Memory, Neurodynamics, and Human Relationships

Abstract

In this article we discuss the implications of the functional organization and dynamics of the brain for understanding human relationships. In particular, we focus on the brain's multiple memory systems and the various roles they play in organizing the interactions of people as they come to know one another. The distinction between the relatively independent declarative, procedural, and emotional learning systems is especially significant in this regard, as the former mediates what we know about one another, the second mediates what we do with one another, and the third affects behavior by altering our emotional state. Knowledge of the functioning of these dissociable memory systems provides a novel perspective on relationships—both ordinary social relationships and those that develop in psychotherapy—and further illuminates psychotherapeutic transference and countertransference phenomena. We begin with a review of the neural basis of these processes, then turn our attention to the interpersonal level of analysis.