Normal Versus Abnormal Forgetting
Tests of memory and related cognitive functions can help distinguish memory disorders from normal, age-related memory loss. And make no mistake age-related memory loss is not a disorder. However, two memory disorders mild cognitive impairment and dementia do become more common with age, leading memory researchers to wonder if there is any relationship between them and age-related memory loss. Experts disagree about the answer. Some say that mild cognitive impairment and dementia are entirely...
The Rashomon Effect
A concern voiced frequently by my patients has to do with their recall of a particular event that diverges widely from the recollection of someone else who was there. For example, a man I'll call Paul recently came to me for a consultation because he was extremely upset that he had been unable to remember an episode that occurred during a family Thanksgiving gathering two years ago. He and his sister were reminiscing and she mentioned the incident, characterizing it as a knock-down, drag-out...