Memory serves critical functions in everyday life, but it is also vulnerable to error and illusion. More than two decades ago, Dr. Schacter proposed that memory errors could be classified into seven basic categories or “sins”: transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. He argued that each of the seven sins provides important insights concerning the fundamentally constructive nature of human memory, while at the same time reflecting its adaptive features. In his talk, he will briefly summarize some key developments during the past two-plus decades that have increased our understanding of the nature, consequences, and adaptive functions of the memory sins.
