What am I reading in ScholarWorks? January 2026

Any mention of Proust always makes me want to bake off a batch of madeleines—my memory of Proust's memories....it’s like a secondhand-smoke effect that has me itching to get out my measuring spoons. So for this month’s What Am I Reading in ScholarWorks, I may have to add What Am I Baking—triggered by Psychology professor Randy Frost’s paper “The Proust Effect and Hoarding Symptoms: Relationships among Memory Vividness, Object Type, and Urge to Save” which asks if memory plays a role in hoarding traits. It seems an appropriate time of year to consider hoarding and why we might be more or less susceptible to its tendencies. Do people who have more vivid memories of objects experience greater object attachment? It’s a fascinating study in itself, but while it attempts to get greater clarity on the research question, as readers (while we soften the butter and measure out the flour) we can take the opportunity to think deeply about our relationship to objects both mundane and precious as well as contemplate the power of memory to shape our behavior and actions. Enjoy!

View in ScholarWorks: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/psy_facpubs/252/ 

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