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| the memory illusion: The Memory Illusion Dr Julia Shaw, 2016-06-16 THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Truly fascinating.' Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2 - Have you ever forgotten the name of someone you’ve met dozens of times? - Or discovered that your memory of an important event was completely different from everyone else’s? - Or vividly recalled being in a particular place at a particular time, only to discover later that you couldn’t possibly have been? We rely on our memories every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is, they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw draws on the latest research to show why our memories so often play tricks on us – and how, if we understand their fallibility, we can actually improve their accuracy. The result is an exploration of our minds that both fascinating and unnerving, and that will make you question how much you can ever truly know about yourself. Think you have a good memory? Think again. 'A spryly paced, fun, sometimes frightening exploration of how we remember – and why everyone remembers things that never truly happened.' Pacific Standard |
| the memory illusion: The Memory Illusion Julia Shaw, 2016-09-13 Forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr. Julia Shaw reveals why we are all unreliable narrators of our own life stories. Think you have a good memory? Think again. Memories are our most cherished possessions. We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why, or suddenly being unable to recall the name of someone we've met dozens of times. But what if we have the potential for more profound errors of memory, even verging on outright fabrication and self-deception? In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr. Julia Shaw uses the latest research to show the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray. She shows why we can sometimes misappropriate other people's memories, subsequently believing them to be our own. She explains how police officers can imprison an innocent man for life on the basis of 300 denials and just one confession. She demonstrates the way radically false memories can be deliberately implanted, leading people to believe that they brutally murdered a loved one, or were abducted by aliens. And she reveals how, in spite of all this, we can improve our memory through simple awareness of its fallibility. Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, The Memory Illusion offers a unique insight into the human brain, challenging you to question how much you can ever truly know about yourself. |
| the memory illusion: The Memory Illusion Julia Shaw, 2017-11-28 Forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr. Julia Shaw reveals why we are all unreliable narrators of our own life stories. Think you have a good memory? Think again. Memories are our most cherished possessions. We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr. Julia Shaw uses the latest research to show the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray. She shows why we can sometimes misappropriate other people's memories, subsequently believing them to be our own. She explains how police officers can imprison an innocent man for life on the basis of 300 denials and just one confession. She demonstrates the way radically false memories can be deliberately implanted, leading people to believe that they brutally murdered a loved one, or were abducted by aliens. And she reveals how, in spite of all this, we can improve our memory through simple awareness of its fallibility. Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, The Memory Illusion offers a unique insight into the human brain, challenging you to question how much you can ever truly know about yourself. |
| the memory illusion: The Illusion of Conscious Will Daniel M. Wegner, 2003-08-11 A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will. |
| the memory illusion: The Harmony of Illusions Allan Young, 1997-10-27 As far back as we know, there have been individuals incapacitated by memories that have filled them with sadness and remorse, fright and horror, or a sense of irreparable loss. Only recently, however, have people tormented with such recollections been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Here Allan Young traces this malady, particularly as it is suffered by Vietnam veterans, to its beginnings in the emergence of ideas about the unconscious mind and to earlier manifestations of traumatic memory like shell shock or traumatic hysteria. In Young's view, PTSD is not a timeless or universal phenomenon newly discovered. Rather, it is a harmony of illusions, a cultural product gradually put together by the practices, technologies, and narratives with which it is diagnosed, studied, and treated and by the various interests, institutions, and moral arguments mobilizing these efforts. This book is part history and part ethnography, and it includes a detailed account of everyday life in the treatment of Vietnam veterans with PTSD. To illustrate his points, Young presents a number of fascinating transcripts of the group therapy and diagnostic sessions that he observed firsthand over a period of two years. Through his comments and the transcripts themselves, the reader becomes familiar with the individual hospital personnel and clients and their struggle to make sense of life after a tragic war. One observes that everyone on the unit is heavily invested in the PTSD diagnosis: boundaries between therapist and patient are as unclear as were the distinctions between victim and victimizer in the jungles of Southeast Asia. |
| the memory illusion: Associative Illusions of Memory David Gallo, 2013-05-13 The last decade has seen a flurry of experimental research into the neurocognitive underpinnings of illusory memories. Using simple materials and tests (e.g., recalling words or pictures), methods such as the famed Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task have attracted considerable attention. These tasks elicit false memories of nonstudied events that are vivid, long lasting, and difficult to consciously avoid. Additional research shows that these memory illusions are fundamentally related to more complex memory distortions. As a result, this rapidly expanding literature has generated a great deal of excitement - and even some controversy - in contemporary psychology. Associative Illusions of Memory provides an ambitious overview of this research area. Starting with the historical roots and major theoretical trends, this book exhaustively reviews the most recent studies by cognitive psychologists, neuropsychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists. The strengths and limits of various experimental techniques are outlined, and the large body of existing data is meaningfully distilled into a few core theoretical concepts. This book highlights the malleability of memory, as well as the strategies and situations that can help us avoid false memories. Throughout the review, it is argued that these basic memory illusions contribute to a deeper understanding of how human memory works. |
| the memory illusion: The Knowledge Illusion Steven Sloman, Philip Fernbach, 2017-03-14 “The Knowledge Illusion is filled with insights on how we should deal with our individual ignorance and collective wisdom.” —Steven Pinker We all think we know more than we actually do. Humans have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don’t even know how a pen or a toilet works. How have we achieved so much despite understanding so little? Cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. We’re constantly drawing on information and expertise stored outside our heads: in our bodies, our environment, our possessions, and the community with which we interact—and usually we don’t even realize we’re doing it. The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. The fundamentally communal nature of intelligence and knowledge explains why we often assume we know more than we really do, why political opinions and false beliefs are so hard to change, and why individual-oriented approaches to education and management frequently fail. But our collaborative minds also enable us to do amazing things. The Knowledge Illusion contends that true genius can be found in the ways we create intelligence using the community around us. |
| the memory illusion: My Lie Meredith Maran, 2010-11-05 Meredith Maran lived a daughter's nightmare: she accused her father of sexual abuse, then realized, nearly too late, that he was innocent. During the 1980s and 1990s, tens of thousands of Americans became convinced that they had repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, and then, decades later, recovered those memories in therapy. Journalist, mother, and daughter Meredith Maran was one of them. Her accusation and estrangement from her father caused her sons to grow up without their only grandfather, divided her family into those who believed her and those who didn't, and led her to isolate herself on Planet Incest, where survivors devoted their lives, and life savings, to recovering memories of events that had never occurred. Maran unveils her family's devastation and ultimate redemption against the backdrop of the sex-abuse scandals, beginning with the infamous McMartin preschool trial, that sent hundreds of innocents to jail—several of whom remain imprisoned today. Exploring the psychological, cultural, and neuroscientific causes of this modern American witch-hunt, My Lie asks: how could so many people come to believe the same lie at the same time? What has neuroscience discovered about the brain's capacity to create false memories and encode false beliefs? What are the big lies gaining traction in American culture today—and how can we keep them from taking hold? My Lie is a wrenchingly honest, unexpectedly witty, and profoundly human story that proves the personal is indeed political—and the political can become painfully personal. |
| the memory illusion: The Memory of Things Gae Polisner, 2016-09-06 The powerful story of two teenagers finding friendship, comfort, and first love in the days following 9/11 as their fractured city tries to put itself back together |
| the memory illusion: The Memory Illusion Julia Shaw, 2016-09-13 Forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr. Julia Shaw reveals why we are all unreliable narrators of our own life stories. Think you have a good memory? Think again. Memories are our most cherished possessions. We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why, or suddenly being unable to recall the name of someone we've met dozens of times. But what if we have the potential for more profound errors of memory, even verging on outright fabrication and self-deception? In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr. Julia Shaw uses the latest research to show the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray. She shows why we can sometimes misappropriate other people's memories, subsequently believing them to be our own. She explains how police officers can imprison an innocent man for life on the basis of 300 denials and just one confession. She demonstrates the way radically false memories can be deliberately implanted, leading people to believe that they brutally murdered a loved one, or were abducted by aliens. And she reveals how, in spite of all this, we can improve our memory through simple awareness of its fallibility. Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, The Memory Illusion offers a unique insight into the human brain, challenging you to question how much you can ever truly know about yourself. |
| the memory illusion: Cognitive Illusions Rüdiger F Pohl, 2012-12-06 Cognitive Illusions investigates a wide range of fascinating psychological effects in the way we think, judge and remember in our everyday lives. At the beginning of each chapter, leading researchers in the field introduce the background to phenomena such as illusions of control, overconfidence and hindsight bias. This is followed by an explanation of the experimental context in which these illusions can be investigated and a theoretical discussion drawing conclusions about the wider implications of these fallacy and bias effects. Written with researchers and instructors in mind, this tightly edited, reader-friendly text provides both an overview of research in the area and many lively pedagogic features such as chapter summaries, further reading lists and suggestions for classroom demonstrations. |
| the memory illusion: Evil Julia Shaw, 2019-02-19 An original and scientifically rigorous exploration of the darkest recesses of the human mind. What is it about evil that we find so compelling? From our obsession with serial killers to violence in pop culture, we seem inescapably drawn to the stories of monstrous acts and the aberrant people who commit them. But evil, Dr. Julia Shaw argues, is all relative, rooted in our unique cultures. What one may consider normal, like sex before marriage, eating meat or being a banker, others may find abhorrent. And if evil is only in the eye of the beholder, can it be said to exist at all? In Evil, Dr. Shaw uses case studies from academia, examples from popular culture and anecdotes from everyday life to break down complex information and concepts such as the neuroscience of evil, the psychology of bloodlust and workplace misbehaviour. In grappling with thorny dilemmas--from Would I kill baby Hitler? to Why do I want to murder my spouse?--Dr. Shaw offers readers a better understanding of the world, ourselves and our Google search histories. |
| the memory illusion: Making Monsters Richard Ofshe, Ethan Watters, 1996-01-01 In the last decade, reports of incest have exploded into the national consciousness. Magazines, talk shows, and mass market paperbacks have taken on the subject as many Americans, primarily women, have come forward with graphic memories of childhood abuse. Making Monsters examines the methods of therapists who treat patients for depression by working to draw out memories or, with the use of hypnosis, to encourage fantasies of childhood abuse the patients are told they have repressed. Since this therapy may leave the patient more depressed and alienated than before, questions are appropriately raised here about the ethics and efficacy of such treatment. In the last decade, reports of incest have exploded into the national consciousness. Magazines, talk shows, and mass market paperbacks have taken on the subject as many Americans, primarily women, have come forward with graphic memories of childhood abuse. Making Monsters examines the methods of therapists who treat patients for depression by working to draw out memories or, with the use of hypnosis, to encourage fantasies of childhood abuse the patients are told they have repressed. Since this therapy may leave the patient more depressed and alienated than before, questions are appropriately raised here about the ethics and efficacy of such treatment. |
| the memory illusion: Everyday Memory Svein Magnussen, Tore Helstrup, 2007-05-07 This book presents an authoritative overview of memory in everyday contexts. Written by an expert team of international authors, it gathers together research on some of the more neglected but revealing areas of memory, to provide a comprehensive overview of remembering in real life situations. Contributions from leading experts deal with a variety of important questions concerning everyday memory, from under-researched areas such as memory for odours, to more well known areas, like collective memory. Topics covered also include: Beliefs about memory and the metaphors used to discuss memory The relation between self-referent beliefs and actual memory performance The development of autobiographical memory. Everyday Memory summarises current knowledge and presents new interpretations and hypotheses to be explored by future research. It discusses aspects of human memory which are frequently ignored or dealt with only very briefly by ordinary textbooks and as a result will have a broad appeal for researchers and students. |
| the memory illusion: Try to Remember Paul Rodney McHugh, 2008 Paul R. McHugh delivers a first-hand account of his battle against the theory of repressed sexual memories in the 1990s and closes with an argument against today's excessive diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Driven by a deep passion to rid psychiatry of nonscientific practices and armed with more than 50 years of teaching, practicing, and investigating in the field, McHugh describes how unrealistic expectations and ineffective treatment were promoted for too long by followers of Sigmund Freud and by practitioners who did not see psychiatry as a subspecialty of medicine - and did not follow the methods and practices that coherent medicine demands. This book is for patients, families, and mental health providers.--BOOK JACKET. |
| the memory illusion: The Myth of Repressed Memory Elizabeth F. Loftus, Katherine Ketcham, 1996-01-15 Maintains that there is no controlled scientific evidence that memories of trauma may be recovered years later. |
| the memory illusion: Freud Frederick Crews, 2017-08-22 From the master of Freud debunkers, the book that definitively puts an end to the myth of psychoanalysis and its creator Since the 1970s, Sigmund Freud’s scientific reputation has been in an accelerating tailspin—but nonetheless the idea persists that some of his contributions were visionary discoveries of lasting value. Now, drawing on rarely consulted archives, Frederick Crews has assembled a great volume of evidence that reveals a surprising new Freud: a man who blundered tragicomically in his dealings with patients, who in fact never cured anyone, who promoted cocaine as a miracle drug capable of curing a wide range of diseases, and who advanced his career through falsifying case histories and betraying the mentors who had helped him to rise. The legend has persisted, Crews shows, thanks to Freud’s fictive self-invention as a master detective of the psyche, and later through a campaign of censorship and falsification conducted by his followers. A monumental biographical study and a slashing critique, Freud: The Making of an Illusion will stand as the last word on one of the most significant and contested figures of the twentieth century. |
| the memory illusion: Rock Breaks Scissors William Poundstone, 2014-06-03 A practical guide to outguessing everything, from multiple-choice tests to the office football pool to the stock market. People are predictable even when they try not to be. William Poundstone demonstrates how to turn this fact to personal advantage in scores of everyday situations, from playing the lottery to buying a home. Rock Breaks Scissors is mind-reading for real life. Will the next tennis serve go right or left? Will the market go up or down? Most people are poor at that kind of predicting. We are hard-wired to make bum bets on trends and winning streaks that are illusions. Yet ultimately we're all in the business of anticipating the actions of others. Poundstone reveals how to overcome the errors and improve the accuracy of your own outguessing. Rock Breaks Scissors is a hands-on guide to turning life's odds in your favor. |
| the memory illusion: The Grand Illusion Brendan D. Murphy, 2012 The Grand Illusion (TGI) synthesizes the paranormal with today's hard science, seeking to initiate a dramatic reempowering of humanity. You'll no longer consider yourself just a powerless little meat computer destined for total annihilation at life's biological end; that outmoded worldview is firmly buried by the material set out within. Here, new and expansive vistas of possibility are laid bare; the forces and energies produced by our consciousness that act on the world around us are blown open for your understanding. Did you know that modern neuroscience considers the brain as a receiver of consciousness rather than the generator of it? Get ready for an introduction to the mysterious fifth force known to science-a virtually unshieldable carrier wave of consciousness that can travel at speeds far exceeding light. With the knowledge that we are incredible and immortal spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting a dream-like, multidimensional, holographic reality, we can indeed begin to turn life on this planet-which, for many, is a virtual nightmare-into The Grand Illusion. Are you ready to meet yourself? A masterpiece. If The Grand Illusion were merely paradigm-destroying, which it certainly is for rearguard scientific 'Funda-materialists, ' it would be a satisfying read. Fortunately, for those of us dedicated to establishing a new civilization of consciousness, Brendan Murphy's fascinating, inspiring and seminal work also opens the door to a world of new creative possibilities. ... The Grand Illusion is mind-blowing. -Sol Luckman, author of Potentiate Your DNA |
| the memory illusion: The Memory Theater Karin Tidbeck, 2021-02-16 From the award-winning author of Amatka and Jagannath—a fantastical tour de force about friendship, interdimensional theater, and a magical place where no one ages, except the young In a world just parallel to ours exists a mystical realm known only as the Gardens. It’s a place where feasts never end, games of croquet have devastating consequences, and teenagers are punished for growing up. For a select group of masters, it’s a decadent paradise where time stands still. But for those who serve them, it’s a slow torture where their lives can be ended in a blink. In a bid to escape before their youth betrays them, Dora and Thistle—best friends and confidants—set out on a remarkable journey through time and space. Traveling between their world and ours, they hunt for the one person who can grant them freedom. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious traveler who trades in favors and never forgets debts, a crossroads at the center of the universe, our own world on the brink of war, and a traveling troupe of actors with the ability to unlock the fabric of reality. Endlessly inventive, The Memory Theater takes us to a wondrous place where destiny has yet to be written, life is a performance, and magic can erupt at any moment. It is Karin Tidbeck’s most engrossing and irresistible tale yet. |
| the memory illusion: Self Illusion Bruce Hood, 2012-05-29 The Self Illusion is about the science of self—the truth behind the illusion that we all share, that we exist as individuals inside our bodies and are in control of our own thoughts and behaviours. Recent developments in neuroscience tell us that we are a multitude of unconscious mechanisms interpreting the world but largely under the influence of those around us. We are not the individuals we think we are. The truth, that we are not truly individuals but are instead the product of the collective imagination, may startle many readers who fervently believe that they are in full control of who they are and what they do. Bruce Hood, a world-renowned expert on the brain, reaches deep into our evolutionary past to find out what makes us tick. Next, he shares his own fascinating research about child development and ultimately takes us inside our heads to explain how and why we act the way we do, even in the new frontier of Twitter and Facebook. The Self Illusion is a highly accessible, often entertaining and ultimately provocative book about the nature of you, yourself and I. |
| the memory illusion: The Science of False Memory C. J. Brainerd, V. F. Reyna, 2005-05-05 Findings from research on false memory have major implications for a number of fields central to human welfare, such as medicine and law. Although many important conclusions have been reached after a decade or so of intensive research, the majority of them are not well known outside the immediate field. To make this research accessible to a much wider audience, The Science of False Memory has been written to require little or no background knowledge of the theory and techniques used in memory research. Brainerd and Reyna introduce the volume by considering the progenitors to the modern science of false memory, and noting the remarkable degree to which core themes of contemporary research were anticipated by historical figure such as Binet, Piaget, and Bartlett. They continue with an account of the varied methods that have been used to study false memory both inside and outside of the laboratory. The first part of the volume focuses on the basic science of false memory, revolving around three topics: old and new theoretical ideas that have been used to explain false memory and make predictions about it; research findings and predictions about false memory in normal adults; and research findings and predictions about age-related changes in false memory between early childhood and adulthood. Throughout Part I, Brainerd and Reyna emphasize how current opponent-processes conceptions of false memory act as a unifying influence by integrating predictions and data across disparate forms of false memory. The second part focuses on the applied science of false memory, revolving around four topics: the falsifiability of witnesses and suspects memories of crimes, including false confessions by suspects; the falsifiability of eyewitness identifications of suspects; false-memory reports in investigative interviews of child victims and witnesses, particularly in connection with sexual-abuse crimes; false memory in psychotherapy, including recovered memories of childhood abuse, multiple-personality disorders, and recovered memories of previous lives. Although Part II is concerned with applied research, Brainerd and Reyna continue to emphasize the unifying influence of opponent-processes conceptions of false memory. The third part focuses on emerging trends, revolving around three expanding areas of false-memory research: mathematical models, aging effects, and cognitive neuroscience. False Memory will be an invaluable resource for professional researchers, practitioners, and students in the many fields for which false-memory research has implications, including child-protective services, clinical psychology, law, criminal justice, elementary and secondary education, general medicine, journalism, and psychiatry. |
| the memory illusion: Mike Kelley: Materialist Aesthetics and Memory Illusions , 2021-02-23 A critical appraisal of Mike Kelley's politics of culture as expressed in his visual art and writings American artist Mike Kelley (1954-2012) was the mastermind behind some of the most bizarre and instantly recognizable artistic projects of the 1990s. Dedicated as he was to visual art, Kelley was also an insightful theorist who wrote prolifically about his own creations as well as the historical context in which he worked. His writing reveals a matrix of deeply felt theories regarding the aesthetics of the 1980s, '90s and 2000s, and his concern with victim culture and repressed memory syndrome. This book presents a new perspective on the life and work of the artist, assessing his personal philosophy via art as well as writing. Art historian Laura López Paniagua places Kelley's work in conversation with the theories of thinkers such as Georges Bataille, Walter Benjamin, Pierre Bourdieu, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Through Paniagua's transdisciplinary approach, Kelley's oeuvre emerges as a stance based in materialist aesthetics. |
| the memory illusion: Make It Stick Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel, 2014-04-14 Drawing on cognitive psychology and other fields, Make It Stick offers techniques for becoming more productive learners, and cautions against study habits and practice routines that turn out to be counterproductive. The book speaks to students, teachers, trainers, athletes, and all those interested in lifelong learning and self-improvement. |
| the memory illusion: The Psychology of Music Diana Deutsch, 1999 On interpreting musical phenomena in terms of mental function |
| the memory illusion: The Spectacle of Illusion Matthew Tompkins, 2019-04-23 In 'The Spectacle of Illusion', professional magician-turned experimental psychologist Dr. Matthew L. Tompkins investigates the arts of deception as practised and popularised by mesmerists, magicians and psychics since the early 18th century. Organised thematically within a broadly chronological trajectory, this compelling book explores how illusions perpetuated by magicians and fraudulent mystics can not only deceive our senses but also teach us about the inner workings of our minds. Indeed, modern scientists are increasingly turning to magic tricks to develop new techniques to examine human perception, memory and belief.0Beginning by discussing mesmerism and spiritualism, the book moves on to consider how professional magicians such as John Nevil Maskelyne and Harry Houdini engaged with these movements ? particularly how they set out to challenge and debunk paranormal claims. It also relates the interactions between magicians, mystics and scientists over the past 200 years, and reveals how the researchers who attempted to investigate magical and paranormal phenomena were themselves deceived, and what this can teach us about deception. 00Exhibition: Wellcome Collection, London, UK (11.04.-15.09.2019). |
| the memory illusion: False Memory Dean Ray Koontz, 2000 IT'S A FEAR MORE PARALYZING THAN FALLING. MORE TERRIFYING THAN ABSOLUTE DARKNESS. MORE HORRIFYING THAN ANYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE. IT'S THE ONE FEAR YOU CANNOT ESCAPE, NO MATTER WHERE YOU RUN...NO MATTER WHERE YOU HIDE. IT'S THE FEAR OF YOURSELF. IT'S REAL. IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU. AND FACING IT CAN BE DEADLY. FEAR FOR YOUR MIND. |
| the memory illusion: Pieces of Light Charles Fernyhough, 2013-07-04 Shortlisted for the Royal Society Winton Prize 2013 and the 2013 Best Book of Ideas Prize.Memory is an essential part of who we are. But what are memories, and how are they created? A new consensus is emerging among cognitive scientists: rather than possessing a particular memory from our past, like a snapshot, we construct it anew each time we are called upon to remember. Remembering is an act of narrative as much as it is the product of a neurological process. Pieces of Light illuminates this theory through a collection of human stories, each illustrating a facet of memory's complex synergy of cognitive and neurological functions.Drawing on case studies, personal experience and the latest research, Charles Fernyhough delves into the memories of the very young and very old, and explores how amnesia and trauma can affect how we view the past. Exquisitely written and meticulously researched, Pieces of Light blends science and literature, the ordinary and the extraordinary, to illuminate the way we remember and forget. |
| the memory illusion: The Memory Garden Rachel Hore, 2012 Lamorna Cove - a tiny bay in Cornwall, picturesque, unspoilt. A hundred years ago it was the haunt of a colony of artists. Today, Mel Pentreath hopes it is a place where she can escape the pain of her mother's death and a broken love affair, and gradually put her life back together. Renting a cottage in the enchanting but overgrown grounds of Merryn Hall, Mel embraces her new surroundings and offers to help her landlord, Patrick Winterton, restore the garden. Soon she is daring to believe her life can be rebuilt. Then Patrick finds some old paintings in an attic, and as he and Mel investigate the identity of the artist, they are drawn into an extraordinary tale of illicit passion and thwarted ambition from a century ago, a tale that resonates in their own lives. But how long can Mel's idyll last before reality breaks in and everything is threatened? |
| the memory illusion: The Memory of Us Camille Di Maio, 2016 Julianne Westcott was living the kind of life that other Protestant girls in prewar Liverpool could only dream about: old money, silk ball gowns, and prominent young men lining up to escort her. But when she learns of a blind-and-deaf brother, institutionalized since birth, the illusion of her perfect life and family shatters around her. While visiting her brother in secret, Julianne meets and befriends Kyle McCarthy, an Irish Catholic groundskeeper studying to become a priest. Caught between her family's expectations, Kyle's devotion to the Church, and the intense new feelings that the forbidden courtship has awakened in her, Julianne must make a choice: uphold the life she's always known or follow the difficult path toward love. But as war ripples through the world and the Blitz decimates England, a tragic accident forces Julianne to leave everything behind and forge a new life built on lies she's told to protect the ones she loves. Now, after twenty years of hiding from her past, the truth finds her--will she be brave enough to face it? |
| the memory illusion: Remember Lisa Genova, 2021-09-02 *A New York Times bestseller* 'Using her expertise as a neuroscientist and her gifts as a storyteller, Lisa Genova explains the nuances of human memory' - Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and bestselling author of How The Mind Works 'No one writes more brilliantly about the connections between the brain, the mind, and the heart. Remember is a beautiful, fascinating, and important book about the mysteries of human memory - what it is, how it works, and what happens when it is stolen from us. A scientific and literary treat that you will not soon forget.' - Daniel Gilbert ( New York Times bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness) Have you ever felt a crushing wave of panic when you can't for the life of you remember the name of that actor in the movie you saw last week, or you walk into a room only to forget why you went there in the first place? If you're over forty, you're probably not laughing. You might even be worried that these lapses in memory could be an early sign of Alzheimer's or dementia. In reality, for the vast majority of us, these examples of forgetting are completely normal. Why? Because while memory is amazing, it is far from perfect. Our brains aren't designed to remember every name we hear, plan we make or day we experience. Just because your memory sometimes fails doesn't mean it's broken or succumbing to disease. Forgetting is actually part of being human. In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. In explaining whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds while others can last a lifetime, we're shown the clear distinction between normal forgetting (where you parked your car) and forgetting due to Alzheimer's (that you own a car). Remember shows us how to create a better relationship with our memory - so we no longer have to fear it any more, which can be life-changing. |
| the memory illusion: Optical Illusions Game Paul Baars, 2015-08-24 Optical Illusions Game is a new game that resembles the emory game, but with three bonuses: 1. Instead of a set of two the player has to find a set of four. 2. When the set is completed, the player has to puzzle the four cards into one image. 3. Presto: the four cards form an image of an optical illusion to discover and marvel at. The goal of the game is to collect four cards that form one optical illusion. The player who collects the most optical illusions wins the game. The optical illusions in this game were selected by Paul Baars, a world famous author and expert on optical illusions. For this game he has selected a broad range of mindboggling illusions from the famous classical ones to new illusions created by contemporary designers and artists. The Optical Illusions Game consists of 80 cards and 20 illusions as well as a brochure in which the illusions are shown and briefly explained. |
| the memory illusion: One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 2014-03-06 ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BOOKS AND WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE _______________________________ 'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice' Gabriel García Márquez's great masterpiece is the story of seven generations of the Buendía family and of Macondo, the town they built. Though little more than a settlement surrounded by mountains, Macondo has its wars and disasters, even its wonders and its miracles. A microcosm of Columbian life, its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book, and only Aureliano Buendía can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny. Blending political reality with magic realism, fantasy and comic invention, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century. _______________________________ 'As steamy, dense and sensual as the jungle that surrounds the surreal town of Macondo!' Oprah, Featured in Oprah's Book Club 'Should be required reading for the entire human race' The New York Times 'The book that sort of saved my life' Emma Thompson 'No lover of fiction can fail to respond to the grace of Márquez's writing' Sunday Telegraph |
| the memory illusion: The End of Illusions Andreas Reckwitz, 2021-08-30 We live in a time of great uncertainty about the future. Those heady days of the late 20th century, when the end of the Cold War seemed to be ushering in a new and more optimistic age, now seem like a distant memory. During the last couple of decades we’ve been battered by one crisis after another and the idea that humanity might be on a progressive path to a better future seems like a grand illusion. And yet it is only now, as disillusioned citizens try to make sense of the new political landscape, that the real nature of this reversal is beginning to reveal itself: contemporary societies have undergone a profound structural shift over the last 30 years, in the course of which classical industrial society has given way to a new kind of modernity that is oriented toward the particular and the unique. But the pervasive singularization of the social also generates systematic asymmetries and disparities. Reckwitz examines this dual structure of singularization and polarization as it plays itself out in the different sectors of our societies and, in so doing, he outlines the central structural features of the present: the new class society, the characteristics of a postindustrial economy, the conflict between culture and identity, the exhaustion resulting from the imperative to seek authentic fulfilment, and the crisis of liberalism. Building on his path-breaking work The Society of Singularities, this new book will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, politics and the social sciences generally and to anyone concerned with the great social and political issues of our time. |
| the memory illusion: Deadly Illusion Kathy Lockheart, 2021-11-02 An emotional, tension-filled forbidden romance that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page... |
| the memory illusion: Religion as a Chain of Memory Daniele Hervieu-Leger, 2000-05-25 This is a major new account of the nature of religion and its changing role in modern societies, by one of the most original French sociologists writing on religion today. In a stylish and accessible study, Hervieu-Leger addresses the problem of how to distinguish religion from other systems of meaning in modern Western society. The crucial point, she argues, is the chain of memory and tradition which makes the individual believer a member of the community. From this point of view, religion is the ideological, symbolic and social device by which individual and collective awareness of belonging to a lineage of believers is created and controlled. Modern societies, Hervieu-Lé:ger argues, are not more rational than past societies, but rather suffer from a kind of collective amnesia. They are less and less capable of maintaining a living collective 'chain' of memory as a source of meaning. However, as major religious traditions decline, a range of surrogate memories appears, which also permit the contraction of collective identities. These 'small memories' are creating an upsurge of 'emotional communities' and the affirmation of ethno-religions within Europe and elsewhere. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of theology, religious studies and sociology. |
| the memory illusion: The Concept of Mind Gilbert Ryle, 2023-05-11 The Concept of Mind by philosopher Gilbert Ryle argues that mind is a philosophical illusion hailing chiefly from René Descartes and sustained by logical errors and 'category mistakes' which have become habitual. The work has been cited as having put the final nail in the coffin of Cartesian dualism, and has been seen as a founding document in the philosophy of mind, which received professional recognition as a distinct and important branch of philosophy only after 1950. This now-classic work challenges what Ryle calls philosophy's official theory, the Cartesians myth of the separation of mind and matter. Ryle's linguistic analysis remaps the conceptual geography of mind. His plain language and essentially simple purpose place him in the traditioin of Locke, Berkeley, Mill, and Russell. |
| the memory illusion: Dangerous Illusions Irene Hannon, 2017 The text of this Large Print edition is unabridged--Title page verso. |
| the memory illusion: City Of Illusions Ursula K. Le Guin, 2015-10-01 'She is unique. She is legend' THE TIMES 'A tour de force' EVENING STANDARD 'A wonderfully mordant analyst of human weakness' Martin Amis Earth, like the rest of the Known Worlds, has fallen to the Shing. Scattered here and there, small groups of humans live in a state of semi-barbarism. They have lost the skills, science and knowledge that had been Earth's in the golden age of the League of Worlds, and whenever a colony of humans tries to rekindle the embers of a half-forgotten technology, the Shing, with their strange, mindlying power, crush them out. There is one man who can stand against the malign Shing, but he is an alien with amber eyes and must first prove to paranoid humanity that he himself is not a creature of the Shing. |
| the memory illusion: Cognitive Illusions Rüdiger F Pohl, 2016-07-22 Cognitive Illusions explores a wide range of fascinating psychological effects in the way we think, judge and remember in our everyday lives. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, the book defines what cognitive illusions are and discusses their theoretical status: are such illusions proof for a faulty human information-processing system, or do they only represent by-products of otherwise adaptive cognitive mechanisms? Throughout the book, background to phenomena such as illusions of control, overconfidence and hindsight bias are discussed, before considering the respective empirical research, potential explanations of the phenomenon, and relevant applied perspectives. Each chapter also features the detailed description of an experiment that can be used as classroom demonstration. Featuring six new chapters, this edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to reflect recent research and changes of focus within the field. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of cognitive illusions, specifically, those focusing on thinking, reasoning, decision-making and memory. |
Memory - Wikipedia
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over …
Memory: What It Is, How It Works & Types - Cleveland Cli…
Sep 16, 2024 · Memory is the ability to recall learned information. Many parts of your brain work together to encode, store and retrieve a memory.
Memory | Definition, Retrieval, & Forgetting | Britannica
May 22, 2025 · Memory is the encoding, storage, and retrieval in the human mind of past experiences. The basic pattern of remembering involves …
How Memory Works - Psychology Today
Memory is a continually unfolding process. Initial details of an experience take shape in memory; the brain’s representation of that information …
What Is Memory? - Verywell Mind
Jun 19, 2024 · Memory refers to the processes used to acquire, store, retain, and later retrieve information. Learn more about how memories …
Memory - Wikipedia
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future …
Memory: What It Is, How It Works & Types - Cleveland Clinic
Sep 16, 2024 · Memory is the ability to recall learned information. Many parts of your brain work together to encode, store and retrieve a memory.
Memory | Definition, Retrieval, & Forgetting | Britannica
May 22, 2025 · Memory is the encoding, storage, and retrieval in the human mind of past experiences. The basic pattern of remembering involves attention to an event followed by …
How Memory Works - Psychology Today
Memory is a continually unfolding process. Initial details of an experience take shape in memory; the brain’s representation of that information then changes over time. With subsequent...
What Is Memory? - Verywell Mind
Jun 19, 2024 · Memory refers to the processes used to acquire, store, retain, and later retrieve information. Learn more about how memories are formed and the different types.
Memory | Psychology Today
Memory encompasses the facts and experiential details that people consciously call to mind as well as ingrained knowledge that surface without effort or even awareness. It is both a short …
Different Types of Memory and the Function of Each - Verywell …
Apr 24, 2024 · Memory is the ability to store and retrieve information when people need it. The four general types of memories are sensory memory, short-term memory, working memory, …
Memory Stages: Encoding Storage and Retrieval - Simply …
Jun 16, 2023 · Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and subsequent retrieval of information. Memory is essential to all our lives. Without a memory …
Memory - MedlinePlus
Jul 19, 2017 · Memory is the process of storing and then remembering this information. There are different types of memory. Short-term memory stores information for a few seconds or minutes.
Memory | Memory and Aging Center
Memory is often a large part of a person's identity and can be affected by dementia. There are multiple types of memory:
