Memory sins in applied settings: What kind of progress?

What is it about?

Much psychological research has revealed that memory does not operate like a videorecorder, and is subject to various kind of errors. In 2001, I wrote a book, The Seven Sins of Memory, in which I classified memory errors into seven categories or “sins”. Three “sins of omission” refer to different kinds of forgetting: transience, absentmindedness, and blocking. Four “sins of commission” refer to cases in which memory is present, but either wrong or unwanted: misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. This article assess progress in understanding several of the memory sins during the past two decades in applied settings, ranging from the classroom and the courtroom to clinical contexts and real-world impacts of technology, such as smartphones and fake news.

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Photo by Keren Fedida on Unsplash

Photo by Keren Fedida on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We depend on our memories to perform countless tasks in our everyday lives. Although memory is often reliable, memory errors can have profound consequences, such as when extreme forgetting interferes with a persons's ability to function in daily life, an eyewitness to a crime mistakenly identifies an innocent person as the perpetrator, or uncontrollable intrusive memories of a traumatic event undermine psychological well-being. It is thus critically important to assess what we now know about memory errors and how to counter or reduce their harmful effects.

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