The recovery of unconscious memories : hypermnesia and reminiscence / Matthew Hugh Erdelyi.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-230) and indexes.

1. The Historical Background of Hypermnesia and Reminiscence in Experimental Psychology -- 2. Hypermnesia and Reminiscence in the Clinic -- 3. Shipwreck of Hypermnesia and Reminiscence in the Laboratory: The Mid-Century Period -- 4. The Recovery of Information from Complex Subliminal Stimuli -- 5. Rehabilitation of Hypermnesia and Reminiscence in Modern Experimental Psychology -- 6. Theoretical Issues in the Modern Experimental Literature on Hypermnesia and Reminiscence -- 7. Special Topics in Hypermnesia -- 8. Long-Term and Very Long-Term Hypermnesia for Complex Narrative Materials -- 9. Overview and Implications -- App. The Technique, Rationale, and Empirical Grounding of Criterion-Controlled Free Recall (CCFR) of Narrative Materials.

The question of memory recovery is now more important than ever with the controversy over delayed recall and false memory having spilled over from psychology to the courts and the public media. The Recovery of Unconscious Memories provides a comprehensive scientific treatment of a century of research that integrates for the first time the findings of the clinic and the laboratory.

Included are authoritative treatments of hypnotic hypermnesia, free association and forced recall, the recovery of subliminal stimuli in dreams and fantasy, electrical recall, recovery of sensory-motor skills (also symptoms or "sick skills"), and modern mathematical decision theory analyses of true and false memories. Erdelyi's own ground-breaking research is presented, including his recent discovery of striking memory recoveries in long-delayed recall probes administered months after last testing. In a technical appendix, Erdelyi unveils for the first time a methodological solution to the problem of response bias in narrative recall.