Odor, Memory, and Proust

Art Scents ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
Larry Shiner
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Involuntary Memory ◽  
Odor Memory ◽  
The Way

Chapter 8, “Odor, Memory, and Proust,” draws together the previous themes of emotion and language and relates them to memory. The chapter begins by examining some evidence from the psychology of autobiographical memory concerning voluntary and involuntary memory and its relation to age. The second part of the chapter discusses psychologists’ use and misuse of the Proustian type of involuntary memory, exploring the way Proust at the end of Remembrance of Things Past expounds his idea of sensory epiphanies, which are signs of transcendence and many of which involve smell. The chapter ends by contrasting the Proustian literary epiphanies with the directness of two Holocaust memoirs that bring horrendous smell experiences to expression with a vividness that shows one need not be a literary professional in order to express smell convincingly in language.

Involuntary memory chains: What do they tell us about autobiographical memory organisation?

Memory ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Mace ◽  
Amanda M. Clevinger ◽  
Ronan S. Bernas
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Involuntary Memory ◽  
Memory Organisation

Lost in the Fictional Woods with Umberto Eco: LA MISTERIOSA FIAMMA DELLA REGINA LOANA in the Context of Eco's oeuvre

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
JoAnn Cannon
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Umberto Eco ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
The Way

La misteriosa fiamma della Regina Loana, like each of Eco's previous novels, may be read as “a fictional summa” of much of the author's theoretical work. The peculiar malady of the protagonist, the loss of autobiographical memory coupled with an overactive “cultural memory,” allows Eco both to dramatize and call into question key notions of his theoretical work. This essay situates La misteriosa fiamma in the context of the author's previous work and examines the way in which Eco's most recent novel explores the themes of encyclopedic competence, rationality, hermetic drift and unlimited semiosis, high brow and low brow cultural production. Eco shows how the associative ability that allows unlimited semiosis to function may give way to hermetic drift, infinite deferral and even madness. The encyclopedia that contains the totality of human knowledge may suddenly come unbound, reflecting, in its loose pages, fragmentation, incompletion and disjunction. La misteriosa fiamma della Regina Loana serves as a valuable and original contribution to Eco's life-long scholarly pursuits and as a reflection on the value of those pursuits from the perspective of advancing age.

Differentiating dissociation and repression

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 670-671
Author(s):  
John Morton
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Dissociative Identity Disorder ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Task Specification ◽  
The Way

Now that consciousness is thoroughly out of the way, we can focus more precisely on the kinds of things that can happen underneath. A contrast can be made between dissociation and repression. Dissociation is where a memory record or set of autobiographical memory records cannot be retrieved; repression is where there is retrieval of a record but, because of the current task specification, the contents of the record, though entering into current processing, are not allowed into consciousness. I look at hypnotic amnesia and dissociative identity disorder in relation to this contrast.

“Saudades da festa!”: Triggering sensory memories of DIY electronic music through multimodal practices

2021 ◽  
pp. 263497952110275
Author(s):  
Mihai Andrei Leaha
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Music ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Involuntary Memory ◽  
Virtual Scene ◽  
Elicitation Methods ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Way

DIY electronic music parties in São Paulo are deeply immersive, corporeal and sensorial. In March 2020, due to the pandemic, the parties stopped, and the scene gradually moved online manifesting itself on a new type of canvas. However, the digital manifestations of the virtual scene lost their performative and multisensorial appeal. By using multimodal elicitation methods (photos, videos, audio tracks, internet memories) this article is exploring the triggered or involuntary memory of embodied and sensorial affects that are being recalled and missed by the “clubbers.” The article intends to exhibit autoethnographic memories of party participation while problematizing the way in which the memory of this missed intense experience comes from a regular attendance to electronic music gatherings and its relationship with the complex feeling of “saudade.”

A Teia de Penélope e o Anel da Tradição

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (46) ◽  
pp. 79-95
Author(s):  
Maria João Cantinho ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Traumatic Shock ◽  
Involuntary Memory ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Historical Tradition ◽  
Deep Thought ◽  
Theory Of Literature ◽  
The Way

It will never be too much to remember that experience is one of the most important concepts on Benjamin’s thought. It underlies his analysis of the history and also supports his critical theory of literature and has many branches, above all in his texts after 1930. His text “The Image of Proust” (Literarische Welt, 1929) develops the concept of involuntary memory, which explains the question of auratic image in the work of Proust, obtained by the process of rememoration and also explained by the contribution of Freud’s studies about the traumatic shock and its consequences on the perception’s conditions of the contemporary man. These conceptions led Benjamin to a deep thought about the way how shock and rememoration can be articulated in order to create a new historical vision, individual and collective. We examine here, in the fields of the arts, literature and history, how this articulation can defines a new conception of experience and the possibility, or not, of the transmission of the culture, in a world where, as Kafka said, “the tradition became sick”. The question is: will rememoration, this Penelope’s web, be able to operate the rescue of the historical tradition? And which tradition are we speaking here about? What does rememoration mean?

Self-defining Memories and their Contribution to the Sense of Self in Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 508-516
Author(s):  
Mohamad EL Haj ◽  
Philippe Allain
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
The Way

Aims: Unlike autobiographical memory (i.e., memory for personal information) in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), little is known about Self-Defining Memories (SDM) (i.e., memories of highly significant personal events) in AD. Methods: The characteristics of self-defining memories in AD were evaluated by analyzing their specificity, emotional valence, and integration, as well as their centrality and contribution to self-continuity. Results demonstrated fewer specific SDM in AD participants than in controls. Results: No significant differences were observed between AD participants and controls regarding the production of positive or integrated SDM. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed between AD participants and controls regarding the rating of the centrality of SDM and their contribution to self-continuity. These results demonstrate that, although AD participants produce fewer specific SDM than controls, both populations have similar levels of emotional valence, integration, centrality, and selfcontinuity of these memories. Conclusion: It is concluded that patients with AD, at least those in the mild stages of the disease, can build on significant personal events and experiences (i.e., SDM) to reflect on how these events have changed the way they see themselves.

Self-sacrifice for in-group's history: A diachronic perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Babińska ◽  
Michal Bilewicz
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Psychology ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Emotional Events ◽  
Reciprocal Process ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe problem of extended fusion and identification can be approached from a diachronic perspective. Based on our own research, as well as findings from the fields of social, political, and clinical psychology, we argue that the way contemporary emotional events shape local fusion is similar to the way in which historical experiences shape extended fusion. We propose a reciprocal process in which historical events shape contemporary identities, whereas contemporary identities shape interpretations of past traumas.

What is the purpose of cognition?

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aba Szollosi ◽  
Ben R. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Infinite Number ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
The Way

Abstract The purpose of human cognition depends on the problem people try to solve. Defining the purpose is difficult, because people seem capable of representing problems in an infinite number of ways. The way in which the function of cognition develops needs to be central to our theories.

Sociocultural memory development research drives new directions in gadgetry science

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Van Bergen ◽  
John Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Memory Development ◽  
Development Research ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Cross Cultural Research

Abstract Sociocultural developmental psychology can drive new directions in gadgetry science. We use autobiographical memory, a compound capacity incorporating episodic memory, as a case study. Autobiographical memory emerges late in development, supported by interactions with parents. Intervention research highlights the causal influence of these interactions, whereas cross-cultural research demonstrates culturally determined diversity. Different patterns of inheritance are discussed.

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