I leaned heavily on family and friends every step of the way: My parents, James and Catherine, and my sister, Rachel, who all provided big love and a place for me to hole up, pace, talk to myself, and write; my brothers, Simon and Noah; my daughters, Isabel and Flora, who helped me through tough spots; and my wife, Victoria, who provided editing and advice virtually every day. Special mention goes to my friends Mark Zaremba, who delivered the graphics, and to Tom Hicks and John Hastings, for listening to hours of arcane complaints about this project, even while splitting the bar tab.
Notes
Chapter One: The Story Maker
1 scents of daily life For the general discussion of brain biology, I relied on two books: Eric R. Kandel, M.D., In Search of Memory (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006); and Larry R. Squire and Eric R. Kandel, Memory from Mind to Molecules, second edition (Greenwood Village, CO: Roberts & Company, 2009).
2 up its gray matter Paul Reber, “What Is the Memory Capacity of the Human Brain?” Scientific American, May/June 2010.
3 awaiting surgery Gelbard-Sagiv, Roy Mukamel, Michal Harel, Rafael Malach, and Itzhak Fried, “Internally Generated Reactivation of Single Neurons in Human Hippocampus During Free Recall,” Science 322, 2008, 96–100.
4 named Henry Molaison For my discussion of H.M., I relied on interviews with Brenda Milner and Suzanne Corkin as well as Corkin’s book Permanent Present Tense (New York: Basic Books, 2013).
5 drawing hand in a mirror Squire and Kandel, Memory from Mind to Molecules, second edition.
6 one hemisphere at a time For my discussion of split-brain work, I relied on interviews with Michael Gazzaniga and the following studies: M. S. Gazzaniga, “Forty-five years of split-brain research and still going strong,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6, August 2005, 653–59; M. S. Gazzaniga, J. E. Bogen, and R. W. Sperry, “Dyspraxia following division of the cerebral commissures,” Archives of Neurology, Vol. 16, No. 6, June 1967, 606–612; M. S. Gazzaniga, J. E. Bogen, and R. W. Sperry, “Observations on visual perception after disconnexion of the cerebral hemispheres in man,” Brain, Vol. 88, Part 2, June 1965, 221–36; M. S. Gazzaniga, J. E. Bogen, and R. W. Sperry, “Some functional effects of sectioning the cerebral commissures in man,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 48, No. 10, Oct. 1962, 1765–69.
7 only the shovel For this I relied on an interview with Michael Gazzaniga, for his recollection of the experiment that triggered his conclusion.
Chapter Two: The Power of Forgetting
1 we remembered nothing William James, The Principles of Psychology, Volume I (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1890), 680.
2 and related ideas Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth Ligon Bjork, “A New Theory of Disuse and an Old Theory of Stimulus Fluctuation.” In A. Healy, S. Kossly, and R. Shiffrin, eds., From Learning Processes to Cognitive Processes: Essays in Honor of William K. Estes, Volume 2 (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992), 35–67.
3 remains a mystery David Shakow, “Hermann Ebbinghaus,” The American Journal of Psychology 42, No. 4, Oct. 1930, 511.
4 working-class East End Matthew Hugh Erdelyi, The Recovery of Unconscious Memories: Hypermnesia and Reminiscence (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998), 11.
5 caused mostly confusion Philip Boswood Ballard, Obliviscence and Reminiscence (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1913).
6 They did worse over time, on average, not better For more on spontaneous improvements, see Erdelyi, The Recovery of Unconscious Memories, 44–71, and W. Brown, “To What Extent Is Memory Measured By a Single Recall?,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 54, 1924, 345–52.
7 their scores plunged J. A. McGeoch, F. McKinney, and H. N. Peters, “Studies in retroactive inhibition IX: Retroactive inhibition, reproductive inhibition and reminiscence,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 20, 1937, 131–43.
8 twenty-four-hour period S. Gray, “The Influence of Methodology Upon the Measurement of Reminiscence,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 27, 1940, 37–44.
9 in his history of the era Erdelyi, The Recovery of Unconscious Memories, 44.
10 in other words, a phantom C. E. Buxton, “The Status of Research in Reminiscence,” Psychological Bulletin 40, 1943, 313–40.
11 then at Stanford University Matthew Hugh Erdelyi and Jeff Kleinbard, “Has Ebbinghaus Decayed with Time?: The Growth of Recall (Hypermnesia) over Days,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, Vol. 4, No. 4, July 1978, 275–89.
12 is largely their baby Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth Ligon Bjork, “A New Theory of Disuse and an Old Theory of Stimulus Fluctuation.” In A. Healy, S. Kossly, and R. Shiffrin, eds., From Learning Processes to Cognitive Processes: Essays in Honor of William K. Estes, Vol. 2 (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992), 35–67.
Chapter Three: Breaking Good Habits
1 guide from Baylor University Baylor University Academic Support Programs: Keeping Focused, www.baylor.edu/support_programs.
2 premier diving destination For more on shipwrecks in the area, see www.divesitedirectory.co.uk/uk_scotland_oban.html.
3 an unusual learning experiment D. R. Godden and A. D. Baddeley, “Context-Dependent Memory in Two Natural Environments: On Land and Underwater,” British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 66, No. 3, 1975, 325–31.
4 two dropped out due to nausea K. Dallett and S. G. Wilcox, “Contextual Stimuli and Proactive Inhibition,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 78, 1968, 475–80.
5 like some cruel school yard prank G. Rand and S. Wapner, “Postural Status as a Factor in Memory,” Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 6, 1967, 268–71.
6 twenty feet underwater K. Dallett and S. G. Wilcox, “Contextual Stimuli and Proactive Inhibition,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 78, 1968, 475–80.
7 original learning is reinstated Ibid., 330.
8 as opposed to, say, red S. G. Dulsky, “The Effect of a Change of Background on Recall and Relearning,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 18, 1935, 725–40.
9 from a neutral test proctor E. G. Geiselman and R. A. Bjork, “Primary versus Secondary Rehearsal in Imagined Voices: Differential Effects on Recognition,” Cognitive Psychology 12, 1980, 188–205.
10 so-called contextual cues Steven M. Smith, “Background Music and Context-Dependent Memory,” American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 98, No. 4, Winter 1985, 591–603.
11 group did the worst Ibid., 596.
12 Memory goes Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness (New York: Random House, 2009), 67.
13 they’re again manic Herbert Weingartner, Halbert Miller, and Dennis L. Murphy, “Mood-State-Dependent Retrieval of Verbal Associations,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1977, Vol. 86, No. 3, 276–84. This research was originally presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, September 1974, as “State Dependent Recall in Manic Depressive Disorders.”
14 with newly studied information James Eric Eich, et al, “State-Dependent Accessibility of Retrieval Cues in the Retention of a Categorized List,” Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 14, 1975, 408–17.
15 the time of desired recall Ibid., 415.
16 recommended that he go see Luria For the discussion of Shereshevsky’s memory, I relied on Alexander Luria’s book on the subject, The Mind of a Mnemonist (New York: Basic Books, 1968).
17 man twirling his mustache Ibid., 31.
18 see what I’ve written Ibid., 70.
19 an image of himself looking at the board Ibid., 18–19.
20 to answer that question Steven M. Smith, Arthur Glenberg, and Robert A. Bjork, “Environmental Context and Human Memory,” Memory & Cognition, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1978, 342–53.
21 has since gone digital My discussion of Smith’s recent work comes from unpublished research by Steven M. Smith that he has presented at conferences and shared with me.
22 due position in the room John Locke, An Essay o
n Human Understanding and a Treatise on the Conduct of Understanding (Philadelphia: Hayes & Zell Publishers, 1854), 263.
Chapter Four: Spacing Out
1 them at a single time Frank N. Dempster, “The Spacing Effect: A Case Study in the Failure to Apply the Results of Psychological Research,” American Psychologist, Vol. 43, No. 8, Aug. 1988, 627–34.
2 became known as Jost’s Law For more on Jost’s Law, see Dempster, 627–28. A discussion of Jost’s attitude toward eugenics is included in The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide by Robert Jay Lifton (New York: Basic Books, 1986).
3 the “Four Bahrick Study,” as they called it—was under way Harry P. Bahrick, Lorraine E. Bahrick, Audrey S. Bahrick, and Phyllis E. Bahrick, “Maintenance of Foreign Language Vocabulary and the Spacing Effect,” Psychological Science, Vol. 4, No. 5, Sept. 1993, 316–21.
4 the James Method For my understanding of Henry James’s early education, I am grateful for assistance from Greg W. Zacharias, professor of English, and director, Center for Henry James Studies, Creighton University.
5 experience: too much Gary Wolf, “Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm,” Wired, 16.05, http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak.
6 knowledge is still remembered From the SuperMemo website: http://www.supermemo.net/how_supermemo_aids_learning.
7 University of Nevada, Las Vegas, wrote Dempster, 627.
8 first good answer to those questions N. J. Cepeda, E. Vul, D. Rohrer, J. T. Wixted, and H. Pashler, “Spacing effects in learning: A temporal ridgeline of optimal retention,” Psychological Science, 19, 2008, 1095–1102. Melody Wiseheart was formerly known as Nicholas Cepeda.
9 Pashler’s group wrote Ibid., 1101.
10 wrought into mental structure William James, Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1899), 129.
Chapter Five: The Hidden Value of Ignorance
1 Headmaster’s table William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory 1874–1932 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983), 150–51.
2 when your memory fails Francis Bacon (L. Jardine & M. Silverthorne, translators), Novum Organum (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2000; original work published 1620).
3 need the book once more William James, The Principles of Psychology (New York: Holt, 1890).
4 distinguished Americans John W. Leonard, ed., Who’s Who in America, Vol. 2 (Chicago: A.N. Marquis and Company, 1901).
5 for an experiment Arthur I. Gates, Recitation as a Factor in Memorizing (New York: The Science Press, 1917).
6 about 30 percent Gates wrote Ibid., 45.
7 he cites it in his own Herbert F. Spitzer, “Studies in Retention,” The Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 9, Dec. 1939, 641–56.
8 measuring achievement of pupils Ibid., 655.
9 testing effect, as they called it Henry Roediger III, and Jeffrey D. Karpicke, “The Power of Testing Memory: Basic Research and Implications for Educational Practice,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2006, 181–210.
10 The Best of Myles Myles na Gopaleen (Flann O’Brien), The Best of Myles (New York: Penguin, 1983), 298–99.
11 other on sea otters Henry Roediger III, and Jeffrey D. Karpicke, “Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention,” Psychological Science, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2006, 249–55.
12 slowing down forgetting Roediger III and Karpicke, “The Power of Testing Memory.” 181–210.
13 remembered the material better later Elizabeth Ligon Bjork and Nicholas C. Soderstrom, unpublished continuing research.
14 offer a summary, a commentary Jose Luis Borges, from the preface to The Garden of Forking Paths (1942), included in Collected Fictions (New York: Penguin, 1998).
Chapter Six: The Upside of Distraction
1 part manifesto Graham Wallas, The Art of Thought (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926).
2 presents itself to the mind Henri Poincaré, Science and Method (London: T. Nelson, 1914), 55.
3 hills on a sunny day Wallas, 80.
4 reached no result Poincaré, 52.
5 directly aware of it Wallas, 137.
6 I had only to write out the results Poincaré, 52.
7 than my own Wallas, Preface.
8 large room one at a time Norman R. F. Maier, “Reasoning in Humans. II. The Solution of a Problem and its Appearance in Consciousness,” Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 2, Aug. 1931, 181–94.
9 “weight to it,” one said Ibid., 188.
10 “puzzle-picture,” he wrote Ibid., 193.
11 dominated consciousness Ibid., 187.
12 In a series of experiments Karl Duncker, “On Problem-Solving,” Psychological Monographs, Vol. 58, No. 5, 1945, 1–17.
13 Remote Associates Test, or RAT Steven M. Smith and Steven E. Blankenship, “Incubation and the Persistence of Fixation in Problem Solving,” American Journal of Psychology, Spring 1991, Vol. 104, No. 1, 61–87.
14 block may wear off Ibid., 82.
15 conservative meta-analysis Ut Na Sio and Thomas C. Ormerod, “Does Incubation Enhance Problem Solving? A Meta-Analytic Review,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 135, No. 1, 94–120.
Chapter Seven: Quitting Before You’re Ahead
1 reads a letter attributed to Mozart Brewster Ghiselin, ed., The Creative Process: Reflections of Invention in the Arts and Sciences (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
2 while actually writing Joseph Heller’s description of his writing process is taken from an interview he did with George Plimpton, “The Art of Fiction No. 51,” The Paris Review, No. 60, Winter 1974.
3 and sometimes ending in failure Ghiselin, The Creative Process, 85–91.
4 until the bill was paid Bluma Zeigarnik, “On Finished and Unfinished Tasks,” from A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Company, 1938), 300–14.
5 as rapidly and correctly as possible Ibid., 307.
6 a genuine need arises Ibid., 307.
7 destroyed her papers A. V. Zeigarnik, “Bluma Zeigarnik: A Memoir,” Gestalt Theory 2007, Vol. 29, No. 3, 256–68.
8 the effect of goals on perception Henk Aarts, Ap Dijksterhuis, and Peter Vries, “On the Psychology of Drinking: Being Thirsty and Perceptually Ready,” British Journal of Psychology 92, 2001, 631–42.
9 under other circumstances Ibid., 188.
10 ears as magnets Eudora Welty’s interview with Linda Kuehl appears in “The Art of Fiction No. 47,” The Paris Review, No. 55, Fall 1972.
11 She was failing them Ronda Leathers Dively, Preludes to Insight: Creativity, Incubation, and Expository Writing (New York: Hampton Press, 2006).
12 in a professional journal Ibid., 98.
13 knowledge of the subject Ibid., 101.
Chapter Eight: Being Mixed Up
1 University of Ottawa R. Kerr and B. Booth, “Specific and Varied Practice of Motor Skill,” Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol. 46, No. 2, April 1978, 395–401.
2 enhance movement awareness Ibid., 401.
3 common badminton serves Sinah Goode and Richard A. Magill, “Contextual Interference Effects in Learning Three Badminton Serves,” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 1986, Vol. 57, No. 4, 308–14.
4 appraise the effectiveness of practice Ibid., 312.
5 a list of fifty names T. K. Landauer and R. A. Bjork, “Optimum Rehearsal Patterns and Name Learning,” In M. M. Gruneberg, P. E. Morris, and R. N. Sykes, eds., Practical Aspects of Memory (London: Academic Press, 1978), 625–32.
6 published in 1992 Richard A. Schmidt and Robert A. Bjork, “New Conceptualizations of Practice: Common Principles in Three Paradigms Suggest New Concepts for Training,” Psychological Science, Vol. 3, No. 4, July 1992, 207–17.
7 performance capabilities Ibid., 2
15.
8 such as spatial patterns Nelson Goodman, “The Status of Style Author,” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 1, No. 4, June 1975, 799–811.
9 the same thing in their experiment Nate Kornell and Robert A. Bjork, “Learning Concepts and Categories: Is Spacing the ‘Enemy of Induction’?” Psychological Science, Vol. 19, No. 6, 2008, 585–92.
10 all of an artist’s paintings together Ibid., 590.
11 became bitterly contentious For more on the Math wars, see Alice Crary and Stephen Wilson, “The Faulty Logic of the ‘Math Wars,’ ” New York Times, June 16, 2013; John A. Van de Walle, “Reform Mathematics vs. The Basics: Understanding the Conflict and Dealing with It,” presented at the 77th Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, April 23, 1999, and reprinted on mathematicallysane.com on April 1, 2003, at www.mathematicallysane.com/reform-mathematics-vs-the-basics/.
12 Oklahoma City Not much has been written about Saxon. I relied on conversations with Doug Rohrer, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, as well as information from an obituary written by a classmate at West Point (class of 1949), published on www.west-point.org, and biographical information provided by his publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
13 base sides Kelli Taylor and Doug Rohrer, “The Effects of Interleaved Practice,” Applied Cognitive Psychology 24, 2010, 837–48.
14 value of the word problem Ibid., 846.
Chapter Nine: Learning Without Thinking
1 almost always accurate—read Dave Baldwin, “Unraveling the Batter’s Brain,” baseballanalysts.com, September 17, 2009; Terry Bahill and David G. Baldwin, “The Rising Fastball and Other Perceptual Illusions of Batters,” Biomedical Engineering Principles in Sports. G. K. Hung and J.M. Pallis, eds. (New York: Kluwer Academic, 2004), 257–87; A. Terry Bahill, David Baldwin, and Jayendran Venkateswaran, “Predicting a Baseball’s Path,” Scientific American, May–June 2005, Vol. 93, No. 3, 218–25.
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