Experimental research on memory since Ebbinghaus has predominantly focused on the fact of forgetting, creating the impression that memory inevitably decreases with time or time-correlated interpolated events. Recent laboratory work on the recall of pictures, however, has produced a contrary pattern, suggesting that memory for certain classes of stimuli may be hypermnesic rather than amnesic, increasing over time and recall attempts. Up to now, such hypermnesias have been obtained in single, 1-hr laboratory sessions. The purpose of the present studies was to determine the magnitude of memory growth over more significant time intervals. Tests of memory up to 1 week indicated substantial growth of recall for pictures, but not usually for words. The outcomes are discussed in terms of (a) their bearing on the Ebbinghaus experimental tradition, (b) the relation of this work to other hypermnesia literature, including Ballard's reminiscence, hypnotic hypermnesia, memory recoveries in therapy, and the Penfield effect, and (c) the implications of hypermnesia for psychodynamics and unconscious processes.In a recent series of experiments, we have Instead of the classic Ebbinghausian funcobtained an unusual memory phenomenon, tion in which memory decreases with time,we have been able to produce the opposite of forgetting-hypermnesia instead of am-We wish to thank the six anonymous subjects nesia--such that recall progressively in-Zftr^orftr 2 7 tsTStLtimt -eases with^time over successive recall atnights) of testing. We also thank John Santa tempts (Erdelyi & Becker, 1974; Erdelyi, for reading and commenting on an earlier draft Finkelstein, Herrell, Miller, & Thomas, of this article, and Jaime Perez for his assistance 1976; Shapiro & Erdelyi, 1974). When the "T'hrrtir* 6 S 1 stated by Public Health *imuli * * remembered are pictures (but Service/National Institute of Mental Health Grant not, apparently, when they are words) the 1 RP3 MH2S876-01 and by the City University effect is both highly reliable and powerful, of New York Faculty Research Award Program llr .,, ,• , . .« " a, "{Grants RF-10261 and FR-10704 to the senior Wlth °Ptlmal procedures, the growth of author. recall from initial test may average as high Requests for reprints should be sent to Matt as 15% to 20% in less than 1 hr. Since our
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