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Adaptive misbeliefs and false memories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2010

John Sutton
John Sutton
Affiliation:
Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. [email protected]://www.phil.mq.edu.au/staff/jsutton
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Abstract

McKay & Dennett (M&D) suggest that some positive illusions are adaptive. But there is a bidirectional link between memory and positive illusions: Biased autobiographical memories filter incoming information, and self-enhancing information is preferentially attended and used to update memory. Extending M&D's approach, I ask if certain false memories might be adaptive, defending a broad view of the psychosocial functions of remembering.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 32 , Issue 6 , December 2009 , pp. 535 - 536
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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