Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past

by Daniel L. Schacter

Memory. There may be nothing more important to human beings than our ability to enshrine experience and recall it. While philosophers and poets have elevated memory to an almost mystical level, psychologists have struggled to demystify it. Now, according to Daniel Schacter, one of the most distinguished memory researchers, the mysteries of memory are finally yielding to dramatic, even revolutionary, scientific breakthroughs. Schacter explains how and why it may change our understanding of everything from false memory to Alzheimer's disease, from recovered memory to amnesia with fascinating firsthand accounts of patients with striking—and sometimes bizarre—amnesias resulting from brain injury or psychological trauma.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Brain, Education

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Daniel L. Schacter is Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. His research has focused on psychological and biological aspects of human memory and amnesia, with a particular emphasis on the distinction between conscious and nonconscious forms of memory and, more recently, on brain mechanisms of memory distortion. He received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1974, M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1977 and 1981 respectively. His Ph.D. thesis was supervised by Endel Tulving. In 1978, he was a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology. He has also studied the effects of aging on memory. His research uses both cognitive testing and brain imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Schacter has written three books, edited seven volumes, and published over 200 scientific articles and chapters. Schacter publishes regularly in scientific journals. Among the topics that Schacter has investigated are: Alzheimer's Disease, the neuroscience of memory, age-related memory effects, and issues related to false memory. He is widely known for his integrative reviews, including his seminal review of implicit memory in 1987.

Reviews

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was originally introduced to this book while in graduate school taking a graduate seminar on historiography. After reading and discussing it, I had a whole new view on history, perception, and life. It really changed me. I often refer to Schacter's work when doing research for my fiction writing. To say it informs my work is a gross understatement. Searching for Memory provides an underpinning from which most of my fiction arises. Questions of memory and perception are always in the forefront of my mind when developing characters and plot. Whenever I put a pen in my hand, the specter of Daniel L. Schacter is looking over my shoulder. The man haunts me, always asking: "Did your character really remember that correctly? Or did they even participate in the incident that led to the memory at all?" Thanks, Doctor Schacter. You make a man feel paranoid, and you probably don't even remember doing it. Or do you?

[Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know lots of stuff about memory, read this book. It's not totally up-to-date in this fast moving field, but reasonably so. Full of interesting "right brain" material, graphics, etc. about memory. Covers everything from what happens at the synapse to what makes a savant a savant, to age-related cognitive decline. Thorough and well-written.

[Deborah Biancotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schachter does an impressive job of synthesising the disciplines that go into the study of the mind & memory, & making the study accessible to the casual reader. I wish he'd write books like this on every subject of interest. That's right. Every. One.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of several excellent books by Schacter, who possesses the rare (and sorely needed) talent of communicating cutting-edge theory and data in neuroscience to a lay audience in an engaging but not-watered-down way.

[Ferhan Meraler · Rating 5 out of 5]

artık zihnimi daha iyi anlıyorum

[John Petrocelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: Schacter offers the reader a relatively casual and entertaining discussion of memory – it’s much like taking a stroll through a park with Schacter and listening to his organized and meaningful prose on memory. I particularly liked how Schacter addresses encoding and retrieval processes and generally examines memory from multiple perspectives including cognitive, social, and emotional, and neuroscientific perspectives. An unexpected and unique angle, this book integrates how perceptions of memory, and aspects of it, have been depicted in art. I can’t think of another psychology book written for both scholars and laypeople that gives attention to the nature and function of memory through artistic works. The discussion of brain damaged and amnesic patients helps to enlighten one about the bounds of implicit memory throughout several chapters. It’s hard to pick one favorite chapter here – I highly recommend this book.

Favorite Quote: “The neuropsychologist Morris Moscovitch described a case in which a sixty-one-year-old man with widespread frontal lobe damage insisted that he had been married for just four months when he had been married to the same women for over thirty years. He recalled correctly that he and his wife had four children, spontaneously adding—apparently with some laughter—“Not bad for four months.” When asked about the ages of his children, he noted that the eldest was thirty-two and the youngest twenty-two. How could one produce these children in four months? The patient had a ready response: “They’re adopted.”” (p. 120).

[Schottsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is so easy to read and lays much of the foundational support for more recent "pop" psych books on Happiness. A ton of interesting reserach on how we process (and fabricate) memories based on imprinting and creating engrams in the brain. Much of what we say we rememember we have created. A great read for science geeks and those who love soft sci-fi. You cant but wonder about sean young.

[Özge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belleğin kırılgan gücü bölümüyle başlayarak bir ders kitabından öte, sürükleyici bir Proust romanı okuyormuşcasına beni içine çekti. 'Anılar nasıl inşa edilir?', 'Anıların Çarpıtılması', 'Geçmiş Geçmemekte ısrar ettiğinde; Duygusal Anılar'bölümleri ve Amnezi öyküleri ile belleğe dair büyük bir farkındalık yaratacak. Arada bir unutmamak için tekrar tekrar karıştırıp okuyarak sayfalarını eskittiğim kitaptır.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An especially well-written piece of non-fiction, filled with rich anecdotes about human cognition that you will remember for years.

[Yahya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
Aslında bu tarz Psikoloji&Sinirbilim karışımı kitapları alanım olduğu için okumayı seviyorum. Bu kitap da kesinlikle kötü değil ama az çok bu alanda biraz okuma yapmış olanlara yeni bir şey sunuyor mu emin değilim. Bu konularda ilk defa okuma yapacaklara faydalı olur yine de. Kitabın diğer sevmediğim yönü de biraz tekrara düşmesi ve çok dağınık bir anlatıma sahip olması. Yani daha iyi olabilirdi kesinlikle.

"Nasıl yakın arkadaşlarımıza genellikle güvenebiliyorsak, anılarımızın doğruluğuna da çoğu zaman güvenebiliriz. Bununla birlikte, arkadaşların en iyisi bile zaman zaman bizi aldatabilir ve bellek de bazen ona en çok inanmak istediğimiz zamanlarda bizi yanıltabilir. Belleğimiz anıları çarpıttığında veya olmamış bir şeyi olmuş gibi hatırladığımızda, bu hatalar bize belleğin kırılgan gücünün doğası hakkında açıklayıcı ipuçları sunarlar ve dramatik bir biçimde geçmiş hakkında inandıklarımızın günlük hayatlarımızı altüst edebileceğini gösterirler."

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up to read because I am fascinated by how actors can recall large amounts of lines for live performance; I am intrigued by how elders can recall large amounts of collective memory in order to transmit an oral culture; and the process of crafting a narrative out of memory in order to create a memoir or autobiography. Chapter by chapter, Schacter provided studies, anecdotes, and expert witness caliber information.

The cool thing about the book is the way he inserts contemporary art to illustrate and support his message.

I am convinced that it will be a loss of memory that will kill our culture. And lack of creativity. The power of forgetting is all around us. Schacter writes about that too--that some forgetfulness is required for our sanity. And then there is that special category, confabulation: remembering a fictional version of the past as if it were history.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schacter covers an enormous range of topics in this book from memory and multiple-personality disorder to memory and aging. Full of anecdotes and medical studies, the book manages to be interesting as well as informative. I was glad he confirmed for me one of my own beliefs--we can be changed by experiences we don't remember. I am who I am in part because of the books I've read, even if I can't remember most of them.

[Karla Kitalong]

I learned a lot. It's so interesting to read about brain function, especially because what we know changes and a lot of it remains speculative, hypothetical. The last chapter, on elders' brains, did not necessarily tell me what I wanted to hear; Sanjay Gupta's book, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age, was better in that respect. I will keep reading about the brain, though (the more you know... )

[michael prado · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half contains decent coverage of the cognitive theories of memory and their often mysterious effects at play. Schacter then drifts into fringe cases of atypical amnesiacs, repression, sexual trauma, therapies and infant/elderly memory defects, aimlessly oversaturating good cognitive theory into subjective, overly-qualified PC discussions that say a lot without saying much at all.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED THIS BOOK. It taught me about memory like nothing i’ve read before. Used this book to write a research paper and it was great. Highly recommend for anyone looking to understand the complexities of memory but find it all overwhelming

[Imke Verschuren · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Kristin Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neuropsych of memories but make it a narrative and make it digestable
5 stars for sparking a years long hyper fixation on flashbulb memories

[Sabrina]

interesting, more a textbook then anything else, read in chunks for my memory class.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stuff about different kinds of memory with all kinds of incredibly interesting implications. I was especially struck by the discussions of implanted memories, inadvertent plagiarism, and the non-existent correlation between one's confidence in, and the veracity of, any given memory.

Sad that mapping brain function has been so heavily reliant on primate research i.e. removing a specific part of the brain to see what abilities are eliminated/damaged in it's absence. Schacter sums this up on p. 142 in reference to the work of
Mortimer Mishkin,

Mishkin observed that removing either the hippocampus or the neighboring amygdala had no effect on the monkeys' abilities to recognize which object had been presented earlier. But removing both structures led to massive memory impairment . . . Since the publication of Mishkin's pioneering study, there has been a great deal of research on brain lesioned monkeys.

References to this subsequent research are peppered throughout the book. I wonder where is the companion volume that talks about the lives of these monkeys? It's striking that there's such a split in Schacter's compassion.

[Felix Jaenicke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auf dieses Buch bin ich durch Buchtipps von Vera F. Birkenbihl aufmerksam geworden. Viele ihrer Empfehlungen sind heute schwer zu finden, aber Wir sind Erinnerung konnte ich noch als gebrauchtes Hardcover ergattern. Es wurde schnell zu einem festen Teil meiner Morgenroutine – ein paar Seiten vor der Arbeit lesen, um den Tag nachdenklich zu starten.

Schacter nimmt den Leser mit auf eine spannende Reise durch die Welt des Gedächtnisses. Er verbindet wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse mit anschaulichen Beispielen aus der Forschung, persönlichen Geschichten und faszinierenden Einblicken in die Funktionsweise unseres Erinnerungsvermögens. Das Buch zeigt, wie komplex und dynamisch Erinnerung ist – kein starres Archiv, sondern ein lebendiger, oft unzuverlässiger Prozess, der unser Selbstverständnis prägt.

Für mich war das Lesen eine bereichernde Erfahrung, die mir geholfen hat, mein eigenes Erinnerungsvermögen besser zu verstehen und wertzuschätzen. Wer sich für Psychologie, Neurowissenschaften oder einfach das Wesen menschlicher Erinnerung interessiert, findet hier viel Anregung.

[Dane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book's review of the brain and memory. The book itself is a little older, but I think the basics about memory and the brain still hold true. It has a nice combination of neuro-science and social science, with interesting anecdotal and experimental discoveries made about the process of remembering and recall.

I'm not a psychologist or researcher, so I'm not going to slaughter the semi-scientific review of memory (much). I will say the author does a good job of showing how complex memory really is, how it can break down, and how researchers and scientists have discovered the different facets of memory (habit, direct recall, biographical memory...)

This is NOT a psychological book, its focus is much more scientific. For those who are interested in the intersection of the brain with the mind, though, I'd recommend this as a decent review of one facet of how the brain works.

[Zining · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book introducing me to the field of memory and brain. It somewhat changed my way of recognizing how memories form and organize together. Although this book covers a variety of solid knowledge, it is not boring to read through at all.
Several takeaways / ideas generated from this book:
- Memories are initially fragments, and then either consolidated to solid engram structures or faded out;
- How the engram structures work? Medial temporal region are indeces. The information there link to information at other places.
- How memory structures consolidate? Sometimes via traumatic event, sometimes via brain damage (retrograde / anterograde amnesia), mostly via repetition. In this sense, if we say skills and knowledge are no different, and that they are both able to be reinforced. So our brains are actually von-Neumann-structured if an analogy is to be made to computer?
- "Priming effect": viewing can write information into the implicit memory.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book, I keep thinking I'll be bored by it, and then I stay up till three am reading it. The premise is that we can no longer think of memory as a screen or a recording, but a function of multiple subjectivities and where we are standing at any moment we are looking back on it (aka "it": memory). A post modern and obvious premise, I guess, but something about Schacter's perspective as a psychologist who is versed in cognitive- and neuro-science makes this feel deep and rich. Also, he's obsessed by visual art and admits in the book he goes to MOMA to stare at paintings he already "knows by heart" every time he's free in midtown, which is pretty cool. Involving that theme in the text sounds like it could be gimmicky, but it doesn't feel that way after all. This book seems to me much more revelatory than a "should-read" information dump.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so this is a weird book for me to put on here as it is a more scientific book, but I really enjoyed reading it. I actually read this book in an English class and, while reading it, we simultaneously read novels that dealt with memory, heroism, aging, trauma, and myth. Searching for Memory does just that - it searches the science of the brain and memory, including false memory, Alzheimer's, amnesia, and other psychological issues. Reading this book gave our class a very interesting viewpoint on literature. I definitely recommend this book to people who love to read and are also interested in psychology and psychology-based themes in fiction.

[Ludo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek werd aanbevolen in een audio cursus (Memory Optimizer, Sheele en Birkenbihl )over de werking en training van het geheugen.

Schacter schrijft als wetenschapper in dit gebied toch een voor leken zeer begrijpelijk boek, ook al omdat het met veel voorbeelden uit kunst en literatuur (het madeleine koekje bij Proust..., Borges, )aangenaam leest.

Wie een "degelijk" onderbouwd boek verkiest over de werking van het geheugen

[Rei ⭐ [TrulyBooked] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chock full of interesting anecdotes, this isn't exactly an easy read, but it is an incredible look into the way that our memory works. We take for granted that our memories will just be there for us to unlock, but it requires so many different parts of our brain as well as learning techniques. This book was really illuminating.

[Ivo Gomes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving it 3 starts because I feel this book is directed much more to an academic or someone studying memory rather than to the general public. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed understanding the various ways our memory and our brain work, and how each structure inside our brain can have a huge impact in how we perceive our world and how we retrieve our memories.

[Cristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A phenomenal book that explains, in layman's terms, what is known about memory today. Schacter is a scientist but he makes references to art, literature to make his points. A must-read for memoirists and for anyone interested in, struggling with, curious about remembering.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only does this book give a great explanation of how the brain functions when it comes to the aspect of memory, but it also shows you how to grasp onto the inspiring moments of your life so that you may go about your existence in a greater state of exhilaration.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book! Easy to read, interesting, and gives you a new perspective on how you look at what memory means, how it stored and recalled, why you remember certain things and not others, and what can go wrong. I highly recommend this to anybody who is curious about how their mind works!