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Memory: sins and virtues
Author(s) -
Schacter Daniel L.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/nyas.12168
Subject(s) - constructive , illusion , variety (cybernetics) , reconstructive memory , memory errors , process (computing) , cognitive science , cognitive psychology , cognition , subject (documents) , psychology , adaptive memory , everyday life , human memory , episodic memory , computer science , childhood memory , neuroscience , epistemology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , recall , library science , operating system
Memory plays an important role in everyday life but does not provide an exact and unchanging record of experience: research has documented that memory is a constructive process that is subject to a variety of errors and distortions. Yet these memory “sins” also reflect the operation of adaptive aspects of memory. Memory can thus be characterized as an adaptive constructive process , which plays a functional role in cognition but produces distortions, errors, or illusions as a consequence of doing so.