Memory, Brain, and Belief (Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674000617 ISBN 13: 9780674000612

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2000

Synopsis

The scientific research literature on memory is enormous. Yet until now no single book has focused on the complex interrelationships of memory and belief. This book brings together eminent scholars from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, literature, and medicine to discuss such provocative issues as “false memories,” in which people can develop vivid recollections of events that never happened; retrospective biases, in which memories of past experiences are influenced by one’s current beliefs; and implicit memory, or the way in which nonconscious influences of past experience shape current beliefs.

Ranging from cognitive, neurological, and pathological perspectives on memory and belief, to relations between conscious and nonconscious mental processes, to memory and belief in autobiographical narratives, this book will be uniquely stimulating to scholars in several academic disciplines.

About this title

About the Authors

Daniel L. Schacter is William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

Elaine Scarry is Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University.

Reviews

The process of recalling things, people, and events--using our memory--is something we do every day but think little about. Schacter (psychology, Harvard Univ.) and Scarry (English, Harvard Univ.), editors of this collection of conference papers, seek to zero in on this ubiquitous if ill-defined activity by examining it from a variety of perspectives. Working within the context of Harvard University's Initiative in Mind/Brain/Behavior, their interdisciplinary group of contributors approaches the subject from the perspective of the humanities as well as neurobiology, from psychiatry and literary analysis, through religious studies and economics. Chapters examine memory as a biological process, as consciousness, and as an aspect of personal history or autobiography; contributors attend to the distinctions between belief, as a conscious, qualifying notion, and memory, as a deeper more elusive process. The book's multidisciplinary approach makes for innovative insight into the subject; the writing and research is clear and well presented, accessible to the uninformed reader but still academically rigorous. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.
-David E. Valencia, King Cty. Lib. Sys., Federal Way WA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674000617
• ISBN 13: 9780674000612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 364
• Editor: Schacter Daniel L., Scarry Elaine