The Oxford Handbook of Memory

Due to the advent of neuropsychology, it has become clear that there is a multiplicity of memory systems or, at the very least, of dissociably different modes of processing memory in the brain. As the Oxford Handbook of Memory demonstrates, the frontier of memory research has been enriched by breakthroughs of the last decades, with lines of continuity and important departures, and it will continue to be enriched by changes in technology that will propel future research. In turn, such changes are beginning to impact the legal and professional therapeutic professions and will have considerable future significance in realms outside of psychology and memory research. Endel Tulving and Fergus Craik, two world-class experts on memory, provide this handbook as a roadmap to the huge and unwieldy field of memory research. By enlisting an eminent group of researchers, they are able to offer insight into breakthroughs for the work that lies ahead. The outline is comprehensive and covers such topics as the development of memory, the contents of memory, memory in the laboratory and in everyday use, memory in decline, the organization of memory, and theories of memory.

"Tulving and Craik's splendid handbook will be the standard source book in the field for years to come. This is for three reasons. The first is the thoroughness of the coverage of memory--experimental, theoretical, developmental, clinical, and brain-based approaches are all well covered. The second is that virtually all the eminent researchers in the field have been persuaded to contribute. The third consists in the thoroughness and depth of their contributions and of the way that they have been edited."--Tim Shallice, University College London

"Everything in life is memory, save for the thin edge of the present. This incredible volume tackles what is both known and unknown about this crucial and sustaining mental function. It is the most important book on the subject ever published."--Michael S. Gazzaniga, Dartmouth University

"A unique resource on human memory providing an exhaustive coverage of the current state of scientific study in this area, this handbook discusses theories and data primarily from experimental, cognitive, neuropsychological, and developmental perspectives. The editors organize the material in four parts: basic presuppositions, concepts, and methods in a historical context; critical discussion of what has been discovered; memory applied in the real world; and the neuroscience of memory, an area of research the editors refer to as holding the most promise for yielding new information through advancing technology. The applied section extends the experimental findings in the laboratory to the role of memory in everyday life and to areas such as the development of memory in children and the decline of memory in aging and pathological conditions. . . . Highly recommended for academic libraries at all levels."--Choice

"Summarizes the research findings over the past decades that comprise the new science of memory, based first on behavioral studies and more recently on brain scanning. Contributors set out the various theories and the evidence they are based on, and explore the consequences for professionals in law, engineering, and clinical medicine. Among the topics are the development of memory, its contents, its use in the laboratory and in daily life, its decline, and its organization. Students and researchers in psychology or the neurosciences would probably find most interest."--SciTech Book News

"This is an epic tome summarizing the general state of knowledge in the science of human memory. Sixty eminent contributors, all of whom have done extensive research in this vast field, contributed a total of 39 chapters which outline experimental results and theory in their areas of expertise. A brief epilogue provides thoughtful commentary on how the field has grown and changed over the past 60 years, form the views of Bartlett and Lashley to current views on neural nets, brain imaging, and the fast pace of current research which provides constant surprises and requires frequent updating. It is safe to say the editors and contributors have succeeded in producing a highly interesting book, remarkable in its breadth and thoroughness. As readers and fellow researchers, we can feel ourselves fortunate that such a diverse and interesting field has been treated so well." -- Psychological Reports, Vol 87, 2000

"The OHM describes the growth of memory research from its nadir in the 1950s to the present and presents summaries of contemporary scientific knowledge about a variety of memory topics. The 60 authors constitute a "Who's Who" in the field of memory, virtually guaranteeing that the reports on memory are state of the art. Even specialists will benefit from the coverage of subjects in which they have expertise. All chapters are informative and of high caliber. There is no comprehensive advanced textbook of memory currently on the market nor has there been one since the middle 1970s. The reason is simple: no one could possibly write one, certainly not one with the scope and level of information present in the OHM. This volume, then fills a gap that has needed filling for years. For now, the OHM is the gold standard and all memory professionals are in debt of the editors and authors for its existence." -- Canadian Psychology, 42:2

"...provides the reader with a sound and thorough grounding in current theoretical memory frameworks and the methodologies and empirical findings on which they are based...useful for advanced undergraduates, beginning graduate students, healthcare professionals such as physicians and other professionals who may have relevant work-related interests, such as lawyers and social workers. Informed laypeople may well also find sections of this text to be quite accessible and-without doubt-informative."--Brain A journal of neurologyFebruary 2002

"This volume is a collection of 40 articles about memory mainly from the perspective of experimental psychology. This set of introductory articles should be quite valuable for beginning graduate students."--Journal of Mathematical Psychology

"This is a monumental, 700-pages handbook on studies of memory, compiled by and directed to psychologists. Each "chapter" is actually an essay written by a luminary of the field. The early chapters introduce the terminology and the issues at stake. Then specialists survey work on short-term memory, memory encoding, learning, metamemory, memory at various life stages, memory disorders, etc. The book is obviously not for the casual reader. On the other hand, it is filled with valuable experimental data and references to technical literature that will help any psychologist and scholar conduct studies on memory." -- Piero Scaruffi, Thymos.com

"...[T]his would appear to be the first dedicated handbook devoted to the cognitive science of memory....Certainly, the coverage in this book is extensive. Everything you wanted to know about the various leading-edge fields of human cognitive memory research is here, and written by eminent researches." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society