Daniel Lawrence Schacter (born June 17, 1952) is an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

. He is William R. Kenan, Jr.'s endowed professor of psychology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His research has focused on psychological and biological aspects of human

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

and

amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...

, with a particular emphasis on the distinction between conscious and nonconscious forms of memory and, more recently, on brain mechanisms of memory and brain distortion, and memory and future simulation.

Education

Schacter received his B.A. from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1974, M.A. and Ph.D. from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1977 and 1981 respectively. His Ph.D.

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

was supervised by

Endel Tulving Endel Tulving (May 26, 1927 – September 11, 2023) was an Estonian-born Canadian experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist. In his research on human memory he proposed the distinction between semantic and episodic memory. Tulving ...

. In 1978, he was a visiting researcher at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

's Department of Experimental Psychology. He has also studied the effects of aging on memory.

Research

Professor Schacter's research uses both cognitive testing and brain imaging techniques such as

positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including blood flow, r ...

and

functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

. Schacter has written three books, edited seven volumes, and published over 200 scientific articles and chapters. His books include: ''Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past'' (1996); ''Forgotten ideas, neglected pioneers: Richard Semon and the story of memory.'' (2001); and ''The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers'' (2001). In '' The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers'', Schacter identifies seven ways ("sins") that memory can "fail us". The seven sins are: Transience, Absent-Mindedness, Blocking, Misattribution, Suggestibility, Persistence, and

Bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...

. In addition to his books, Schacter publishes regularly in scientific journals. Among the topics that Schacter has investigated are:

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, the

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

of memory, age-related memory effects, issues related to

false memory In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not actually happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporatio ...

, and memory and simulation. He is widely known for his integrative reviews, including his seminal review of

implicit memory In psychology, implicit memory is one of the two main types of long-term human memory. It is acquired and used unconsciously, and can affect thoughts and behaviours. One of its most common forms is procedural memory, which allows people to perf ...

in 1987. In 2012 he said in an interview to the

American Psychologist ''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering science ...

journal that our brain is like a time machine, or to be precise, it works as a virtual reality simulator. He also said that our brain can imagine the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

but it has difficulty in retracing the past. He has been the first author on multiple editions of the textbooks ''Psychology'' and ''Introducing Psychology'', both having six editions as of 2023.

Honors and awards

He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1996. In 2005 Schacter received the

NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing The NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing is awarded by the United States National Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "to recognize authors whose reviews have synthesized extensive and difficult material, rendering a signific ...

from the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. He was elected to membership in NAS in 2013.

Representative Publications

*Buckner, R. L., Andrews‐Hanna, J. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2008). The brain's default network. ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'', ''1124''(1), 1-38. *Schacter, D. L. (1992). Priming and multiple memory systems: Perceptual mechanisms of implicit memory. ''Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience'', ''4''(3), 244–256. *Schacter, D. L. (2008). ''Searching for memory: The brain, the mind, and the past''. Basic Books. *Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Buckner, R. L. (2007). Remembering the past to imagine the future: the prospective brain. ''Nature Reviews Neuroscience'', ''8''(9), 657–661. *Schacter, D. L., & Graf, P. (1986). Effects of Elaborative Processing on Implicit and Explicit Memory for New Associations. ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition'', ''12''(3), 432–444. *Tulving, E., & Schacter, D. L. (1990). Priming and human memory systems. ''Science'', ''247''(4940), 301–306.

References

External links

Schacter Memory Lab
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schacter, Daniel 1952 births Living people People from Scarsdale, New York 20th-century American psychologists American cognitive neuroscientists Memory researchers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto University of Arizona faculty Harvard University Department of Psychology faculty Scarsdale High School alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 21st-century American psychologists APA Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology recipients