Memory and Consciousness: An Appetite of Claparède and Recognition et Moı̈ı̈tè

Abstract

Claparède′s report of a case of amnesic syndrome is an early example of the cognitive neuropsychology paradigm, by which studies of brain-damaged patients are used to shed light on the nature of normal mental processes. The case illustrates the selective impairment of episodic memory, with procedural and semantic memory remaining intact. Moreover, the several demonstrations of preserved learning during amnesia comprise an early illustration of the dissociation between explicit and implict memory. However, its greatest contemporary relevance is for theories of conscious recollection. Claparède underscored the role of the self, viewed as a knowledge structure, in conscious mental life, and he drew attention to three different modes of recognition: remembering, inferring, and knowing.