Phenomenology Of Memory Research Articles

Memory traces, phenomenology and the simulationist vs causal theory dispute

Phlosophy of memory is a hot topic in the cognitive sciences and philosophy of mind. This work examines the dispute between simulations and causal theoris of memory by means of an examination of the feeling of familiarity and its relation to memory traces, more specifically in how they increase the fluency of reconstruction of past episodes. Understanding the relationship between familiarity and memory traces, and furthermore, the relation between a fully-fledged phenomenology of memory and a sense of subjective certainty of the episode has occurred in the past leads to a different interpretation of the rivalry between the CTM and the simulationist account

The Complex Phenomenology of Episodic Memory: Felt Connections, Multimodal Perspectivity, and Multifaceted Selves

There is thought to be a rich connection between the self and the phenomenology of episodic memory. Despite the emphasis on this link, the precise relation between the two has been underexplored. In fact, even though it is increasingly acknowledged that there are various facets of the self, this notion of the multifaceted self has played very little role in theorizing about the phenomenology of episodic memory. Getting clear about the complex phenomenology of episodic memory involves getting clear about various components that contribute to the sense of self. Inspired by work on 4E cognition, and focusing on the phenomenological feature of felt connections, we show that the phenomenology of episodic memory can be modulated by focusing on different facets — embodied, extended, embedded, and ecological — of the self.

Kelly’s Circle of Safety and Healing: An Extended Schema Therapy Narrative and Interpretative Investigation

This is a narrative case study of the psychotherapy of Kelly (pseudonym) that describes processes that took place within the last 17 sessions of a longer therapy of 67 sessions over a period of 26 months. A phenomenologically grounded and coherent account takes readers on an experiential journey that enables them to live through aspects of the process at least partially. These processes began in session 52 in which Kelly saw an image of a circle of caring people within which a series of child parts of herself were able to find a sense of safety and holding. Over the course of the sessions, eight different child parts approached and eventually entered the circle, each representing a different dissociated set of early schema patterns, each with its own related emotional distress. Through dialogue work and imagery rescripting, the predicament of each child and her unmet needs were brought into focus. This served as the basis for providing corrective emotional experiences that led to the child parts feeling able to voluntarily step into the circle. The material serves as the basis for theoretical-interpretative investigations with a focus on the phenomenology of memory and transformation in experiential psychotherapy. This is organized under several themes: (1) complexes, schemas, and internal working models; (2) autobiographical memory and the working self; (3) the “theater of consciousness” and the “theater of the imagination”; (4) understanding the figures that entered Kelly’s healing circle; (5) how far back can we remember? (6) reparenting, corrective experiences, and imagery rescripting; and (7) coping decisions and demanding and punitive features in coping modes. A brief conclusion aims to contribute to our understanding of the phenomenology of corrective experiences and psychological transformation.

Naïve realism and the phenomenology of perception and memory

In this paper, I begin to explore what a naïve realist might say about the phenomenology of episodic memory. I start by arguing that, when it comes to accounting for the phenomenology of memory experiences, there are two primary options available to the naïve realist: to treat memory phenomenology along the same lines as perceptual phenomenology – as involving phenomenal character that is grounded in acquaintance with the external environment – or to treat memory as lacking such acquaintance-based phenomenal character, and then attempting to account for there being something it is like to remember as being somehow inherited from cases that do have phenomenal character. I then explore the prospects of providing an account of the phenomenology of episodic memory in both ways, before tentatively coming down in favour of the latter approach

The feeling of familiarity

The relationship between the phenomenology of imagination and the phenomenology of memory is an interestingly complicated one. On the one hand, there seem to be important similarities between the two, and there are even occasions in which we mistake an imagining for a memory or vice versa. On the other hand, there seem to be important differences between the two, and we can typically tell them apart. This paper explores various attempts to delineate a phenomenological marker differentiating imagination and memory, with a special focus on two proposed markers that have generated considerable philosophical discussion: the feeling of pastness and the feeling of familiarity. As we will find, neither of them proves to be up to the task at hand. However, by way of a deeper exploration of the feeling of familiarity, we are able to tease out some important morals for efforts to differentiate imagination and memory on phenomenological grounds and, more generally, for efforts to engage in a descriptive phenomenological enterprise

Self‐report of seriousness of forgetting predicts objective memory ability in older adults with subjective cognitive decline

AbstractBackgroundPrevious work in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) suggests that subjective memory and other cognitive concerns are more likely to be associated with mood or anxiety, rather than objective memory performance, but the overall literature is inconsistent. In the current study, subjective memory profiles were characterized to examine differences amongst SCD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cognitively unimpaired (CU) older adults and to determine their association with mood, anxiety, and objective memory in SCD.MethodsParticipants were 33 MCI [17F, age 72.3(SD6.7)], 71 SCD [49F, age 71.1(SD6.3)] and 42 CU [27F, age 70.6(SD6.8)] free of lifetime history of psychiatric illness and neurological conditions. They completed the Memory Functioning Questionnaire (MFQ), a measure of subjective memory according to Frequency of Forgetting (FF), Seriousness of Forgetting (SF), Retrospective Functioning (RF), and Mnemonics Usage (MU), with higher scores indicating better subjective memory; as well as Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) and NEO Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI). Multivariate ANOVA was used to examine group differences in MFQ, followed by post hoc comparisons using Dunnett’s test. Relationships between MFQ and mood and anxiety measures within groups were assessed using Pearson’s correlation. Linear regression modelling with subjective memory and mood/anxiety as predictors of performance on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was conducted in SCD.ResultsGroups differed in total MFQ, FF, and SF, with total MFQ reduced in MCI and SCD. However, FF and SF were decreased in MCI and SCD respectively. SF was inversely associated with NEO‐FF neuroticism in CN, and with HAI in MCI participants. Within SCD, both SF and FF were inversely associated with NEO‐FFI neuroticism, HAI, STAI‐trait, and GDS. Further, SF, but neither FF nor any mood or anxiety measure, predicted CVLT immediate and long delayed recall in SCD.ConclusionsConsistent with previous research, perception of poorer subjective memory was correlated with greater anxiety and depression symptoms in SCD. Despite these associations, subjective memory, as characterized by perceived seriousness of memory slips, was predictive of objective memory in SCD. These findings highlight the need to better understand the phenomenology of subjective memory in SCD.

Sense of purpose in life, cognitive function, and the phenomenology of autobiographical memory

ABSTRACT There are individual differences in the phenomenological re-experiencing of autobiographical memories. We examine whether sense of purpose in life and cognitive function are associated with the phenomenology of a recent memory related to the coronavirus pandemic. Participants reported on their sense purpose and completed tasks that measured processing speed and visuospatial ability before the pandemic in January-February 2020 and subsequently retrieved and rated a memory related to the pandemic in July 2020 (N=796; M age=58.05, SD=14.14, range 19-85). Participants with a greater sense of purpose reported memories that were more phenomenologically rich (e.g., more vivid, coherent, accessible), whereas cognitive function was primarily related to greater perceived accessibility of the memory but not to most other aspects of phenomenology. The pattern of associations was similar when accounting for depressive symptoms, and none of the associations was moderated by age. The present research suggests that individuals with a higher sense of purpose in life have autobiographical memories with richer phenomenology. To the extent that memories function to sustain well-being, social connections, and cognitive health, rich phenomenology may be one pathway through which purpose leads to these better outcomes.

Tourism Memory Characteristics Scale: Development and Validation

Recall of tourism experiences is a decisive factor in tourists’ future behavior and decision making when choosing destinations. Understanding the phenomenology of tourism memory can enable tourism organizations to enter a more competitive marketplace. Although extensive literature has addressed how to provide memorable tourism experiences, limited studies have focused on the autobiographical memories associated with these experiences. This research employed rigorous scale development procedures to establish the Tourism Memory Characteristics Scale (TMCS). Findings point to a seven-dimension scale consisting of accessibility, trip details, vividness, sensory details, valence, emotional intensity, and sharing. Tourism memory characteristics were found to support the scale’s dimensional structure, validity, and reliability. It was also found that tourism memory influences revisit intention and word of mouth. Results present opportunities for tourism organizations to capture the fundamental characteristics of their products by using the TMCS.

Память как матрица истории в концепции П. Рикёра

The article discusses the problem of the relationship between history and memory as two independent forms of using the past within the framework of P. Ricoeur’s philosophy. The value of Ricoeur’s approach lies in the fact that he analyzes this problem at different levels, starting with the essence and mechanisms of work of both phenomena. The analysis of the interrelation and rivalry between history and memory allows us to take a fresh look at the problem of the referentiality of historical texts, namely, to shift the focus from the gap between the sign and the referent to their necessary connection. On the basis of the phenomenology of memory proposed by Ricoeur, it is possible to organize various forms of reference to the past. As forms of saving experience, history and memory carry a fundamental claim to truth, despite the fact that in both cases the image of the past is produced by the imagination. Imagination can be visualizing (allowing to see) or derealizing (cutting off from reality), therefore both memory and history need ways to verify this claim to truth. For memory, this way is recognizing, which is a subjectively experienced sensation, and for history it is the possibility of a permanent revision of its constructions in a process that Ricoeur calls standing for (représentance (Fr.)). These ways must remain autonomous, allowing both to realize its function. For memory, this is the keeping of the identity, the continuity of the subject, and for history, it is the implementation of a critical assessment and reorganization of experience, which is constantly enriched with new challenges and new data. Recognition of the memory independence restrains some actors usurping access to the past so far as they believe only they have the correct memory. History, on the other hand, through critical procedures, performs a corrective function and treats the past as the claim to truth, despite the subjectivity of memory.

Using the phenomenology of memory for recent events to bridge the gap between episodic and semantic memory

Public events such as celebrity news, tragedies, and political events are widely experienced. Initially at least, memories of these events are "episodic" in nature; however, these events are also stored in associative networks similar to the semantic organization of knowledge (N. R. Brown, 1990, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 119[3], 297-314). Thus, these memories provide a novel way of examining how episodically experienced events might become semanticized and integrated into the knowledge base. Younger and older adults rated their subjective memory strength for and answered questions about details of events occurring over the previous 12 years. Participants also rated their phenomenological experience using a modified remember/know paradigm, in which no instructions about usage of the terms were provided. Interestingly, remembered and known items were equal in terms of subjective strength. Know responses were highly accurate, and more so than remember responses. Older and younger adults performed similarly. Participants' own definitions of remember, know, and just familiar revealed that knowing is associated with retrieval from semantic memory, whereas remembering and just familiarity are more associated with event/episodic memory. These results suggest that memory for public events shares phenomenological features with both episodic/event memory and semantic memory. Public events thus allow researchers to examine the complex ways in which storage of novel information can be jointly maintained in both episodic and semantic memory.

Web-Based Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memories in Young and Older Adults.

Autobiographical memories (ABMs) produce rich phenomenological experiences. Although few standardized and comprehensive measures of the phenomenology of ABMs have been developed, a web-based assessment of the full range of phenomenological properties is still missing. In the present study, we aimed to fill this gap and tested the psychometric properties of a web-based version of the Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memory (APAM) in a group of young and older adults. Specifically, taking advantage of the flexibility of web-based assessment methodology, we tested the rating consistency of APAM items, asking participants to rate the phenomenology of their ABMs with respect to seven cues, administered in one per day in seven different days. In each session, we also collected ratings of mood and arousal. Using linear mixed modeling (LMM), we could examine whether the phenomenology ratings differed with respect to age group while controlling for sex, age of the memory, arousal, mood, and specificity of the memory. Results revealed an adequate level of consistency of ratings in both young and older adults. Moreover, LMMs revealed a more intense experience of recollection and reliving (i.e., sensory and emotional) and a higher confidence in memory accuracy in older compared to younger adults. The theoretical and practical usefulness of a web-based assessment of the phenomenology of ABMs are discussed.

«ПОГРЕБЕННЫЙ ВЕЛИКАН» КАДЗУО ИСИГУРО: ПОСТМОДЕРНИСТСКАЯ ДИЛЕММА ПАМЯТИ И ПРОЩЕНИИ

The article focuses on the study of the seventh novel “The Buried Giant” (2015) of the Nobel Prize laureate Kazuo Ishiguro with regard to the problems of remembrance and forgiving that are central to the ethics of memory. Disputes about this novel go both in his country and abroad. The novel was translated into Ukrainian (2018), although the integrated study of the artistic nature of this iconic work has not appeared yet. The goal of our work and the tasks dictated by it is to analyze the artistic idea of the novel in the context of modern ethical and philosophical discourse on memory and forgiveness, which pervades Ishiguro’s works, starting from his first “Japanese” novels centered on the unnamed loss. The interest in memory as ethical issue has recently inspired different branches of the Humanities. The phenomenology of memory and oblivion was considered in the works of S. Radson “Memory and Methodology”, the collective monograph “Memory theory”, in the works of P. Ricoeur, M. Foucault, J. Baudrillard, J. Derrida, P Nora, H. White, M. Merleau-Ponty, and others, and resonated in literature of the second half of the twentieth century after the tragic events of the Second World War. This theme preoccupied Ishiguro throughout much of his writings, starting with his “Japanese” novels “A Pale View of the Hills” and “An Artist of the Floating Worlds”. The goal of the paper determines the need to use two methodologies and methods ‒ a historical and literary study in combination with semantic and poetological analysis of the text, which is based on the post-structuralist methodology, a new awareness of the depth and inexhaustibility of the literary text when it starts to contradict itself. In the novel, the role of memory in the life of individuals is artistically problematized. Memory is revealed not as the cornerstone of human morality and truth, but as a possible choice between healing forgetting and difficult forgiving, that are also inherent in the lives of humanity. The plot is centred on artistic deployment of an insoluble dilemma addressed to us as well: memory or oblivion, and maybe forgiveness? But how is it possible to forget the severe massacre in the past? Does the reconciliation with the terrible past equal treachery and betrayal? In this novel, in contrast to the previous ones, the writer finds a different generic decision, connecting the chivalrous plot and heroic epic with a saturated philosophical-humanistic agenda. This artistic strategy is noticeably different from his former novels. Its meaningful and indirect suggestive narrative unveils the most difficult issues of human responsibility in the history. The tragedy of both the historical and personal experience of mankind suggested this idea for the novel.

Cognitive Dimension of Historical Memory in Paul Ricoeur's Concept

The article considers Paul Ricoeur's concept of historical memory. Its three parts include the phenomenology of memory, the epistemology of history and the hermeneutics of the historical state, directly related to the notion of duty. At all three levels, the cognitive component is very important, but its nature differs significantly. From Ricoeur's perspective, the duty “not to forget” turns out to be an oath of allegiance to the very ability of human consciousness to construct and reinterpret temporal distance, while maintaining a sense of shock or uniqueness of the event that cannot be replaced by a conventional narrative. It is proved that this approach can be a productive basis for coordinating different conceptual approaches that have emerged in contemporary cognitive research.

Phenomenology of memory and images of native land in poetry of Farit Yakhin

The aim of this article is to show some deep senses of Farit Yakhin's poetry, represented, in particular, by the subject of his homeland. There are writers whose development continues along the "peripheral" line of motion of today's Tatar literature. "Peripheral", contrary to our thinking, does not mean "low quality", since often this "marginal status" is determined by the fact that the vector of literary development is defined by "new" or, on the contrary, "conservative" guidelines, and in its light, one that preserves the successive traditionality of writing, varying with a brilliant individual originality within strictly defined limits , is evaluated as something different and therefore "peripheral". But it must be said that the approach of current preference (we have the right to study it within the framework of the "sociology of reading activity") is somewhat wrong, because it does not give the opportunity to study a literary phenomenon to its full extent? Farit Yakhin is a great writer, and we cannot help but complain that, despite the quantitative size of his artistic production, it has not yet been properly publicized

Deconstructing the Posterior Medial Episodic Network.

Our ability to remember or imagine specific events involves the construction of complex mental representations, a process that engages cortical and hippocampal regions in a core posterior medial (PM) brain network. Existing theoretical approaches have described the overarching contributions of the PM network, but less is known about how episodic content is represented and transformed throughout this system. Here, we review evidence of key functional interactions among PM regions and their relation to the core cognitive operations and representations supporting episodic construction. Recent demonstrations of intranetwork functional diversity are integrated with existing accounts to inform a network-based model of episodic construction, in which PM regions flexibly share and manipulate event information to support the variable phenomenology of episodic memory and simulation.

Shaping our personal past: Assessing the phenomenology of autobiographical memory and its association with object and spatial imagery.

A new instrument has been developed that allows a comprehensive assessment of the relevant dimensions of the phenomenology of autobiographical memories (Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memory, APAM), and their association with visual object and spatial imagery has been examined. An initial version of APAM consisting of 30 items (the first 28 measured on a seven-point Likert-type scale) was developed and administered to a sample of 138 undergraduates. To test whether each item consistently measured the same dimension across different memories, all questions were rated for 12 cues. Results showed that 25 Likert-type items possessed adequate levels of internal consistency and unidimensionality across cues. We also found that higher levels of visual object imagery were associated with more sensory details and recollective qualities of memory, and with stronger experience of sensory and emotional reliving. The theoretical and practical usefulness of APAM as well as the relevance of visual object imagery in the phenomenology of autobiographical memory are discussed.

“L’énigme du passé”. Vers les fondements du rapport entre l’histoire et la psychanalyse

Cet article se propose d’aborder, en deux temps, les fondements de la relation entre l’histoire et la psychanalyse, en tant que “pratiques disciplinaires” qui ont affaire au passé. Dans un premier moment, je regarde de près les différents rapports noués entre l’histoire et la psychanalyse, de même que les usages qu’on a faits de la psychanalyse dans les démarches historiennes, afin de situer le contexte et la problématique. Dans un second temps, je tâche de montrer que, dans La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli, Ricœur avance une thèse importante sur les fondements du rapport entre la psychanalyse et l’herméneutique de l’histoire. A l’aide d’une phénoménologie de la mémoire blessée, il identifie une structure fondamentale de l’existence collective qui sert de base à ce rapport. En dernier lieu, je cherche à déterminer la portée de cette structure qui prend la forme d’un traumatisme originaire de l’existence collective, en traçant une analogie avec le concept psychanalytique d’après-coup.

ПЕРЕЖИВАНИЕ ЗАТРУДНИТЕЛЬНЫХ СИТУАЦИЙ КАК УСЛОВИЕ ФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ САМОИДЕНТИФИКАЦИИ В ПЕРИОД РАННЕЙ ВЗРОСЛОСТИ

The aim of the study presented in the article is to determine the nature of the relationship between the subject's experience of difficult situations and the formation of self-identification as a functional organ. The structure of the process of experiencing difficult situations is determined, which includes three components: the formation of the goal of the action in a situation of difficulty; conscious correlation of purpose and subject conditions of activity; conscious correlation of the purpose of the action with the motive in the face of difficulties encountered in the implementation of the goal. An experimental methodology for its study has been developed, which allows one to study this process in the unity of its components. The structure of the process of self-identification is disclosed, which includes three functional components: the meaning of autobiographical experience; axiomatization, selection and integration of the phenomenology of autobiographical memory, expressed in the formation of identification constructs; symbolically mediated integration of identification constructs, embodied in the formation of a meta-identification construct. An experimental technique for studying self-identification is presented, which allows one to study this process in the unity of its functions. As a result of the study, it was found that with an increase in the level of implementation of the process of experiencing difficult situations, the level of self-identification also increases. Having experienced a difficult situation, the subject «turns» the signs that he had previously used to designate social roles into functional tools of self-identification. Experiencing difficult situations provides a selection of the experience of the socio-cultural interaction of the subject, increasing the significance of its individual components, while preserving in the autobiographical memory, which is an empirical tissue of self-identification, the most valuable and subjectively significant events of individual history.

Gravitational-wave memory: Waveforms and phenomenology

The non-linear gravitational-wave memory effect is a prediction of general relativity in which test masses are permanently displaced by gravitational radiation. We implement a method for calculating the expected memory waveform from an oscillatory gravitational-wave time series. We use this method to explore the phenomenology of gravitational-wave memory using a numerical relativity surrogate model. Previous methods of calculating the memory have considered only the dominant oscillatory ($\ell=2$, $m=|2|$) mode in the spherical harmonic decomposition or the post-Newtonian expansion. We explore the contribution of higher-order modes and reveal a richer phenomenology than is apparent with $\ell=|m|=2$ modes alone. We also consider the `memory of the memory' in which the memory is, itself, a source of memory, which leads to a small, $O\left(10^{-4}\right)$, correction to the memory waveform. The method is implemented in the python package {\tt\sc GWMemory}, which is made publicly available.

Les ruines à l'épreuve de La mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli: Imaginer se souvenir?

Quelle place accorder aux ruines dans la phénoménologie du souvenir esquissée par Ricœur dans La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli? La contemplation des ruines suscite le même problème que celui qui occupe tout l’ouvrage de Ricœur: la représentation du passé et les rapports de la mémoire et de l’imagination dans la formation du souvenir. Les ruines peuvent-elles donner lieu à un réagencement des relations de la mémoire et de l’imagination et produire un “imaginer se souvenir”?