  the seven sins of memory: how the mind forgets and remembers is a book (isbn 0-618-21919-6) by daniel schacter, former chair of harvard university's psychology department and a leading memory researcher. the book revolves around the theory that "the seven sins of memory" are similar to the seven deadly sins, and that if you try to avoid committing these sins, it will help to improve your ability to remember. he argues that these features of human memory are not necessarily bad, and that they actually serve a useful purpose in memory. for instance, persistence is one of the sins of memory that can lead to things like post traumatic stress syndrome. however persistence is also necessary for long-term memory, and so it is essential. ==overview== schacter asserts that "memory's malfunctions can be divided into seven fundamental transgressions or 'sins'."d. schacter. the seven sins of memory, houghton mifflin, 2001. p.4 these are transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. the first three are described as sins of omission, since the result is a failure to recall an idea, fact, or event. the other four sins (misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence) are sins of commission, meaning that there is a form of memory present, but it is not of the desired fidelity or the desired fact, event, or ideas. ==types of memory failure== ===transience=== transience refers to the general deterioration of a specific memory over time. much more can be remembered of recent events than those further in one's past. this is especially true with episodic memory, because every time an episodic memory is recalled, it is re-encoded within the hippocampus, altering the memory each time you recall it. transience is caused because of interference. there are two types of interference: proactive interference (old information inhibits the ability to remember new information), and retroactive interference (new information inhibits the ability to remember old information). ===absent-mindedness=== this form of memory breakdown involves problems at the point where attention and memory interface. common errors of this type include misplacing keys, eyeglasses, or forgetting appointments because at the time of encoding sufficient attention was not paid on what would later need to be recalled. ===blocking=== blocking is when the brain tries to retrieve or encode information, but another memory interferes with it. blocking is a primary cause of tip of the tongue phenomenon (a temporary inaccessibility of stored information). ===misattribution=== misattribution is the first of the sins of commission which are discussed in the book. it entails correct recollection of information with i
Books_about_memory Psychology_books