Origins and Development of Recollection Perspectives from Psychology and Neuroscience

The ability to remember unique, personal events is at the core of what we consider to be "memory." How does the vivid experience of reinstatement of our past emerge? What is the contribution of this experience to our life histories? These questions have intrigued psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers for decades, and are the subject of this volume. In recent years, the science of memory has made extraordinary progress in the conceptualization and assessment of different forms of memory. Instead of thinking of memory as a monolithic construct, memory is now thought of in terms of dissociable classes of constructs. Within declarative memory, the type of memory that one can consciously access, we make distinctions between the constructs of recollection and episodic memory and the constructs of familiarity and semantic memory (respectively). Contributors to this volume discuss new methods to assess these types of memory in studies that refine our understanding of the functions necessary for conscious and vivid recollection. The work has led to substantial increases in our understanding of the building blocks of recollection and its developmental course. The volume also addresses the exciting new research on the neural basis of recollection. Never before has the connection between brain and function been so close. Contributors review neuroimaging studies of the healthy brain and neuropsychological investigations of patients with brain damage that reveal the specific brain structures involved in the ability to recollect. These brain structures undergo important developmental change during childhood and adolescence, leading to questions--and answers--of how the relationship between brain and function unfolds during the course of infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

Chapter 1: Remembering: Thoughts on its Definition, Measurement and Functional Nature
Andrew P. Yonelinas

Chapter 2: Development of Meaning-Conserving Memory
Katherine Nelson

Chapter 3: Building Blocks of Recollection
Tracy Riggins

Chapter 4: Contextualizing the development of recollection: Episodic memory and binding in young children
Nora S. Newcombe, Marianne E. Lloyd, and Frances Balcomb

Chapter 5: Development of Recollection: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory Perspective
Charles J. Brainerd, Valerie F. Reyna, and Robyn E. Holliday

Chapter 6: The Development of Episodic Memory: Binding Processes, Controlled Processes, and Introspection on Memory States
Simona Ghetti, Kristen E. Lyons, Dana DeMaster

Chapter 7: Neural basis of recollection: Evidence from neuroimaging and electrophysiological research
Rachel A. Diana and Charan Ranganath

Chapter 8: Neural Basis of Autobiographical Memory
Peggy L. St. Jacques and Roberto Cabeza

Chapter 9: Development of Remembering: Brain Development and Neuroimaging Evidence
Kathleen M. Thomas and Lyric A. Jorgenson

Chapter 10: The Development of Episodic Memory: An Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP) Vantage Point
David Friedman

Chapter 11: Memory Development Following Early Medial Temporal Lobe Injury
Michelle de Haan

Chapter 12: Memory Development and Frontal Lobe Insult
Gerri Hanten and Harvey S. Levin