Abstract
This Cortica journal club has mini-reviewed the engram theory and systems consolidation hypothesis, which are both contributing to an understanding of how memories are made on a neuropsychological level. Yet, to answer the question what individual memories contain, it is essential to take into account the social context. Various studies have shown that social networks are a driving force in determining the content of memories. Certain researchers even argue that individual as well as collective memories are entirely socially constructed. Contemplating this claim is not easy. Even though every human being has their own brain, their own biological and chemical machine, generating and storing memories, it might be that there is very little “my own” in the content we remember. In sum, memory is the bridge between the present and islands of the past. It selectively keeps parts of the past alive, which shape human beings as individuals but also as collectives. This essay reviews and connects neuropsychological and societal mechanisms and influences in the process of learning and memory.
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