Three of the nation's foremost scientists in the field of psychology and cognitive neuroscience presented their research about the realms of human memory on Saturday as part of a symposium celebrating the dedication of Moore Hall.
Psychologists Elizabeth Loftus, Steven Pinker, and Daniel Wegner offered their findings to a packed the symposium entitled "The Nature of Brain and Behavioral Sciences in the 21st century." Psychologist Endel Tulving -- this term's Montgomery Fellow and one of the foremost researchers in the study of human memory and cognition -- moderated the panel.
Loftus, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, discussed the ways in which false memories can be created. For example, in cases involving adults who have been sexually assaulted, the way in which the memories are retrieved can lead to the creation of memories of something that never occurred.
Steven A. Pinker, the Director for the Center of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Professor of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shared tidbits of his studies language and visual cognition.
Pinker suggested that the mind is like a primitive computer program comprising specialized "modules" that were developed over hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years.
Daniel Wegner, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, focused on the role of thought in self-control and social life during the panel discussion.
Wegner said that trying to ignore negative thoughts can lead to phobia, panic, and long-term anxiety. Wegner also said one can defuse an unwanted thought by exaggerating it and dwelling on it deliberately, substituting another image for a negative thought, or changing one's environment.
Loftus received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University and has been an expert witness and consultant in hundreds of high-profile legal cases.
These cases include the trial of Oliver North, the Rodney King beating, the Menendez brothers murder trial, and the Michael Jackson case, the Bosnian War Crimes trials in the Hague, the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and the recent ski-lift case in the Italian Alps.
Pinker received his Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University in 1976 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard in 1979. After teaching at Harvard and Stanford, he moved to MIT in 1982, where he won a teaching prize.
Wegner is the author of "White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts," in which he explains that trying to think of a taboo subject leads one to think about it all the more.
Wegner was a fellow at the center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and served as Associate Editor of "Psychological Review."
