Editor's Summary
4 January 2007
Partial recall
If recalling a memory is a biological equivalent of replaying a video, the brain is a poor video recorder. That might be for the best, though. In a revival of our Essays strand, Daniel Schacter and Donna Rose Addis reflect on the nature of 'constructive memory', which allows us to remember something that didn't happen. They suggest that memory works by piecing together bits of the past from scattered components. Not ideal for a video recorder, but it may allow us to simulate future events in a way that better equips us for the world.
Essay: Constructive memory: The ghosts of past and future
A memory that works by piecing together bits of the past may be better suited to simulating future events than one that is a store of perfect records.
Daniel L. Schacter & Donna Rose Addis
doi:10.1038/445027a
