Class Times: W 1:30-3:50pm in Olin 303 (Spring 2018)
Office Hours: Tu 5-6pm / F 3-4pm / by appointment
Forget something? Of course, we all have. From annoying tip-of-the-tongue moments to more embarrassing (or worse) memory lapses, forgetting is a regular—and sometimes even advantageous—occurrence. But we still have a lot to learn about exactly how and why these episodes occur. In this seminar, we will consider leading psychological and neuroscientific theories of forgetting, as well as the empirical evidence for them. Do memories simply decay over time or is interference to blame? Can memories be repressed only later to be recovered? How do drugs, alcohol, and traumatic head injuries affect memory consolidation? By the end of the course, you will have acquired the scientific background necessary to address these questions in relation to forgetting in your own life, as well as notorious cases of memory failures in the public sphere.
Course Materials:
