Lauren Slater, writing about Harry Harlow’s wire monkey experiments:

But the Iron Maiden, he has written about her, almost with glee. He made many variations: some iron maidens pumped freezing cold water over their children; others stabbed them. No matter what the torture, Harlow observed that the babies would not let go. They would not be deterred; they would not be thwarted. My god, love is strong. You are mauled and you come crawling back. You are frozen, and yet still you seek heat from the same wrong source. There is no partial reinforcement to explain this behavior; there is only the dark side of touch, the reality of primate relationships, which is that they can kill us while they hold us – that’s sad. But again, I find some beauty. The beauty is this: We are creatures of great faith. We will build bridges, against all odds we will build them – from here to there. From me to you. Come closer.

Slater also writes about Elizabeth Loftus’ experiments illuminating the malleability of memory, and asks Loftus,

“What grounds you? …If you can’t trust memory, what can you rely on?” I’m thinking of how Dostoyevsky claimed that a few good memories were all one needed to find faith in the world. But after you’ve lived in Loftus-land for a while, it’s hard to know where to place your faith…

“What do you have?” I ask her, but what I really mean is: what do any of us have then? What?

Loftus doesn’t answer me. Instead she says, “I wrote a letter to my mother a few days ago.” She shows it to me.

[...]

Why am I such a work-a-holic? Does it give me a way to escape from painful thoughts? Does it help me feel an importance that is and was otherwise missing from my life… busy with work, I don’t have much time to think about what is missing. A family love and closeness. That’s what I miss. That’s what I miss about you.
Love forever,
Beth

Loftus’ mother died when she was young.