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Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within by Robert A. Baker published by Prometheus Books

An upstate New York woman was gripped one day by the horrifying childhood memory that her father had involved her in satanic rituals. Jennifer recalled a time when she was four and was forced to witness animal sacrifices and the torture of infants. She even remembered being placed in a coffin with live snakes during these "devil parties". Thinking of those horrors as an adult, Jennifer was astounded that years ago no one in her family seemed aware she was being abused. Similarly bizarre tales of alien abductions, satanic possessions, channeling of spirits, and memories of past lives are not only reported, but also promoted in the media each day. But are these "memories" reliable, and should they be used as credible evidence in courts? These "experiences" are many times the creations of our imagination, filling in gaps in our memory, according to psychologist Dr. Robert Baker. He says such irregular or supernatural experiences are manifestations of "cryptomnesia", or hidden memories, a phenomenon in which experiences that originally make little conscious impression are filed away in the brain and later are suddenly remembered in an altered form. Baker notes that memory is as much a function of creativity as it is a recall of actual events, and our recollections can be strongly affected by trauma, the power of suggestion, peer pressure, the media, and identification with authority figures. In Hidden Memories, the most recent scientific evidence on memory is used to dispel many erroneous beliefs and to show how the boundaries of human behavior are often misperceived by therapists, especially those who adhere to fringe beliefs. Baker demonstrates how delusions and illusions affect behavior and discusses the role hypnosis, imagination, and suggestion play in the creation of "other-worldly experiences". Finally, Baker looks at the media's role in reporting and supporting paranormal belief in addition to promoting the growth of superstitions and popular myths. Included are commentaries on well-known promoters of unexplained phenomena such as Carl Jung, Michael Crichton, and Whitley Strieber. Robert A. Baker is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and a fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). He has authored more than a dozen books including They Call It Hypnosis, and Mind Games: Are We Obsessed With Therapy? His professional career as a military, industrial, forensic, and clinical psychologist has spanned forty years. . . . essential reading. . . --Winnipeg Sunday Free Press

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