What people believe about memory

Abstract

Two representative samples of adult Norwegians (n=2000) were asked a set of general and specific questions regarding their beliefs and opinions about human memory. The results indicate that on many questions, such as time of the earliest memories, inhibiting effects of collaboration, and memory for dramatic versus ordinary events, the views of the general public concurred with current research findings, and people in general had realistic views about their own memory performance. On other questions, such as the reliability of olfactory as compared with visual and auditory memory, the memory of small children in comparison with that of adults, the likelihood of repression of adult traumatic memories, and on more general questions such as the possibility of training memory and the capacity limitations of long-term memory, a large proportion of the participants expressed views that are less supported by scientific evidence. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Acknowledgments

This research is part of a project on everyday memory organised at the Centre of Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters during the academic year 2003–2004. We thank the Centre for its generous hospitality and support.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Svein Magnussen

Svein Magnussen, University of Oslo, Norway

Jan Andersson

Jan Andersson, University of Linköping, Sweden

Cesare Cornoldi

Cesare Cornoldi, University of Padua, Italy

Rossana De Beni

Rossana De Beni, University of Padua, Italy

Tor Endestad

Tor Endestad, University of Oslo, Norway

Gail S. Goodman

Gail S. Goodman, University of Oslo, Norway, and University of California, Davis, USA

Tore Helstrup

Tore Helstrup, University of Oslo, Norway

Asher Koriat

Asher Koriat, University of Haifa, Israel

Maria Larsson

Maria Larsson, Stockholm University, Sweden

Annika Melinder

Annika Melinder, University of Oslo, Norway

Lars-Göran Nilsson

Lars-Göran Nilsson, Stockholm University, Sweden

Jerker Rönnberg

Jerker Rönnberg, University of Linköping, Sweden

Hubert Zimmer

Hubert Zimmer, University of Saarland, Germany