Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Repressed Memory01:16

Repressed Memory

Repressed memories are a psychological phenomenon where memories of traumatic events are unconsciously blocked from a person's awareness. This process occurs as a defense mechanism, protecting the mind from the emotional impact of distressing or painful experiences. For example, a person who has experienced childhood trauma may grow up with no conscious recollection of the event. In such cases, the memories are thought to be buried deep within the subconscious, inaccessible to the conscious...
False Memories01:18

False Memories

False memories represent a cognitive distortion in which individuals recall events that did not happen, or remember them in an altered form. This phenomenon highlights the brain's constructive nature in processing and recalling memories, emphasizing that memory is not a perfect representation of past events but rather a dynamic reconstruction influenced by various factors.
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Traumatic Memory01:20

Traumatic Memory

Emotionally traumatic events often lead to memories that are exceptionally vivid and enduring, sometimes persisting with remarkable clarity throughout an individual's life. A classic example of this phenomenon is a person who survives a car accident. Even years later, they may recall every detail of the event with startling accuracy — the screeching of the tires, the jarring impact, and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Such vividness contrasts sharply with how an individual remembers mundane...
Storage01:23

Storage

A schema is a mental framework that helps individuals organize and interpret information. Schemata, formed from previous experiences, influence how we process new information: how we encode it, the inferences we make, and how we retrieve it. For instance, a schema for what a typical classroom looks like might include desks, a teacher's desk, a whiteboard, and students in such an environment. This expectation helps us quickly understand and navigate new classrooms without needing to analyze each...
Explicit Memories01:27

Explicit Memories

Explicit memories, also known as declarative memories, are consciously remembered, recalled, and reported. Studying for a chemistry exam involves material that will become part of explicit memory. There are two types of explicit memory: episodic and semantic.
Episodic memory contains information about personally experienced events and is reported as a story. An example of episodic memory is recalling a birthday celebration. This type of memory includes the what, where, and when of an event, as...
Autobiographical Memory01:14

Autobiographical Memory

Autobiographical memory is a unique type of episodic memory that involves recollecting personal life experiences. It allows individuals to remember significant events from their past, creating a narrative of their lives. One interesting phenomenon related to autobiographical memory is the reminiscence bump. This effect refers to the tendency of adults to recall more events from their second and third decades of life — typically between ages 10 to 30 — than from other periods. This period is...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Spatial encoding of a traumatic virtual reality scene reduces intrusive memories.

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience·2026
Same author

A novel person-reported measure of safety-seeking behaviours: a preliminary study in older victims of community crime.

Behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy·2025
Same author

Memory and identity processes in ICD-11 complex posttraumatic stress disorder: Tests of a new theory.

Journal of anxiety disorders·2025
Same author

People Likely Aren't as Susceptible to False Memories as Researchers Thought: New studies underscore the difficulty of implanting entirely fictional events in a person's recollection.

Scientific American·2025
Same author

The International Trauma Interview (ITI): development of a semi-structured diagnostic interview and evaluation in a UK sample.

European journal of psychotraumatology·2025
Same author

Key concepts, methods, findings, and questions about traumatic memories.

Journal of traumatic stress·2025
Same journal

Toward Narrative Theory: Interventions for Reinforcer Pathology in Health Behavior.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

Dissecting Impulsivity: Brain Mechanisms and Neuropsychiatric Implications.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

Engaging and Exploring: Cortical Circuits for Adaptive Foraging Decisions.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

Devaluation of Outcomes Due to Their Cost: Extending Discounting Models Beyond Delay.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

A Fuzzy-Trace Theory of Risk and Time Preferences in Decision Making: Integrating Cognition and Motivation.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

From Risk and Time Preferences to Cultural Models of Causality: On the Challenges and Possibilities of Field Experiments, with Examples from Rural Southwestern Madagascar.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 25, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
07:26

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory

Published on: January 31, 2017

A theoretical framework for understanding recovered memory experiences.

Chris R Brewin1

  • 1University College London, England, UK. c.brewin@ucl.ac.uk

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation
|February 7, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Recovered memories, while uncommon, align with memory science. Understanding trauma, memory types (semantic, autobiographical), and emotional impact clarifies why these experiences occur and seem unusual.

More Related Videos

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
08:53

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories

Published on: November 14, 2018

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
09:13

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test

Published on: May 16, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 25, 2026

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory
07:26

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories in the Laboratory

Published on: January 31, 2017

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
08:53

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories

Published on: November 14, 2018

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
09:13

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test

Published on: May 16, 2017

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience of Memory
  • Trauma Studies

Background:

  • Recovered memory experiences are often perceived as counter-intuitive.
  • This perception stems from common misconceptions about trauma and memory.
  • A comprehensive memory model is needed, differentiating personal semantic memory, autobiographical event memory, and memory appraisal.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explain the apparent counter-intuitiveness of recovered memory experiences.
  • To reconcile recovered memories with established principles of memory function.
  • To address misconceptions surrounding trauma and memory recall.

Main Methods:

  • Review and synthesis of existing research on memory, trauma, and identity.
  • Application of a comprehensive memory model distinguishing semantic, episodic, and appraisal components.
  • Analysis of emotional and identity factors influencing memory encoding and retrieval.

Main Results:

  • Memory performance is enhanced when events are central to identity.
  • Severe childhood trauma can disrupt identity, hindering memory encoding and retrieval.
  • High emotional states during encoding or recall can impede coherent narrative memory formation, potentially causing flashbacks.

Conclusions:

  • Recovered memories, including phenomena like flashbacks, are consistent with known memory processes.
  • Memory appraisal influences the subjective experience of forgetting and remembering.
  • Understanding memory models and the impact of trauma and emotion is key to interpreting recovered memories.