Introduction to <i>topiCS</i> Volume 16, Issue 4

Repressed memory and dissociative amnesia are among the most popularized, pervasive, and embattled concepts linked to psychology. Famously harnessed by director Alfred Hitchcock in his thriller classics Spellbound from 1945 (starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck) and Marnie from 1964 (starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery) where they served to develop and drive an uncanny plot, they have made it into lay people's understanding of memory-related processes. At least in the United States, they can be safely counted among—and high up in the ranking of—the 50 greatest myths of popular psychology (e.g., Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2011). Yet what might be fascinating in fiction can, if false, become highly problematic in practical terms when affecting legislative action and the outcome of civil suits and criminal trials. During the last decades of the 20th century, the notion of repressed memories and the therapies aimed at recovering them came under severe pressure (e.g., Loftus & Ketcham, 1994). They were heavily fought about during the so-called “Memory Wars” (Crews, 1995) and continue to be a matter of contention (Lynn, McNally, & Loftus, 2023). Taking a step forward in the debate, Olivier Dodier (University of Nîmes, France), Henry Otgaar (Maastricht University, the Netherlands), and Ivan Mangiulli (University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy) have assembled an interdisciplinary set of 13 papers for their topic “Beyond Repressed Memory.” They advocate alternative solutions to the controversy on long-forgotten trauma claims by presenting explanations that are based on cognitive, motivational, and biological factors for why memories might or might not be recovered. In so doing, they present cognitive science at its best: not only tackling scientifically fundamental questions on how the human mind works but also addressing the impact of these questions on a wide range of real-world issues, from health treatment to court cases. topiCS encourages letters and commentaries on all topics as well as proposals for new topics. Letters are not longer than two published pages (ca. 400–1,000 words). Commentaries (between 1,000 and 2,000 words) are often solicited by Topic Editors prior to the publication of their topic, but they may also be considered after publication. Letters and commentaries typically come without abstracts and with few references, if any. The Executive Editor and the Senior Editorial Board (SEB) are constantly searching for new and exciting topics for topiCS. Feel free to open communications with a short note to the Executive Editor ([email protected]) or a member of the SEB (for a list, see the publisher's homepage for topiCS: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1756-8765/homepage/EditorialBoard.html).