John H. Mace 
The Act of Remembering 
Toward an Understanding of How We Recall the Past

The first volume devoted solely to autobiographical memory
retrieval, The Act of Remembering serves as a primer of
ideas, methodology, and central topics, and lays the groundwork for
future research in the field.

* Contains new, forward-looking theories from leading
international scholars

* Answers questions such as: Do we retrieve memories according to
when and where we need them? How much conscious control do we have
over what we remember? Why are some people more likely than others
to have intrusive ‘flashbacks’ following a stressful
event?

* Pays particular attention to voluntary and involuntary
recall

Table of Content

Preface.

Contributors.

Part I: Introduction.

1. The act of remembering the past: An overview (John H.
Mace, Eastern Illinois University).

2. From diaries to brain scans: Methodological developments in
the investigation of autobiographical memory (Christopher Ball,
College of William & Mary).

Part II: Theories and Reviews of Involuntary and Voluntary
Remembering.

3. Involuntary remembering and voluntary remembering: How
different are they? (John H. Mace, Eastern Illinois
University).

4. Accessing autobiographical memories (Martin Conway,
University of Leeds, and Catherine Loveday, University of
Westminster).

5. Involuntary and voluntary memory sequencing phenomena: An
interesting puzzle for the study of autobiographical memory
organization and retrieval (Jennifer Talarico, Lafayette
College, and John H. Mace, Eastern Illinois University).

6. Spontaneous retrieval is the norm: What integrative models
tell us about human consciousness and memory (Stan Franklin,
University of Memphis, and Bernard J. Baars, The Neurosciences
Institute).

7. Priming, automatic recollection, and control of retrieval:
Toward an integrative retrieval architecture (Alan
Richardson-Klavehn, Otto von Guericke University).

Part III: Broader Issues in the Science of
Remembering.

8. Understanding autobiographical remembering from a spreading
activation perspective (John H. Mace, Eastern Illinois
University)

9. Retrieval Inhibition in Autobiographical Memory (Bernhard
Pastötter and Karl-Heinz Bäuml).

10. The role of visual perspective in autobiographical memory
retrieval (Heather J. Rice, Washington University in St.
Louis).

11. The emergence of recollection: How we learn to recall
ourselves in the past (Robyn Fivush and Patricia J. Bauer, Emory
University).

12. You get what you need: The psychosocial functions of
remembering (Susan Bluck, University of Florida, Nicole Alea,
University of the West Indies, and Burcu Demiray, University of
Florida).

Part IV: Theories of Abnormal Remembering.

13. Exploring pathological recall in involuntary retrieval in
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder from an information processing
perspective: Intrusive images of trauma (Julie Krans, Radboud
University, Marcella L. Woud, Radboud University, Gérard
Näring, Radboud University, Eni S. Becker, Radboud University,
and Emily A. Holmes, Warneford Hospital).

14. Unwanted traumatic intrusions: The role of pre-trauma
individual differences in executive control (Johan Verwoerd and
Ineke Wessel, University of Groningen).

15. The content, nature and persistence of intrusive memories in
depression (Alishia D. Williams and Michelle L. Moulds,
University of New South Wales).

About the author

John H. Mace is a cognitive psychologist who specializes in the study of memory. He is Professor and Chair of Psychology at Eastern Illinois University, and author of Involuntary Memory (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).