Memory, Brain, and Belief

The decidedly interdisciplinary anthology brings together researchers from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, literature and medicine to discuss the nature of memory and belief Researchers present interesting results indicating that ones own memories of the past are strongly influenced by ones present beliefs, current experience and even nonconscious influences. The picture of memory presented throughout these essays is both fascinating and disquieting It is uncomfortable to be told that we do not know our own minds and past experiences as well as we think we do, but it makes for captivating reading An interesting and useful contribution to the growing body of research on memory, belief, and autobiography. -- James R. Beebe * Metapsychology * The eleven chapters, and a masterful summary by Damasio, present many facets of the problem, from the paranoid delusions of the schizophrenic to experimentally provoked errors in memory. -- Robert W. Doty * Quarterly Review of Biology * The process of recalling things, people and eventsusing our memoryis something we do every day but think little about. Schacter and Scarry, 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 The books 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. -- David E. Valencia * Library Journal *

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.

Introduction Daniel L. Schacter and Elaine Scarry 1. Mining the Past to Construct the Future: Memory and Belief as Forms of Knowledge Chris Westbury and Daniel C. Dennett PART 1: Cognitive, Neurological, and Pathological Perspectives 2. Cognitive and Brain Mechanisms of False Memories and Beliefs Marcia K. Johnson and Carol L. Raye 3. Memory and the Brain: New Lessons from Old Syndromes V.S. Ramachandran 4. The Role of Memory in the Delusions Associated with Schizophrenia Chris Frith and Raymond J. Dolan PART 2: Conscious and Nonconscious Aspects of Memory and Belief: From Social Judgments to Brain Mechanisms 5. Implicit Stereotypes and Memory: The Bounded Rationality of Social Beliefs Mahzarin R. Banaji and R. Bhaskar 6. Belief and Knowledge as Distinct Forms of Memory Howard Eichenbaum and J. Alexander Bodkin 7. Where in the Brain is the Awareness of One's Past? Endel Tulving and Martin Lepage PART 3: Memory and Belief in Autobiographical Recall and Autobiography 8. Constructing and Appraising Past Selves Michael Ross and Anne E. Wilson 9. Memory and Belief in Development Katherine Nelson 10. Autobiography, Identity, and the Fictions of Memory Paul John Eakin 11. Autobiography as Moral Battleground Sissela Bok Thinking about Belief: Concluding Remarks Antonio R. Damasio Contributors Index