Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Essay
Nature 445, 27 (4 January 2007) | doi:10.1038/445027a; Published online 3 January 2007
nature jobs
Postdoctoral Position Studying Immunology
- The University of Chicago
- Chicago, IL
Tenure-Track Faculty Positions
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Dallas, TX 75390-9148 United States
Concept Constructive memory: The ghosts of past and future
Daniel L. Schacter1 & Donna Rose Addis1
- Daniel L. Schacter and Donna Rose Addis are in the Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract
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.
In the days after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the authorities began hunting for a suspect they named John Doe 2. A mechanic had vividly recalled seeing this man with the bomber, Timothy McVeigh, at a body shop where they rented the van used to carry out the crime.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).

