Daniel Schacter: The Fallibilities of Memory and the Impact of Digital Technologies Thereon

The ability of the human brain to store and recall information, and particularly its ability to create new information, is remarkable. The research of Harvard University professor Daniel Schacter as revealed the fallibilities of memory which he categorizes into ‘the seven sins’: transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, persistence, misattribution, suggestibility, and bias. These are normal, are influenced by emotions, can have adaptive value, and may be exaggerated or absent in pathological conditions. The digital technologies that most of us use every day, often for hours at a time, present new challenges for our memory system. In this episode I talk with professor Schacter about his career in memory research, how memory fallibilities play out in our daily lives, how digital technologies impact our memory, and how some our memory fallibilities – particularly suggestibility and bias – can be hijacked by digital media companies and political operatives.   

LINKS:

Schacter Memory Lab: https://sites.harvard.edu/schacter-memory/

Book: “The Seven Sins of Memory”:

https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Sins-Memory-Revised-Remembers/dp/0358325684/ref=asc_df_0358325684/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693388554878&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1921889579114062764&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9051570&hvtargid=pla-1184742256946&psc=1&mcid=760a3293f66030f780a64df60d06431f&gad_source=1

Review article on memory fallibilities:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8285452/pdf/nihms-1664500.pdf

Review article on media, technology and the sins of memory:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8373035/