Memory and nostalgia
Mind and brain
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What is it like to remember all the faces you’ve ever seen?
They’ve been studied by researchers and recruited by police forces, but what’s it actually like to be a super-recogniser?
by Shayla Love
The self
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What my mother’s sticky notes show about the nature of the self
Dementia accelerates a process we all experience, as our memories become increasingly externalised into the world around us
by Crispin Sartwell
Forgiveness
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Must you forget to forgive? A scientist tests the relationship
Forgiveness is colloquially linked with fading memory – but research is probing what it really means to let go of wrongdoing
by Shayla Love
Communication and language
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Will studying a new language interfere with any others you speak?
Multilinguals say it feels as though learning another language interferes with old ones. New research put this to the test
by Shayla Love
Memory and nostalgia
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You can feel nostalgia for things that you haven’t yet lost
Nostalgia is a longing for the past, but psychologists are coming to realise it can focus on the future too
by Shayla Love
Death and dying
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Why ancient Mesopotamians buried their dead beneath the floor
In an age before photos or audio recordings, people found other ways to stay sensorially connected to their deceased
by Nicola Laneri
Music
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What is it about musical hooks that makes them so catchy?
From hummable riffs to striking lyrics, the catchiest hooks tell us something about the limits of human attention and memory
by Tim Byron & Jadey O’Regan
Brain injury and dementia
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Earlier memories are relatively spared in dementia. Why?
People with Alzheimer’s have richer memories of late childhood and early adulthood and this could help therapeutic care
by Dorthe Berntsen
Imagination
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Aphantasia can be a gift to philosophers and critics like me
Aphantasia veils the past and the future from the mind’s eye. That can be a gift to philosophers like Derek Parfit and me
by Mette Leonard Høeg
Altered states
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Déjà vu is just one of many uncanny kinds of déjà experiences
What can the many types of déjà experiences that most people have tell us about reality, memory and the gaps in between?
by Art Funkhouser
Community
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The collective memory bias that flatters our homelands
A community’s vision of the past is often selective and biased, exaggerating its own contributions relative to others
by Jeremy K Yamashiro & Henry L Roediger, III
Memory and nostalgia
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It’s possible to help more positive images pop into your mind
Images that pop into our minds spontaneously are like a background track – and we can make it more positive and uplifting
by Simon Blackwell