Research and references on speed reading, reading, priming and memory

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Research and references on speed reading, reading, priming and memory (a selection)

One study on skimming found that skimming a text before going on to reading it, improved comprehension in the majority of cases.

Word recognition is one of the major slowing aspects for most readers. Research suggests that subvocalisation that nemesis of speed readers is slower on unfamiliar words. If you want to speed up reading, build your vocabulary and learn to recognize words faster and naturally you will improve your reading speed. If English is not your first language or if you want to learn another language or anything else try an intelligent flashcards system called Anki which is useful for learning new words, new terms and anything else.

NASA has built subvocalisation detection systems to pick up subvocalisation (the faint nerve impulses that are sent to the muscles when we read), using them to browse the web or potentially even control a spacecraft.

Research on how speed readers conceptually organize the text and don’t rely on the mechanics of eye movements suggests that the speed readers, in effect, do more top-down processing (using previous knowledge to infer what is in the text) and less bottom-up processing (perceiving words and word sequences) than normal readers.

One study suggests that using the pointer functions as a pacing device, while actual eye fixations are uncorrelated with a pointer or hand movements.

Another research on speed reading suggests that speed reading trainees tended to read faster, with less comprehension, than non-speed readers.

It is suggested that reading is a three-step process: fixate, saccade and process. The processing step will slow down regular reading. Research on the conceptual processing of text during skimming and rapid sequential reading suggests that if there are no pauses in the stream of words, there isn’t enough time to process them and they fall out of working memory before they’re comprehended.

Keith Raynor, an eye-movement expert, suggests that going beyond 500 words per minute is improbable because the mechanical process of moving your eye, fixing it and processing the visual information can’t go much faster than that. With a bit of speed reading practice, you can learn to take more visual information in each saccade, that is instead of processing a couple words in one fixation, you can take in multiple lines at a time.

Audiobooks vs reading
Geipel, J., & Keysar, B. (2023). Listening speaks to our intuition while reading promotes analytic thought. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(4), 1054–1068. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001316
Listening speaks to our intuition while reading promotes analytic thought ie. thinking from spoken information leads to more intuitive performance compared with thinking from written information, hence the difference between listening to audiobooks and reading or speed reading. This study challenges the assumption that thinking is independent of language modality (whether spoken or written). The study demonstrates that thinking based on spoken information tends to be more intuitive, while thinking based on written information is more analytical. The effect was consistent across multiple experiments and tasks, involving both English and Chinese languages. The findings align with neuroscientific evidence and suggest that the modality dependence may stem from how language modalities develop and are used over time. This discovery sheds new light on the influence of language on thought processes and carries implications for research and domains such as law, medicine, and business that rely on language-based thinking and reasoning. This research raises concerns about comprehension when listening to texts. The paper draws from the “dual process model” of mental processing, which suggests that there are two ways of appraising information: an intuitive, instinctual approach (System 1) and an analytical, rational approach (System 2). The study mentioned in the paper indicates that when people listen to information instead of reading it, they are more likely to rely on intuitive thinking (System 1) and make errors in answering questions. The author reflects on the implications of this finding, particularly when it comes to consuming information that requires logical scrutiny. They decide to continue listening to novels for enjoyment but prefer reading non-fiction with their eyes to ensure full engagement and critical thinking. Pdf of this paper: Geipel, J., & Keysar, B. (2023). Listening speaks to our intuition while reading promotes analytic thought
In conclusion, the authors states: “In the history of humanity, written language developed thousands of years after spoken language (Houston, 2004). As recently as 200 years ago, only 12% of the world’s population was able to read and write (Roser & Ortiz-Ospina, 2018). Our studies demonstrate that the choice between the older and the newer language modality is consequential: Modality directly affects thought, making us more intuitive when we hear a problem while more analytic when we read it. This finding should inform not only theories of thinking, but also practices in which the nature of thought is consequential such as policy making, judicial reasoning, and medical decision making.”

Duggan, G B., & Payne, S J. (2009). Text skimming: the process and effectiveness of foraging through text under time pressure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15(3), 228-242.

Macalister, J. (2010). Speed reading courses and their effect on reading authentic texts: a preliminary investigation. Reading in a Foreign Language, 22(1), 104-116.

Nation, P. (2009). Reading faster. International Journal of English Studies, 9(2), 131-144.

Investor’s Daily, “A Typical Executive Spends 38% of the Day Reading,” by The Associated Press. August 16, 1991, Education section.
Perfetti, Charles A. Reading Ability. NY: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Scheele, Paul R. PhotoReading. Minneapolis, MN: Learning Strategies Corporation, 1993.
Scheele, Paul R. PhotoReading personal learning course. Minneapolis, MN: Learning Strategies Corporation, 1995.
Smith, Frank. Reading Without Nonsense. Columbia University, NY: Teachers College Press, 1979.
Stauffer, Russell. Teaching Reading As A Thinking Process. NY: Harper & Row, 1969.
Wenger, Win. A Method for Personal Growth & Development. Gaithersburg, MD: Project Renaissance, 1987.
Wolff, J. Gerard. “Computing, Cognition and Information Compression.” AI Communications 6(2), 107-127, 1993.
Farthing, G.W. The Psychology of Consciousness. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992.
Zink, Nelson. “Nightwalking.” Anchor Point, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 1992.

Students learn more from summaries than entire chapters

“In a series of experiments, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University compared five-thousand-word chapters from college textbooks with one-thousand-word summaries of those chapters. The textbooks varied in a subject: Russian history, African geography, macroeconomics. But the subject made no difference: in all cases, the summaries worked better. When students were given the same amount of the time with each – twenty to thirty minutes – they learned more from the summaries than they did from the chapters. This was true whether the students were tested twenty minutes after they read the material or one year later. In either case, those who read the summaries recalled more than those who read the chapters.” from Errornomics, Why we make mistakes and what we can do to avoid them by Joseph Hallinan

There have been several studies that have examined the effect of reading summaries versus full texts on memory and comprehension. Here are some relevant references:

  1. Bretzing, B. H., & Kulhavy, R. W. (1979). Notetaking and depth of processing. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 4(2), 145-153.
    • This study found that students who read summaries performed better on comprehension tests than those who read the full text.
  2. Reder, L. M., & Anderson, J. R. (1980). A comparison of texts and their summaries: Memorial consequences. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19(2), 121-134.
    • The results showed that participants who read summaries recalled more important information than those who read the full texts after one week.
  3. Sanchez, R. P., Lorch, E. P., & Lorch, R. F. (2001). Effects of headings on text processing strategies. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26(3), 418-428.
    • This study found that participants who read texts with summaries (in the form of headings) performed better on comprehension tests than those who read the full texts without headings.
  4. Hartley, J., & Trueman, M. (1983). The effects of summaries on the recall of information from prose materials. Human Learning, 2(1), 63-82.
    • The results showed that participants who read summaries before and after the full text recalled more information than those who only read the full text.
  5. Bransford, J. D., & Johnson, M. K. (1972). Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11(6), 717-726.
    • This study found that participants who received summaries before reading the full text had better comprehension and recall than those who did not receive summaries.

While these studies vary in their specific methodologies and findings, they generally support the idea that reading summaries can enhance memory and comprehension compared to reading full texts, particularly for retaining the most important information over time.

Anderson, R.C., Wilson, P.T., Fielding, L.G. (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school.Reading Research Quarterly, 23(3) (pp 285-303).

Bell, T (2001).  Extensive Reading: Speed and Comprehension. The Reading Matrix, Vol 1, No 1, April 2001.

Coady, J. (1979).  A psycholinguistic model of the ESL reader.In R Mackay, B Barkman & R.R. Jordon (Eds), Reading in a second language (pp 5-12). Rowleg, MA: Newbury House.

Richard, W (1982).  Improving Reading Speed in Readers of English as a Second Language. JALT Journal, 4, (pp 89-95)

Ronald, S (2005). The Scientific Foundations for RocketReader Whitepaper.

Taylor Associates/Communications Inc. (2004)  Reading Plus. Scientifically Based System of Reading Appraisal/Development. http://www.ta-comm.com/ research/pedagogy/ScientificBased.pdf

Grayum, H.S. (1953) An Analytical Description of Skimming: Its Purposes and Place as an Ability in Reading. Studies in Education, Thesis Abstract Series 44, Bloomington, Indiana School of Education.

Kirsch, I. (2001) The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS): Understanding What Was Measured. Research Publications Office, Princeton, NJ. http://www.ets.org/ all/Prose_and_Doc_framework.pdf

Research on vision span affecting speed reading
Slow Reading in Glaucoma: Is it due to the Shrinking Visual Span in Central Vision? by MiYoung Kwon; Rong Liu; Bhavika N. Patel; Christopher Girkin, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science November 2017, Vol.58, 5810-5818. doi:10.1167/iovs.17-22560 or read the pdf
Primativo S, Spinelli D, Zoccolotti P, De Luca M, Martelli M. Perceptual and cognitive factors imposing “speed limits” on reading rate: a study with the rapid serial visual presentation. PLoS One. 2016; 11: e0153786.

Yu D, Park H, Gerold D, Legge GE. Comparing reading speed for horizontal and vertical English text.J Vis. 2010; 10 (2): 21.
Parkes L, Lund J, Angelucci A, Solomon JA, Morgan M. Compulsory averaging of crowded orientation signals in human vision. Nat Neurosci. 2001; 4: 739–744.
Balas B, Nakano L, Rosenholtz R. A summary-statistic representation in peripheral vision explains visual crowding. J Vis. 2009; 9 (12): 13.
He S, Cavanagh P, Intriligator J. Attentional resolution and the locus of visual awareness. Nature. 1996; 383: 334–337.
Rayner K, Slattery TJ, Bélanger NN. Eye movements, the perceptual span, and reading speed.Psychon Bull Rev. 2010; 17: 834–839.
Wilkinson F, Wilson HR, Ellemberg D. Lateral interactions in peripherally viewed texture arrays. J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 1997; 14: 2057–2068.
Beckmann PJ. Preneural Factors Limiting Letter Identification In Central and Peripheral Vision [doctoral thesis]. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota; 1998.
Brainard DH. The Psychophysics Toolbox. Spat Vis. 1997; 10: 433–436.
Pelli DG. The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies.Spat Vis. 1997; 10: 437–442.
Sheedy JE, Bailey IL, Buri M, Bass E. Binocular vs. monocular task performance. Am J Optom Physiol Opt. 1986; 63: 839–846.
Jones RK, Lee DN. Why two eyes are better than one: the two views of binocular vision. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1981; 7: 30–40.
Tarita-Nistor L, Brent MH, Markowitz SN, Steinbach MJ, González EG. Maximum reading speed and binocular summation in patients with central vision loss. Can J Ophthalmol. 2013; 48,: 443–449.
Cheong AM, Legge GE, Lawrence MG, Cheung SH, Ruff MA. Relationship between visual span and reading performance in age-related macular degeneration. Vision Res. 2008; 48: 577–588.
Lee HW, Kwon M, Legge GE, Gefroh JJ. Training improves reading speed in peripheral vision: is it due to attention? J Vis. 2010; 10 (6): 18.
Liu R, Patel BN, Kwon M. Age-related changes in crowding and reading speed. Sci Rep. 2017; 7: 8271.
Yu D, Legge GE, Wagoner G, Chung ST. Sensory factors limiting horizontal and vertical visual span for letter recognition. J Vis. 2014; 14 (6): 3.
Crossland MD, Rubin GS. Eye movements and reading in macular disease: further support for the shrinking perceptual span hypothesis. Vision Res. 2006; 46: 590–597.
Kwon M, Legge GE, Dubbels BR. Developmental changes in the visual span for reading. Vision Res. 2007; 47: 2889–2900.
Dubois M, Valdois S. Visual span as a sensory bottleneck in learning to read. J Vis. 2010; 10 (7): 952.
Legge GE, Cheung SH, Yu D, Chung ST, Lee HW, Owens DP. The case for the visual span as a sensory bottleneck in reading. J Vis. 2007; 7 (2): 9.
Yu D, Cheung SH, Legge GE, Chung ST. Effect of letter spacing on visual span and reading speed. J Vis. 2007; 7 (2): 2.
Legge GE, Mansfield JS, Chung ST. Psychophysics of reading. XX. Linking letter recognition to reading speed in central and peripheral vision. Vision Res. 2001; 41: 725–743
He Y, Legge GE, Yu DY. Sensory and cognitive influences on the training-related improvement of reading speed in peripheral vision. J Vis. 2013; 13 (7): 14.
Nguyen AM, van Landingham SW, Massof RW, Rubin GS, Ramulu PY. Reading ability and reading engagement in older adults with glaucoma. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2014; 55: 5284–5290.
Legge GE, Ahn SJ, Klitz TS, Luebker A. Psychophysics of reading–XVI. The visual span in normal and low vision. Vision Res. 1997; 37: 1999–2010.
Legge GE, Bigelow CA. Does print size matter for reading? A review of findings from vision science and typography. J Vis. 2011; 11 (5): 8.
Legge GE, Pelli DG, Rubin GS, Schleske MM. Psychophysics of reading–I. Normal vision. Vision Res. 1985; 25: 239–252.
Rubin GS, Legge GE. Psychophysics of reading. VI–the role of contrast in low vision. Vision Res. 1998; 29: 79–91.
Legge GE, Rubin GS, Pelli DG, Schleske MM. Psychophysics of reading–II. Low vision. Vision Res. 1985; 25; 253–265.
Kwon M, Legge GE. Spatial-frequency requirements for reading revisited. Vision Res. 2012; 62: 39–147.
Ramulu PY, West SK, Munoz B, Jampel HD, Friedman DS. Glaucoma and reading speed: the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Project. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009; 127: 82–87.
Burton R, Crabb DP, Smith ND, Glen FC, Garway-Heath DF. Glaucoma and reading: exploring the effects of contrast lowering of text. Optom Vis Sci. 2012; 89: 1282–1287.
Smith ND, Glen FC, Mönter VM, Crabb DP. Using eye tracking to assess reading performance in patients with glaucoma: a within-person study. J Ophthalmol. 2014; 2014: 120528.
Ramulu PY, Swenor BK, Jefferys JL, Friedman DS, Rubin GS. Difficulty with out-loud and silent reading in glaucoma. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2013; 54: 666–672.

Research on eye movement and speed reading

Reading Speed, Comprehension and Eye Movements While Reading Japanese Novels: Evidence from Untrained Readers and Cases of Speed-Reading Trainees by Hiromitsu Miyata, Yasuyo Minagawa-Kawai, Shigeru Watanabe, Toyofumi Sasaki, and Kazuhiro Ueda, Kevin Paterson, Editor
Carver RP. San Diego: Academic Press; 1990. Reading rate: a review of research and theory.
Poulton EC. Time for reading and memory. Br J Psychol. 1958;49:230–245. [PubMed]
Berkoff NA. Reading skills in extended discourse in English as a foreign language. J Res Read. 1979;2:95–107.
Dyson MC, Haselgrove M. The effects of reading speed and reading patterns on our understanding of text read from screen. J Res Read. 2000;23:210–223.
Dyson MC, Haselgrove M. The influence of reading speed and line length on the effectiveness of reading from screen. Int J Hum Comput Stud. 2001;54:585–612.
Lai FK. The effect of a summer reading course on reading and writing skills. System. 1993;21:87–100.
Masson MEJ. Cognitive processes in skimming stories. J Exp Psychol Learn. 1982;8:400–417.
Duggan GB, Payne SJ. Text skimming: The process and effectiveness of foraging through text under time pressure. J Exp Psychol-Appl. 2009;15:228–242. [PubMed]
Bell T. Extensive reading: speed and comprehension. The Reading Matrix 1. The Reading Matrix website. 2001;14 Available: http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/bell/index.html. Accessed 2012 Apr.
Walczyk JJ, Kelly KE, Meche SD, Brand H. Time limitations enhance reading comprehension. Contemp Educ Psychol. 1999;24:156–165. [PubMed]
Tinker MA. Ames: Iowa State University Press; 1963. Legibility of Print.
Sasaki T. Tokyo: Kobunsha; 1995. Sokudoku-no-kagaku (The science of speed reading).
Sasaki T, Park H-Y. Tokyo: NBS Japan Society of Speed Reading Education; 1986. Kagaku-teki sokudoku-ho (A scientific method of speed reading).
Lutz A, Slagter HA, Dunne J, Davidson RJ. Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends Cogn Sci. 2008;12:163–169. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
Lutz A, Slagter H, Rawling N, Francis A, Greischar LL, et al. Mental training enhances attentional stability: Neural and behavioral evidence. J Neurosci. 2009;29:13418–13427. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
MacLean KA, Ferrer E, Aichele SR, Bridwell DA, Zanesco AP, et al. Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention. Psychol Sci. 2010;21:829–839.[PMC free article] [PubMed]
Sahdra BK, MacLean KA, Ferrer E, Shaver PR, Rosenberg EL, et al. Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Emotion. 2011;11:299–312. [PubMed]
Fujimaki N, Hayakawa T, Munetsuna S, Sasaki T. Neural activation dependent on reading speed during covert reading of novels. Neuroreport. 2004;15:239–243. [PubMed]
Fujimaki N, Munetsuna S, Sasaki T, Hayakawa T, Ihara A, et al. Neural activations correlated with reading speed during reading novels. Neurosci Res. 2009;65:335–342. [PubMed]
Yokoyama S. Investigation of “reading” with FFT analysis of the beta waves in EEG during “rapid-reading”. Nichidai Igaku Zasshi. 1992;59:234–236. [PubMed]
Kawano K, Sasaki T. EEGs and other physiological changes with progression of reading speed. J Int Soc Life Inform Sci. 2005;23:174–178.
Cranney AG, Brown BL, Hansen DM, Inouye DK. Rate and Reading Dynamics reconsidered. J Reading. 1982;25:526–533.
Nell V. The psychology of reading for pleasure: Needs and gratifications. Read Res Q. 1988;23:6–50.
McNamara DS. Summary of Research to NASA-ames, NAG-2–1319, ODURF File No; 2000. Preliminary analysis of photoreading: Final Report for the period ending September 30, 1999.193021
Just MA, Carpenter PA. Speed reading. In: Just MA, Carpenter PA (eds) The psychology of reading and language processing. Newton, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1987;425–452
Ferreira P, Rita P, Morais D, Rosa P J, Oliveira J, CET AL. Grabbing attention while reading website pages: the influence of verbal emotional cues in advertising. Journal of Eyetracking, Visual Cognition and Emotion. 2011;1:64–68.
Källmark F. Analysis of reading eye movements with Tobii 1750TM eye tracker in AMD patients pre and post op ranibizumab (LucentisTM) treatment. Acta Ophthalmol. 2010;88 doi: 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2010.289.x.
Baker T, Yu C, Candy R, Smith L, Kim S. Eye, head, and hand coordination in 16-to 36-month-old infants. J Vis. 2009;9:835a.
Martin C, Cegarra J, Averty P. Harris D, ed. Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2011. Analysis of mental workload during en-route air traffic control task execution based on eye-tracking technique. pp. 592–597.
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Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y. Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J R Statist Soc B. 1995;57:289–300.
Perfetti CA, Goldman SR. Discourse memory and reading comprehension skill. J Verb Learn Verb Beh. 1976;15:33–42.
Rayner K. Eye movements and the perceptual span in beginning and skilled readers. J Exp Child Psychol. 1986;41:211–236. [PubMed]
Asano M, Yokosawa K. Rapid extraction of gist from visual text and its influence on word recognition. J Gen Psychol. 2011;138:127–154. [PubMed]
Kato M, Kuriyama M, Ueda K, Sasaki T, Atsumori H, et al. Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society; 2005. The effects of reading speed on visual search task. pp. 1102–1107.
Iwata M. Kanji versus Kana: Neuropsychological correlates of Japanese writing system. Trends Neurosci. 1992;7:290–293.
Usui K, Ikeda A, Takayama M, Matsuhashi M, Sato T, et al. Processing of Japanese morphogram and syllabogram in the left basal temporal area: electrical cortical stimulation studies. Cogn Brain Res. 2005;24:274–283. [PubMed]
Kato N, Ueda K, Fukuda H, Sasaki T, Kato M. -A psychological experiment and NIRS measurements-. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of Cognitive Science; 2008. Can difference in brain activity cause difference in reading speed? pp. 639–642.
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Research and references on memory

The discovery of the hippocampus: Shyamal C. Bir, Sudheer Ambekar, Sunil Kukreja, and Anil Nanda, “Julius Caesar Arantius (Giulio Cesare Aranzi, 1530–1589) and the Hippocampus of the Human Brain: History behind the Discovery,” Journal of Neurosurgery 122, no. 4 (2015): 971–75, doi: 10.3171/2014.11. JNS132402.

Henry Molaison’s surgery: William Beecher Scoville and Brenda Milner, “Loss of Recent Memory after Bilateral Hippocampal Lesions,” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 20, no. 1 (1957): 11–21.

Solomon Shereshevsky: Alexander R. Luria, The Mind of a Mnemonist: A Little Book about a Vast Memory, trans. Lynn Solotaroff (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968).

“We believe that the enormous attention”: Jacobo Annese, “Welcome to Project H.M.,” Brain Observatory, accessed May 20, 2014, http://brainandsociety.org. For further information on Project H.M. and H.M.’s Brain Web Atlas, see https://www.thebrainobservatory.org/project-hm/.

Maguire’s research has allowed her to “see” memories (Maguire is a coauthor): Martin J. Chadwick et al., “Decoding Individual Episodic Memory Traces in the Human Hippocampus,” Current Biology 20, no. 6 (2010): 544–47, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.01.053.

The infamous “memory wars,” review and further research: Lawrence Patihis et al., “Are the ‘Memory Wars’ Over? A Scientist-Practitioner Gap in Beliefs about Repressed Memory,” Psychological Science 25, no. 2 (2014): 519–30. doi: 10.1177/0956797613510718.

Some argue that the hippocampus has only temporary hold of our memories: Larry R. Squire, “Memory Systems of the Brain: A Brief History and Current Perspective,” Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 82, no. 3 (2004): 171–77, doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2004.06.005.

Others believe that the hippocampus is active every time we remember: Morris Moscovitch et al., “Functional Neuroanatomy of Remote Episodic, Semantic and Spatial Memory: A Unified Account Based on Multiple Trace Theory,” Journal of Anatomy 207, no. 1 (2005): 35–66, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00421.x.

“What memory goes with”: William James, The Principles of Psychology (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890), 651, https://archive.org/details/theprinciplesofp01jameuoft.

Discovery of how neurons are connected (quite a while before the polar expeditions): Fridtjof Nansen, The Structure and Combination of the Histological Elements of the Central Nervous System (Bergen: J. Grieg, 1887).

The original diving experiment: Duncan R. Godden and Alan D. Baddeley, “Context-Dependent Memory in Two Natural Environments: On Land and Underwater,” British Journal of Psychology 66, no. 3 (1975): 325–331, doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1975.tb01468.x.

Only thirty-six of one hundred psychology experiments were re-created successfully: Open Science Collaboration, “Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science,” Science 349, no. 6251 (2015): aac4716, doi: 10.1126/science.aac4716.

Memory as magic in the 1500s and 1600s: Frances A. Yates, The Art of Memory (Harmondsworth: Peregrine Books, 1969).

Tim Bliss and Terje Lømo’s first descriptions of memory trace in the brain: T.V.P. Bliss and T. Lømo, “Long-Lasting Potentiation of Synaptic Transmission in the Dentate Area of the Anaesthetized Rabbit following Stimulation of the Perforant Path,” Journal of Physiology 232, no. 2 (1973): 331–56, doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1973.sp010273.

O’Keefe’s discovery of place cells in the hippocampus: J. O’Keefe and J. Dostrovsky, “The Hippocampus as a Spatial Map: Preliminary Evidence from Unit Activity in the Freely-Moving Rat,” Brain Research 34, no. 1 (1971): 171–75, doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(71)90358-1.

The discovery of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex, right outside the hippocampus, is described here, among other places (the Mosers are coauthors): Torkel Hafting et al., “Microstructure of a Spatial Map in the Entorhinal Cortex,” Nature 436, no. 7052 (2005): 801–6, doi: 10.1038/nature03721.

California researchers found memories connected in memory networks in the hippocampi of mice: Denise J. Cai et al., “A Shared Neural Ensemble Links Distinct Contextual Memories Encoded Close in Time,” Nature 534, no. 7605 (2016): 115–18, doi: 10.1038/nature17955.

Eleanor Maguire’s “mind-reading machine”: Chadwick et al., “Decoding Individual Episodic Memory Traces.”

Memories are not static: Heidi M. Bonnici, Martin J. Chadwick, and Eleanor A. Maguire, “Representations of Recent and Remote Autobiographical Memories in Hippocampal Subfields,” Hippocampus 23, no. 10 (2013): 849–54, doi: 10.1002/hipo.22155.

The story about the elephants Shirley and Jenny who found each other after more than twenty years has been widely reported in the media, by, among others, Sophie Jane Evans, “Elephants REALLY Never Forget,” Mail Online, March 12, 2014, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2579045/Elephants-REALLY-never-forget-How-freed-circus-animals-Shirley-Jenny-locked-trunks-hugged-played-met-time-20-years.html.

Slime mold that remembers: Tetsu Saigusa et al., “Amoebae Anticipate Periodic Events,” Physical Review Letters 100, no. 1 (2008): 018101, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.018101.

Slime mold solves U-shaped trap problem: Chris R. Reid et al., “Slime Mold Uses an Externalized Spatial ‘Memory’ to Navigate in Complex Environments,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109, no. 43 (2012): 17490–94, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1215037109.

Henry Molaison had only semantic memories of his own past: Sarah Steinvorth, Brian Levine, and Suzanne Corkin, “Medial Temporal Lobe Structures Are Needed to Re-Experience Remote Autobiographical Memories: Evidence from H.M. and W.R.,” Neuropsychologia 43, no. 4 (2005): 479–96, doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.01.001.

Medical students remember well outside learning environment: Andrew P. Coveney et al., “Context Dependent Memory in Two Learning Environments: The Tutorial Room and the Operating Theatre,” BMC Medical Education, 13 (2013): 118, doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-13-118.

Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past [later translated as In Search of Lost Time] vol. 1, Swann’s Way, trans. C.K. Scott Moncrieff (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1922), epub edition at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7178.

After Life (original title Wandafuru raifu), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan, 1998).

Dorthe Berntsen sums up the research on personal memories in her book Erindring [Recollection] (Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2014). In English, see Dorthe Berntsen and David C. Rubin, eds., Understanding Autobiographical Memory: Theories and Approaches (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Karl Ove Knausgård, My Struggle, 6 vols. (5 vols. published in English to date), trans. Don Bartlett, various publishers. Originally published as Min kamp (Oslo: Forlaget Oktober, 2009–11).

How to capture people’s spontaneous memories in daily life: Anne S. Rasmussen, Kim B. Johannessen, and Dorthe Berntsen, “Ways of Sampling Voluntary and Involuntary Autobiographical Memories in Daily Life,” Consciousness and Cognition 30 (2014): 156–68, doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2014.09.008.

Murakami describes how music awakens memories: Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood, trans. Jay Rubin (New York: Vintage Books, 2000), 3.

“I wanted to see what would happen”: Linn Ullmann, Unquiet (New York: W.W. Norton, forthcoming).

“To remember is to look around”: Ullmann, Unquiet.

Two brothers, each with their perspective of memory: William James, Principles of Psychology. And Henry James, A Small Boy and Others (1913, Project Gutenberg, EBook #26115, 2008), 2, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26115/26115-h/26115-h.htm.

The hippocampus assembles memory elements like a director of a play: Moscovitch et al., “Functional Neuroanatomy.”

An overview of fMRI studies of personal memories in the brain: Philippe Fossati, “Imaging Autobiographical Memory,” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience 15, no. 4 (2013): 487–90.

“Default mode” in the brain: Randy L. Buckner and Daniel C. Carroll, “Self-Projection and the Brain,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11, no. 2 (2007): 49–57, doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.004.

Pitfalls in connection with fMRI studies, elegantly served up with salmon for dinner: Craig M. Bennett et al., “Neural Correlates of Interspecies Perspective Taking in the Post-Mortem Atlantic Salmon: An Argument for Multiple Comparisons Correction” (poster presented at the 15th annual Organization for Human Brain Mapping conference, San Francisco, CA, June 2009), http://prefrontal.org/files/posters/Bennett-Salmon-2009.pdf. The study is summarized in an excellent Scientific American blog post, “Ig Nobel Prize in Neuroscience: The Dead Salmon Study,” September 25, 2012, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/.

Individuals suffering from depression have less distinct personal memories: J. Mark G. Williams et al., “The Specificity of Autobiographical Memory and Imageability of the Future,” Memory and Cognition 24, no. 1 (1996): 116–25, doi: 10.3758/BF03197278.

Turning on positive memories to “treat” depression in mice (Tonegawa is a coauthor): Steve Ramirez et al., “Activating Positive Memory Engrams Suppresses Depression-Like Behaviour,” Nature 522, no. 7556 (2015): 335–39, doi: 10.1038/nature14514.

Emotional images for use in student assignments/experiments about sad (and in other ways emotional) memories: Elise S. Dan-Glauser and Klaus R. Scherer, “The Geneva Effective Picture Database (GAPED): A New 730-Picture Database Focusing on Valence and Normative Significance,” Behavior Research Methods 43, no. 2 (2011): 468–77, doi: 10.3758/s13428-011-0064-1. The (depressing) material can be downloaded from http://www.affective-sciences.org/home/research/materials-and-online-research/research-material/.

Tulving’s explanation of semantic versus episodic memory: Endel Tulving, “Episodic and Semantic Memory,” in Organization of Memory, eds. Endel Tulving and Wayne Donaldson (New York: Academic Press, 1972), 381–402.

Susie McKinnon tells how she discovered that her memory was different: Helen Branswell, “Susie McKinnon Can’t Form Memories about Events in Her Life,” Huffington Post, April 28, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/04/28/living-with-sdam-woman-has-no-episodic-memory-can-t-relive-events-of-past_n_7161776.html.

Susie’s state is described scientifically here (Levine is a coauthor): Daniela J. Palombo et al., “Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM) in Healthy Adults: A New Mnemonic Syndrome,” Neuropsychologia 72 (2015): 105–18, doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.04.012.

Arne Schrøder Kvalvik, Min fetter Ola og meg: Livet og døden og alt det i mellom [Me and my cousin Ola: Life, death and everything in between] (Oslo: Kagge Forlag, 2015).

Extremely good autobiographical memory is described here: Aurora K.R. LePort et al., “Behavioral and Neuroanatomical Investigation of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM),” Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 98, no. 1 (2012): 78–92, doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2012.05.002.

All quotes from Adrian Pracon are from our interview with him. He has also told his story in his book, Hjertet mot steinen: En overlevendes beretning far Utøya [Heart against stone: The story of a survivor from Utøya] (Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 2012).

Flashbulb memories: Roger Brown and James Kulik, “Flashbulb Memories,” Cognition 5, no. 1 (1977): 73–99, doi: 10.1016/0010-0277(77)90018-X. An update on the inconsistency of flashbulb memories in one of the most thorough studies ever conducted on the subject: William Hirst et al., “A Ten-Year Follow-up of a Study of Memory for the Attack of September 11, 2001: Flashbulb Memories and Memories for Flashbulb Events,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 144, no. 3 (2015), 604–23, doi: 10.1037/xge0000055.

Trauma memories are like ordinary memories, just on maximum volume: David C. Rubin, Dorthe Berntsen, and Malene Klindt Bohni, “A Memory-Based Model of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Evaluating Basic Assumptions underlying the PTSD Diagnosis,” Psychological Review 115, no. 4 (2008): 985–1011, doi: 10.1037/a0013397.

Questionnaire given to 207 government employees after the 2011 bombing: Øivind Solberg, Ines Blix, and Trond Heir, “The Aftermath of Terrorism: Posttraumatic Stress and Functional Impairment after the 2011 Oslo Bombing,” Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2015): article 1156, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01156.

Blix calls it centering: Ines Blix et al., “Posttraumatic Growth and Centrality of Event: A Longitudinal Study in the Aftermath of the 2011 Oslo Bombing,” Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy 7, no. 1 (2015): 18–23, doi: 10.1037/tra0000006.

People with PTSD have smaller-than-average hippocampi, and twins have similar-sized hippocampi even when one isn’t exposed to trauma: Mark W. Gilbertson et al., “Smaller Hippocampal Volume Predicts Pathologic Vulnerability to Psychological Trauma,” Nature Neuroscience 5, no. 11 (2002): 1242–47, doi: 10.1038/nn958.

The possibility of worse general memory in the wake of PTSD: Claire L. Isaac, Delia Cushway, and Gregory V. Jones, “Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Associated with Specific Deficits in Episodic Memory?” Clinical Psychology Review 26, no. 8 (2006): 939–55, doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2005.12.004.

Treatment methods for PTSD: Jonathan I. Bisson et al., “Psychological Therapies for Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adults,” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 12 (2013): article CD003388, doi: 10.1002/14651858. CD003388.pub4.

Tetris as a “vaccination” against traumatic memories: Emily A. Holmes et al., “Key Steps in Developing a Cognitive Vaccine against Traumatic Flashbacks: Visuospatial Tetris versus Verbal Pub Quiz,” PLOS ONE 5, no. 11 (2010): article e13706. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013706.

PTSD symptoms in the survivors from the Utøya attack: Petra Filkuková et al., “The Relationship between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Narrative Structure among Adolescent Terrorist-Attack Survivors,” European Journal of Psychotraumatology 7, no. 1 (2016): article 29551, doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v7.29551.

The False Memory Archive: Selected Submissions, A.R. Hopwood’s False Memory Archive Website, https://www.falsememoryarchive.com.

Memory is fallible and (re)constructive: Daniel L. Schacter, “The Seven Sins of Memory: Insights from Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience,” American Psychologist 54, no. 3 (1999): 182–203, doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.182.

The witness who saw two Oklahoma bombers is mentioned in this article, among other places: Daniel L. Schacter and Donna Rose Addis, “Constructive Memory: The Ghosts of Past and Future,” Nature 445, no. 27 (2007), doi: 10.1038/445027a.

People with good autobiographical memories remember more incorrect details (Elizabeth Loftus is a coauthor): Lawrence Patihis et al., “False Memories in Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory Individuals,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of  the USA 110, no. 52 (2013): 20947–52, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1314373110.

Implanted memories in mice: Gaetan de Lavilléon et al., “Explicit Memory Creation during Sleep Demonstrates a Causal Role of Place Cells in Navigation,” Nature Neuroscience 18, no. 4 (2015): 493–95, doi: 10.1038/nn.3970.

The less pleasant experiment, using optogenetics: Steve Ramirez et al., “Creating a False Memory in the Hippocampus,” Science 341, no. 6144 (2013): 387–91, doi: 10.1126/science.1239073.

Staged robbery on TV: Robert Buckhout, “Nearly 2,000 Witnesses Can Be Wrong,” Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 16, no. 4 (1980): 307–10, doi: 10.3758/BF03329551. The TV broadcast itself aired on December 19, 1974.

The famous asparagus and its way into the memory of unsuspecting volunteers (Loftus is a coauthor): Cara Laney et al., “Asparagus, a Love Story: Healthier Eating Could Be Just a False Memory Away,” Experimental Psychology 55, no. 5 (2008): 291–300, doi: 10.1027/1618-3169.55.5.291.

False memories about food poisoning by egg salad led to changes in food habits in connection with eggs (Loftus is a coauthor): Elke Geraerts et al., “Lasting False Beliefs and Their Behavioral Consequences,” Psychological Science 19, no. 8 (2008): 749–53, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02151.x.

Loftus’s classic car crash experiment: Elizabeth F. Loftus and John C. Palmer, “Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An Example of the Interaction between Language and Memory,” Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 13, no. 5 (1974): 585–89, doi: 10.1016/S0022-5371(74)80011-3.

Loftus made people believe they had once been lost at a shopping mall: Elizabeth F. Loftus and Jacqueline E. Pickrell, “The Formation of False Memories,” Psychiatric Annals 25, no. 12 (1995): 720–25, doi: 10.3928/0048-5713-19951201-07.

Edgar Allan Poe’s hot-air balloon hoax was published in the New York Sun April 13, 1844.

Aloft in a photoshopped hot-air balloon (Maryanne Garry is a coauthor): Kimberley A. Wade et al., “A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Lies: Using False Photographs to Create False Childhood Memories,” Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 9, no. 3 (2002): 597–603, doi: /10.3758/BF03196318.

A critical review of the existence of false memories after manipulation: Chris R. Brewin and Bernice Andrews, “Creating Memories for False Autobiographical Events in Childhood: A Systematic Review,” Applied Cognitive Psychology 31, no. 1 (2017): 2–23, doi: 10.1002/acp.3220. See also this blog post for a critical review of the critical review! Henry Otgaar, “Why We Disagree with Brewin and Andrews,” Forensische Psychologie Blog, June 1, 2016, https://fpblog.nl/2016/06/01/why-brewin-and-andrews-are-just-completely-wrong/.

How a careless mistake by the police can create false memories (Loftus is a coauthor): Kevin J. Cochrane et al., “Memory Blindness: Altered Memory Reports Lead to Distortions in Eyewitness Memory,” Memory and Cognition 44, no. 5 (2016): 717–26, doi: 10.3758/s13421-016-0594-y.

The Innocence Project: http://www.innocenceproject.org. Referenced in: Elizabeth F. Loftus, “25 Years of Eyewitness Science … Finally Pays Off,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 8, no. 5 (2013): 556–57, doi: 10.1177/1745691613500995.

Svein Magnussen’s important overview of witness psychology, with examples from Norwegian jurisprudence: Vitnepsykologi: Pålitelighet og troverdighet i dagligliv og rettssal [The psychology of eyewitness testimony: Reliability and credibility in everyday life and the courtroom] (Oslo: Abstrakt Forlag, 2004).

Memories of serious traumas seldom appear out of the blue: Gail S. Goodman et al., “A Prospective Study of Memory for Child Sexual Abuse: New Findings Relevant to the Repressed-Memory Controversy,” Psychological Science 14, no. 2 (2003): 113–18, doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.01428.

Elizabeth Loftus (coauthor) deprives people of sleep and makes them “confess”: Steven J. Frenda et al., “Sleep Deprivation and False Confessions,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 113, no. 8 (2016): 2047–50, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1521518113.

False memories of having committed serious crimes in youth: Julia Shaw and Stephen Porter, “Constructing Rich False Memories of Committing Crime,” Psychological Science 26, no. 3 (2015): 291–301, doi: 10.1177/0956797614562862.

Gisli Gudjonsson discusses false confessions in The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook (West Sussex, UK: Wiley, 2003).

Asbjørn Rachlew’s doctorate: “Justisfeil ved politiets etterforskning: Noen eksempler og forskningsbaserte mottiltak” [Failures of justice within police work: Some examples and research-based interventions] (PhD diss., University of Oslo, 2009), http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-23961.

Jørn Lier Horst, Ordeal, trans. Anne Bruce (Dingwall, UK: Sandstone Press, 2016).

Elizabeth Loftus has delivered a TED talk: “How Reliable Is Your Memory?” TEDGlobal, June 2013, https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_the_fiction_of_memory.

The great taxi experiment (London cab drivers have different hippocampi from the rest of us): Eleanor A. Maguire et al., “Navigation-Related Structural Change in the Hippocampi of Taxi Drivers,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 97, no. 8 (2000): 4398–403, doi: 10.1073/pnas.070039597.

Maguire’s Ig Nobel Prize description: “The 2003 Ig Nobel Prize Winners,” Improbable Research (website), https://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2003.

The great taxi experiment, part 2 (training for the Knowledge changes the brain): Katherine Woollett and Eleanor A. Maguire, “Acquiring ‘The Knowledge’ of London’s Layout Drives Structural Brain Changes,” Current Biology 21, no. 24 (2011): 2109–14, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.11.018.

Neurons are being “born” in parts of the brains of both mice and men: Peter S. Eriksson et al., “Neurogenesis in the Adult Human Hippocampus,” Nature Medicine 4, no. 11 (1998): 1313–17, doi: 10.1038/3305.

Newborn neurons in the hippocampus: Leonardo Restivo et al., “Development of Adult-Generated Cell Connectivity with Excitatory and Inhibitory Cell Populations in the Hippocampus,” Journal of Neuroscience 35, no. 29 (2015): 10600–10612, doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3238-14.2015.

Retired taxi drivers get “normal” brains again: Katherine Woollett, Hugo J. Spiers, and Eleanor A. Maguire, “Talent in the Taxi: A Model System for Exploring Expertise,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364, no. 1522 (2009): 1407–16, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0288.

The chess experiment was conducted for the first time in the 1940s but was not published in English until later: Adriaan D. de Groot, Thought and Choice in Chess (The Hague: Mouton, 1965).

The experiment was then repeated under similar conditions, but with more chess champions: William G. Chase and Herbert A. Simon, “Perception in Chess,” Cognitive Psychology 4, no. 1 (1973): 55–81, doi: 10.1016/0010-0285(73)90004-2.

Oddbjørn By explains how we can learn memory techniques in his book Memo: The Easiest Way to Improve Your Memory, trans. Håkon By (Double Bay, Australia: Lunchroom Publishing, 2007).

The Globe as one big memory machine: Yates, Art of Memory.

Giulio Camillo and the idea of the memory theatre: Yates, Art of Memory.

Robert Fludd considered the theatre to have magical connections with our memories: Yates, Art of Memory.

“Give me my Romeo”: William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, in The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare, ed. Howard Staunton (New York: Gramercy Books, 1998), 188.

Memory training benefits older individuals (Fjell and Walhovd are coauthors): Ann-Marie Glasø de Lange et al., “The Effects of Memory Training on Behavioral and Microstructural Plasticity in Young and Older Adults,” Human Brain Mapping 38, no. 11 (2017): 5666–80, doi: 10.1002/hbm.23756.

Changes in seniors’ memory skills are also visible in their brains (Fjell and Walhovd are coauthors): Andreas Engvig et al., “Effects of Memory Training on Cortical Thickness in the Elderly,” NeuroImage 52, no. 4 (2010): 1667–76, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.05.041.

Ebbinghaus’s travels into the kingdom of forgetfulness: Hermann Ebbinghaus, Über das Gedächtnis (Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker und Humblot, 1885). Translated by Henry A. Ruger and Clara E. Bussenius as Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1913), https://archive.org/details/memorycontributi00ebbiuoft.

“We cannot, of course, directly observe their present existence”: Ebbinghaus, trans. Ruger and Bussenius, Memory, 1.

“If we remembered everything”: James, Principles of Psychology, 680.

Even gorillas can avoid being noticed, and then they are not lasting memories: Daniel J. Simons and Christopher F. Chabris, “Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events,” Perception 28, no. 9 (1999): 1059–74, doi: 10.1068/p281059. The original film clip with the basketball players and the gorilla can be seen here: http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/media/ig.html.

Baddeley and Hitch’s original model for working memory: Alan D. Baddeley and Graham Hitch, “Working Memory,” Psychology of Learning and Motivation 8 (1974): 47–89, doi: 10.1016/S0079-7421(08)60452-1. An update is found here: Alan Baddeley, “Working Memory: Theories, Models, and Controversies,” Annual Review of Psychology 63 (2012): 1–29, doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100422.

ADHD and working memory: Michelle A. Pievsky and Robert E. McGrath, “The Neurocognitive Profile of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Review of Meta-Analyses,” Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, published ahead of print, July 6, 2017, doi: 10.1093/arclin/acx055.

Worrying disrupts working memory performance: Nicholas A. Hubbard et al., “The Enduring Effects of Depressive Thoughts on Working Memory,” Journal of Affective Disorders 190 (2016): 208–13. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.06.056.

An overview of theoretical perspectives of childhood amnesia: Heather B. Madsen and Jee H. Kim, “Ontogeny of Memory: An Update on 40 Years of Work on Infantile Amnesia,” Behavioural Brain Research 298, part A (2016): 4–14, doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2015.07.030.

Bauer’s theory of how early childhood memories gradually disappear: Patricia J. Bauer, “A Complementary Processes Account of the Development of Childhood Amnesia and a Personal Past,” Psychological Review 122, no. 2 (2015): 204–31, doi: 10.1037/a0038939.

An undeveloped grid cell system, before a child begins to move around independently, may explain childhood forgetfulness: Arthur M. Glenberg and Justin Hayes, “Contribution of Embodiment to Solving the Riddle of Infantile Amnesia,” Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016): article 10, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg. 2016.00010.

Perineuronal nets and their role in memory development: Renato Frischknecht and Eckart D. Gundelfinger, “The Brain’s Extracellular Matrix and Its Role in Synaptic Plasticity,” in Synaptic Plasticity, eds. Michael R. Kreutz and Carlo Sala, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 970 (2012): 153–71, doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-0932-8_7. Researcher Sakida Palida explains that the perineuronal net can be part of the explanation for childhood amnesia: Laura Sanders, “Nets Full of Holes Catch Long-Term Memories,” ScienceNews, October 20, 2015, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nets-full-holes-catch-long-term-memories.

Åsa Hammar’s research on depression and memory: Åsa Hammar and Guro Årdal, “Cognitive Functioning in Major Depression—A Summary,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 3 (2009): article 26, doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.026.2009. Åsa Hammar and Guro Årdal, “Verbal Memory Functioning in Recurrent Depression during Partial Remission and Remission—Brief Report,” Frontiers Changes in seniors’ memory skills are also visible in their brains (Fjell and Walhovd are coauthors): Andreas Engvig et al., “Effects of Memory Training on Cortical Thickness in the Elderly,” NeuroImage 52, no. 4 (2010): 1667–76, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.05.041.

Ebbinghaus’s travels into the kingdom of forgetfulness: Hermann Ebbinghaus, Über das Gedächtnis (Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker und Humblot, 1885). Translated by Henry A. Ruger and Clara E. Bussenius as Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1913), https://archive.org/details/memorycontributi00ebbiuoft.

“We cannot, of course, directly observe their present existence”: Ebbinghaus, trans. Ruger and Bussenius, Memory, 1.

Even gorillas can avoid being noticed, and then they are not lasting memories: Daniel J. Simons and Christopher F. Chabris, “Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events,” Perception 28, no. 9 (1999): 1059–74, doi: 10.1068/p281059. The original film clip with the basketball players and the gorilla can be seen here: http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/media/ig.html.

Baddeley and Hitch’s original model for working memory: Alan D. Baddeley and Graham Hitch, “Working Memory,” Psychology of Learning and Motivation 8 (1974): 47–89, doi: 10.1016/S0079-7421(08)60452-1. An update is found here: Alan Baddeley, “Working Memory: Theories, Models, and Controversies,” Annual Review of Psychology 63 (2012): 1–29, doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100422.

ADHD and working memory: Michelle A. Pievsky and Robert E. McGrath, “The Neurocognitive Profile of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Review of Meta-Analyses,” Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, published ahead of print, July 6, 2017, doi: 10.1093/arclin/acx055.

Worrying disrupts working memory performance: Nicholas A. Hubbard et al., “The Enduring Effects of Depressive Thoughts on Working Memory,” Journal of Affective Disorders 190 (2016): 208–13. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.06.056.

An overview of theoretical perspectives of childhood amnesia: Heather B. Madsen and Jee H. Kim, “Ontogeny of Memory: An Update on 40 Years of Work on Infantile Amnesia,” Behavioural Brain Research 298, part A (2016): 4–14, doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2015.07.030.

Bauer’s theory of how early childhood memories gradually disappear: Patricia J. Bauer, “A Complementary Processes Account of the Development of Childhood Amnesia and a Personal Past,” Psychological Review 122, no. 2 (2015): 204–31, doi: 10.1037/a0038939.

An undeveloped grid cell system, before a child begins to move around independently, may explain childhood forgetfulness: Arthur M. Glenberg and Justin Hayes, “Contribution of Embodiment to Solving the Riddle of Infantile Amnesia,” Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016): article 10, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg. 2016.00010.

Perineuronal nets and their role in memory development: Renato Frischknecht and Eckart D. Gundelfinger, “The Brain’s Extracellular Matrix and Its Role in Synaptic Plasticity,” in Synaptic Plasticity, eds. Michael R. Kreutz and Carlo Sala, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 970 (2012): 153–71, doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-0932-8_7. Researcher Sakida Palida explains that the perineuronal net can be part of the explanation for childhood amnesia: Laura Sanders, “Nets Full of Holes Catch Long-Term Memories,” ScienceNews, October 20, 2015, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nets-full-holes-catch-long-term-memories.

Åsa Hammar’s research on depression and memory: Åsa Hammar and Guro Årdal, “Cognitive Functioning in Major Depression—A Summary,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 3 (2009): article 26, doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.026.2009. Åsa Hammar and Guro Årdal, “Verbal Memory Functioning in Recurrent Depression during Partial Remission and Remission—Brief Report,” Frontiers Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science 330, no. 6006 (2010): 932, doi: 10.1126/science.1192439.

Children develop episodic memory and future thinking parallel to each other: Thomas Suddendorf and Jonathan Redshaw, “The Development of Mental Scenario Building and Episodic Foresight,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1296 (2013): 135–53, doi: 10.1111/nyas.12189.

Tulving’s amnesia patient who couldn’t see the future: Endel Tulving, “Memory and Consciousness,” Canadian Psychology 26, no. 1 (1985): 1–12, doi: 10.1037/h0080017. The quotes are from p. 4.

How people with developmental amnesia can still picture the future: Niamh C. Hurley, Eleanor A. Maguire, and Faraneh Vargha-Khadem, “Patient HC with Developmental Amnesia Can Construct Future Scenarios,” Neuropsychologia 49, no. 13 (2011): 3620–28, doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.09.015.

People with depression have difficulties envisioning the future: Williams et al., “The Specificity of Autobiographical Memory.”

Suicide thoughts as future thoughts (Williams is a coauthor): Emily A. Holmes et al., “Imagery about Suicide in Depression—‘Flash-forwards,’” Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 38, no. 4 (2007): 423–34, doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.10.004.

Influence of episodic thinking on creativity: Kevin P. Madore, Donna Rose Addis, and Daniel L. Schacter, “Creativity and Memory: Effects of an Episodic-Specificity Induction on Divergent Thinking,” Psychological Science 26, no. 9 (2015): 1461–68, doi: 10.1177/0956797615591863.

Thinking about the future in detail makes it easier to choose delayed rewards: Jan Peters and Christian Büchel, “Episodic Future Thinking Reduces Reward Delay Discounting through an Enhancement of Prefrontal-Mediotemporal Interactions,” Neuron 66, no. 1 (2010): 138–48, doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.026.

The UN climate panel’s fifth report: Chris Field et al., eds., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014).

“In My Life,” performed by the Beatles, songwriters Lennon–McCartney, track 11 on Rubber Soul, LP, Parlophone, 1965.

Evrekli, E., Balım, A. G. ve İnel, D. (2009). Mind Mapping Applications in Special Teaching Methods Courses for Science Teacher Candidates and Teacher Candidates’ Opinions Concerning the Applications. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Nicosia: World Conference on Educational Sciences (4-7 Şubat). Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 2222-2226.s

“Conscious attention is not necessary for word recognition.”
Norman F. Dixon

Research on priming and subliminal perception

‘Priming’ refers to the passive, subtle, and unobtrusive activation of relevant mental representations by external, environmental stimuli. Priming research has shown that the mere, passive perception of environmental events directly triggers higher mental processes in the absence of any involvement by conscious, intentional processes. In speed reading, downloading (or photoreading) technique as well as direct/implicit utilise priming as the underlying psychological tool.

Dixon, N.F. Preconscious Processing. NY: Wiley, 1981. This book is a classic and the first comprehensive in-depth overview of priming and how it works where he states on p.243:  “Conscious attention is not necessary for word recognition.” 

Reading is a skill. Speed reading is a meta-skill that allows you to go beyond traditional reading. Shortcuts to speed reading are strategies to go from reading to speed reading and beyond.

Winnick, W. A., & Daniel, S. A. (1970). Two kinds of response priming in tachistoscopic recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 84(1), 74–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0028937

Tulving, E. and D.L. Schacter. “Priming and Human Memory System.” Quoted by G.W. Farthing in The Psychology of Consciousness. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992.

Barbur, J.L., et al. “Conscious Visual Perception Without V1.” Brain, 1993, Vol. 116; 1293-1302.
Lewicki, P., et al. “Nonconscious Acquisition of Information.” American Psychologist, June 1992, Vol. 47, No. 6; 796-801.

“Over 200+ studies have shown such priming effects on impression formation as well as on social behaviour. An extraordinarily wide range of behaviours can be affected by subtle environmental stimuli, such as walking  speed, speech volume, academic performance, economic decisions.”  John Bargh, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Yale University

Watch John Bargh, who is the world leading expert on priming (or get his book Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do)

Books and resources on accelerated learning 

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