Annette wrote:
>What I recall, and it may be a false memory, is that Luria's
>subject (S) was vastly bothered by his inability to turn off
>his superior memory--that so many memories competed
>constantly for retrieval that this was difficult for him to manage.

It's not a false memory, Annette! In his Preface to Luria's book on 
"S", Jerome Bruner writes:

"His 'immediate' images haunt him for hours… Along with this trait 
there is also a non-selectivity about his memory, such that what 
remains behind is a kind of junk heap of impressions… He is flooded and 
disturbed by the images and impressions of childhood, and, when he was 
a child, his imagery of school would become so 'real' that he would lie 
abed rather than get out from under the quilt and get ready."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12983496/Alexander-Luria-The-Mind-of-a-Mnemonist

Allen Esterson
Former lecturer, Science Department
Southwark College, London
[email protected]
http://www.esterson.org

---------------------------------------
From:   Annette Taylor <[email protected]>
Subject:        RE: Minds of Mnemonists
Date:   Sun, 2 Jan 2011 09:33:28 -0800
What I recall, and it may be a false memory, is that Luria's subject 
(S) was vastly bothered by his inability to turn off his superior 
memory--that so many memories competed constantly for retrieval that 
this was difficult for him to manage.

On the other hand, based on the 60 minutes piece, each of the people 
interviewed said that it did not bother them and tht they found a way 
to compartmentalize their vast autobiographical memories. Of note, in 
some of the retrievals clearly it was NOT merely autobiographical as 
they were able to recall many semantic memory type details of events 
and not just their own personal connection to the events.

I thought this was an interesting discrepancy and I wonder how much of 
S's perceptions, which were only his, versus McGaugh's group's 
perceptions reflect the influence of the group members influencing one 
another. Clearly some people in the group (Henner in particular) were 
more outspoken during the taped television segments.

Annette

Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D.
Professor, Psychological Sciences
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
[email protected]

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