd Lmguligt. Sehlnk. R. C. (1990). lH/ lllt II llory:A 11(1" /(lit "I tt,,1 ""ti "'lijina/ llltrtJOI')'. New York: Scrib­ .•

.•

ner's.

Sehimek. j. G. (1 987). Fact and fallrdsy

K'duction lheory: A hmoTlcal review.joumal 35. 937-965.

in the

of I/lt Ameritan Pryclroiln"lyli( Anodali,m.

SchleIfer. R., Dl� ' lS.

379

R. �

. . &. Mergler. N. (1992). Culm" "ud «>gllllioN: 11.( . . O'7"gy, Neurosurgery "",1 Psyririu1Huflwl cY'I;,mmutu Sirw. 8. 607--628. Tul"lIlf.;. E.. (1972). EpIsodic �nd �m�mic memory. In E. TuI"ing &. W. Donaldson (Ed1.). 0I:!.>a1ll"::1If1011 rif memory (pp.. 381 -403). New York: Academic Prt:Sli. 11Ih'1I1g. E. (1983). EltmttlfJ ofrpisodi( melnory. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Tul"illg. E. (1985). Memory �nd consciousness. c.",ulilln Ilsyclwlogist. 26, 1-12. TulvlIlg. E. (1993). Sdf-knowle-dge of an amnesic individual s i Rpreseutf'd abslncd)·. In'J: K. STull &. R.S. W}oeT.Jr. (&Is,), n.r lIIe"'gy a"d IIf"roJlfychl1/''tY. New York: McGr.lw-Hill. Zob.Morgan. S., & Squlre, L lt. (1 990) The pri..nutt' hippocampll form�noll: E,·idellce for

Wilsun. B.A. (1987). Rrlr"bilirlllimr ojmmwry. London: Guilford

Zob-Murg;m. S., & Squire. L. R. (1993). Nt'"ulU.lnatomy of memory. AII"u,,1 Rtvitw ofN�u.

ories of chdd 5Cxual abusc:.jmrroal of Omsulrhrx Cessing domains III primate prefrontal cortex. Seie.,rt. 2 60, 1955-1 9.')8. Wilson. M.A & McNaughton, O. L. (1994). R.eactivation of hippoclmpal ememble mem­ .•

ories dUring deep. Sci(r1(�, 265, 676-682.

Wilson. S.c.. & Barber. 1'. X. (1 978). The Creati"... Illllgination

Sclle as a Illcamll' of hyp­

nQUC T"C$pOIl'I.ivene:ss: Applications to expenmemal and dmkal hypnOSIS. AmtTJl""" jOllwal

& Brekke, N. (1994). M...nul cont�mination and mtntal conecnon:

Unwanted influences on judgments and e"':lluatioos.

PsychoIDgl(aI 81111�1"',

Wmognd. E.. &. Killinger, W A. (1983). Rdating age at encodmg

III

116. 1 1 7-142.

early chlldhood to

adult rc:c;,lll: Developmen t of fbshl>ulb memories.jo.....al of c;"1'f,imrmal Psycl'I1I<JgY: C �II'

(1"r­ lion, 101; and the receding pa�l. 73--8 1: and sclf-unders�nding. 101;

and SlOryll."Uing. 300-308; and (nu­

hemispheres. 124, I'll, 153, 157, 158: medial tempor.r.l lobc: system. 85-87.

Eric. 155-56; Frank, 121-24: Freder·

work models

COI"'eq,'"l'lIee zones. 66, 86-87

nUtlc memory. 2 1 1 . 222, 2}6. 240.

104, 1 18-21, 138-41. 145-48,

Gene, 1 18-21. 149-52; Gloria,

155-56, 164-65. 173-74. 187:and

Cooper. Chuck, 15

245, 262.279

136-40; GR, 32-34. 38. 64. 92. 146:

neurons, 83. 87. 234-35, 243. 284-85;

Cooper. Grant. 226

HM. 137-39. 1 4 1 . 144. 145. 156, 164:

occipiul looo. 164. 185, 272, 292:

Ie. 239-40, 245:JU. 184-85;JD.

Cooper. Lynll. 183, 186

oxygen flow to, 139-40, 165,214,

49-5O:Jim. 109-10;Jon�. Professor.

284; parietal lob�"S. 86, 104. 157: right

COljr,lj,'f I() l-ltal, TIle, 270

117:JR, 261. 265; K . . 224-25, 245:

Craik. Fergus, 54

ronul f lobe, 121-24; and "split br.r.in"

Kim. 261. 265; LumberJack, 2 19-22,

Crav.lIh, Swaine, �nd Moore (law firm).

Automobilc(s): accident,;, 76, 77; driving, 17. Set au" Accident Victi ms

D .. Ms. (case study individual), 276 Uains. M�rvill. 228. 256

Lhrb�ra (c:.uc study individual), 1 7 6 -79 Ihrday, Craig, 94-95 B�rkcr. Pat, 203-5 Bartlett, Fredenc, 100-101

RU;l] g;anglia. 187-88

Battlc of the Bulge:. 229-30 lkam. Carl. 301--4

Ueauchamp, MISS (case study individual). 238-39 Bo:haviorism. 1 8 &lanna Comlmillll (Ut:llow). 2. 1 6 Ikllow. �\ll. 2. 1 6 Ikrendzeli. Rich:nd, 253-54. 340"1 1

UCIK'=Ii-BdKII. 203-4. 252. � a&o

patients, 124: temporal lobe struc·

225, 235-36, 245-46.259: Mickfudy individual). 261. 265 King, Martin Luther,Jr.. 195-96 Knowledge. 22-26: aUlObiographical,

McCown. MIChael, 227 McDermott, Knhleen, 103

and retrieval. 104-13. 117-18.

189. 191. 292 173-75

McCollough, Manha. 223

"Looking for YesterJa{' (collage), 18. 19 LSD usen,207

lual n'prescntation �ystem), 184-86, I"fant�: abu�e of. 260, 264; developllH.·nt of.

393

Larsen, Steen, 19')-200 Lal('rson. A.,54

M�rquardt, Erika. 257-58 Mirquez, Gahriel Garcia. 1-2 Martin, Alex, 153-54 McAd�,,!S, Dan, 93 McCarthy, Catherine, 11-12 McCarthy,Jo�eph, 84 McCarthy. R.osaleen, 91, 92

McCawley, Joe Uo, 107 McClelland,James, 87

Merskey, Harold. 242 Metaphors, for memory: callVJs metaphor. 179: dinos:tur bone metaphor. 40, 56, 69--70; garbage can metaphor. 40; WJX tabkt lJIt'taphor. 40 Michaels, Margaret Kdl)'. 125, 129. 1J2 Mickey (case study individual), 1 65-66, 169 Middle Ag�'s, 47 Milner. Brend,. 137, 139. 164 "MiniaTUre Vicw fmm the Berlin W�lI (#3)" (painting), 257-58 Minorilil-s, bias againsl, 190 Mirror-image fOrtllS, reading words in, 170 "M,scoding Is Seen as the RoO! of False Memorics" (Goleman). 250

I ndeX

394 MidlKin, Morulllcr. 142, 144-45. 188

Mixed 111cdll:"Alzhcullcr's I," 159-60: " Amndu:' 223; "Caney Credo:," 72-75;"Commitmem," 307-8:

Index

Neurons. 83. 87; �Ild aging, 284-85: and psychogenic amneSIa, 234-35, 243

Newborns, de\'dopment of, 173. &t aw New Jersey, 125

Memory 11," 281-82;" Rc:mcmbcrillg

NL'W}i,,*". 130

somctimes quitt dLfficult

10

do

. . . ," 303;"Sc.hool O"ys:' 304 MII�m(', Oil' (Semon). 57. 58

Psychic bhndnl'SS, 212-13

P�rkin'\On's dio;rasc, 291

Piychogemc amnesia. 8, 2 1 8---47; and the

Ni,l!irllinl", 253-54, 340"11

230, 266. Stt also Dreams

Penfield,Wild;c Mudy individual),

IS3

University of W�shington, 294

matic memory. 212-1 3 , 21 5. 225

Urbach-Wiethe disea:le. 214-16

Terr. Lenore. 202. 2D5--6. 256. 259. 264.

Urine s.:lnlples. 2 1 6

274 Thalamus. 92. 146

Van Dnbur At!cr. Marilyn, 3431131

Thatcher. MMgarel, 198,201, 293

Vanishing-cues procedure, 177-78 Ventric1n. 284

Veterans. oS« Vietnam War \·eter.l1ls; War

Skin conductance rCiponse, 175

'I1U"I'f' Fam

174, 287-89. See "/S(I Source memory Source memory. 1 14-16. Sec abo Source

Schooler. Jonathan, 260-62

South Americl. 55-56

amnesia

Schrodinger. Erwin, 56

Spanos. Nicholas, 270

Schwartzcnberg, Susan. 29-30

Spaziallo,Joseph. 107

SCOtl, RIdley, 36

SJI�libou",1 (fIlm). 231

ScO\·i1Ie.WilIiam Beecher, 1.17, 139

Sptnce. Doanald, 106

"Screen Ml'mories" (Frl'ud), 100

Spiegd. David. 234

Screen memory, 100

"Split brain'" p.1tlents, 124

Seagate, 162

Squire, Larry, 67. 84-85. I3HO. 144. 170 SS (cast· study individual) , 140. 141. 1 5 1-52

SeaWorld. 61

St�lldler, Mltthew. 3

Secrets. 288

Slale-dependent retrieval, 62

Self, 7, 35, 220. 222-25: ;lnd amnl'sia. 158.

Stereotypes. rada1. 1 'Xl

eXpt"'-rienct"'. 40-41. Su a/so ldt"'ntity

Univt.'rsity of Toronto, 54, 163.219

rcmporal lobe epilepsy. 78; and tr:.J.U­

Thompson, Don.lld. 1 1 4

Schizophfl'nia. 29 I

160; -estt"'t"'tll. 275; and fT:lgmentl of

153, 182; r�moval of, 212-[3; and

Sirhan, Sirhan, 226-27

Source amnesia. l 1! i--21. 124--29. 156-57,

Sea �ug;. 83. See also Inn:rh:bratn

234--36

VCRs (vidt'o cassent' r,,"corders). 224

Schacter, Kenneth, 9..\

Searle. John, 31 2,,36

Turyn. Anne. 196-97

Symonds, Charles, 33.;117

Thomas, Clart.'nce. [ 1 2

Skep. 88. Sa als(I Dream.l; Nightmare�

" School Days" (mixt"'d media), 304

Turing tess. t 34-36

Thiamine defidencit"S, Ri

Simpson. o.J.. 1 1 2 Singer,Jetrewm, 309114, 3 1 21131

Scale dfl'Cts. 1 1 7-18 Schafli>r, Richard E., 37

1 12

Stickney-Gibson, Melinda, 192-95. 202, 2 1 5 . 2 17-18. 252-53

'-'f En', 'i1IC (fIlm). 237

veterans Verer.m5 Admini$lration Medical Center.

Tibet. 55-56 Tim�. 26-28. 64. 160; and col1lputns as

121

relllembercrs, 34, 35; and hypcrmne­

Video recorders, 40

$i", 81-86; and "'!:'UTY

Vit'tnam War vetnans, 203, 207. 2[0-[ 1.

AS

a tel�ope.

15. 28. 33. Sec nis(l Autobiography

Time Reg.lillCd (Proust), 28 Tip�of�the�tongue experience. 25, 70, 235 Tokyo subway nerve b"'S atack, t 269

216. 244. See aim War veterans Virtual machinn. 35

" Visible I'JSI" (painting). 179--8 1

Visual pro,esses. 100. 164. 1 79--86 . 289:

Tower of Hanoi punk 293

and consolidation. 86-88: and encod­

Trance writing. 268--7 1

ing, 23, 47-48. See also Visualization

Trand, f),mid, 175

techniques

Transference. 107

VisualiUlion techniques, 271-72

TT:lumatic memory, 192-217; and the

Volunt:lry memory. 28

amygdab. 212-17; "burned-in," 202, 206; cOIl5