How do memories emerge into consciousness? How are they searched for and recovered? How are retrieved memories validated and how are they "reported" to oneself or to others? In this chapter we shall use a pathway metaphor to address these questions, focusing on the retrieval of episodic memories of a personal nature. The pathway metaphor assumes that the rememberer stands at the crossroad between two paths, one leading to memory and the other leading from memory. The path leading to memory brings the individual into his or her memory system, like a pathway taken when a person arrives either by chance or as a result of a premeditated excursion into a garden with familiar flowers and animals. The pathway metaphor also implies that if we want to access a particular memory, we have to reach out for it; we have to submit a description to our memory that specifies what we are looking for (Norman & Bobrow, 1979) and try to locate something that roughly meets that description. Thus, we have to specify a path to the intended memory. On the other hand, making use of the retrieved memory, integrating the information retrieved, reporting it privately to oneself (e.g., thinking, feeling) or publicly (e.g., in words or in actions) is like specifying a path leading from memory. It is like bringing back from the garden some of the flowers we collected there. Thus, to retrieve memories is to travel mentally along two paths. When retrieving memories, one can be said to find oneself at the crossroads where paths to and from memories intersect. In a sense one must negotiate with one's memory, conducting a transaction that involves both taking and giving. Certainly, there are many memory paths. We shall contrast two paths to episodic memories; voluntary and involuntary. These two paths are typically, although not exclusively, associated with two different modes, respectively-re-experiencing and factual recollection. The two paths from episodic memories are also associated with two modes; editing versus not editing. The editing of one's memories reflects a process that takes place in making use of one's memories, that is, in specifying a path from one's own memories. Unedited memories are used as they are, whereas edited memories are scrutinized before use. The combination of the two paths may be understood in terms of the degree to which the paths to and/from memory are controlled by the person. Typically, controlled access to one's memories, that is, deliberately searching for specific events or episodes, is associated with the exercise of deliberate editing processes in reporting these memories to oneself or to others. On the other hand, involuntarily retrieved memories, which emerge in the absence of an intention to remember, are typically experienced and reported with only a moderate degree of controlled metacognitive editing. However, instances in which involuntary memories are edited and others in which voluntary memories are transmitted with little editing are not uncommon. In this chapter we discuss the retrieval of episodic memories in an everyday perspective using the pathway metaphor, in which the rememberer is seen to stand between the paths that lead to one's memories and those that lead from them.

Memory pathways: Involuntary and voluntary processes in retrieving personal memories.

DE BENI, ROSSANA;CORNOLDI, CESARE;
2007

Abstract

How do memories emerge into consciousness? How are they searched for and recovered? How are retrieved memories validated and how are they "reported" to oneself or to others? In this chapter we shall use a pathway metaphor to address these questions, focusing on the retrieval of episodic memories of a personal nature. The pathway metaphor assumes that the rememberer stands at the crossroad between two paths, one leading to memory and the other leading from memory. The path leading to memory brings the individual into his or her memory system, like a pathway taken when a person arrives either by chance or as a result of a premeditated excursion into a garden with familiar flowers and animals. The pathway metaphor also implies that if we want to access a particular memory, we have to reach out for it; we have to submit a description to our memory that specifies what we are looking for (Norman & Bobrow, 1979) and try to locate something that roughly meets that description. Thus, we have to specify a path to the intended memory. On the other hand, making use of the retrieved memory, integrating the information retrieved, reporting it privately to oneself (e.g., thinking, feeling) or publicly (e.g., in words or in actions) is like specifying a path leading from memory. It is like bringing back from the garden some of the flowers we collected there. Thus, to retrieve memories is to travel mentally along two paths. When retrieving memories, one can be said to find oneself at the crossroads where paths to and from memories intersect. In a sense one must negotiate with one's memory, conducting a transaction that involves both taking and giving. Certainly, there are many memory paths. We shall contrast two paths to episodic memories; voluntary and involuntary. These two paths are typically, although not exclusively, associated with two different modes, respectively-re-experiencing and factual recollection. The two paths from episodic memories are also associated with two modes; editing versus not editing. The editing of one's memories reflects a process that takes place in making use of one's memories, that is, in specifying a path from one's own memories. Unedited memories are used as they are, whereas edited memories are scrutinized before use. The combination of the two paths may be understood in terms of the degree to which the paths to and/from memory are controlled by the person. Typically, controlled access to one's memories, that is, deliberately searching for specific events or episodes, is associated with the exercise of deliberate editing processes in reporting these memories to oneself or to others. On the other hand, involuntarily retrieved memories, which emerge in the absence of an intention to remember, are typically experienced and reported with only a moderate degree of controlled metacognitive editing. However, instances in which involuntary memories are edited and others in which voluntary memories are transmitted with little editing are not uncommon. In this chapter we discuss the retrieval of episodic memories in an everyday perspective using the pathway metaphor, in which the rememberer is seen to stand between the paths that lead to one's memories and those that lead from them.
2007
Everyday memory
9781841695792
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/1777830
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