Human Memory and Material Memory

93 Pages·2019·2.193 MB·English

by  Christian Lexcellent

Christian Lexcellent
Human
Memory
and Material
Memory
Human Memory and Material Memory
Christian Lexcellent
Human Memory and Material
Memory
123
Christian Lexcellent
Département deMécaniqueAppliquée
FEMTO-ST Institute
Besançon,France
ISBN978-3-319-99542-7 ISBN978-3-319-99543-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99543-4
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018951911
BasedonatranslationfromtheFrenchlanguageedition:MémoirehumaineetMémoiredesmatériauxby
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Preface
Thepresentbookattemptstoestablishwhetheralinkbetweenhumanmemoryand
material memory such as the memory of shape memory alloys is relevant.
It challenges the strength of the boundary between these two concepts of
memory and wonders whether “memory traces” in the brain may be related to the
defects generated in metal alloys when they are trained.
The book first provides a brief historical record of works devoted to human
memory, from the ancient Greeks to the present day.
Then, it turns to neuroimaging. With its development, neuroscientists believe
that they can explain the whole brain behavior, including the memory process.
Then, following Paul Ricoeur’s work, the philosopher’s point of view is
explored, which adds sensitivity, thought, and humanity to the technical brain. In
conclusion, the link connection between thetwo types of memory ispresently still
difficult to prove and establish, but the reader is better equipped to understand and
continue this open debate about human memory.
The link between the two types of memory is presently difficult to establish.
Besançon, France Christian Lexcellent
v
Acknowledgements
TheauthorwouldliketothankMr.DominiqueBanet,priestandphilosopher,who
encouraged him to develop the idea of a continuum between human memory and
memory of materials.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction: A Few Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 An Attempt to Define Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 How Has Memory Been Visited Over Time? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 How Does Memory Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1 The Rise of Cognitive Neuroscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2 Neuroscience or Cognitive Science?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2.1 A Little Bit of Neurology to Better Understand
It All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2.2 Neuroimaging as the Fundamental Tool
of Cognitive Neuroscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.3 Different Types of Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.4 How Does Memory Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.5 Where is Memory Located? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.6 The Neurons of Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.7 More Neurons for a Tidier Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5 A Philosophical Approach to Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.1 Memory of Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.2 A Construction of the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.3 Models for Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.3.1 Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.4 Memory According to the INSERM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
ix
x Contents
5.5 Memory Works in Networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.6 Encoding and Storage of Information, a Case of Synaptic
Plasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6 Materials Have Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.1 A Short Introductory Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2 Martensitic Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.3 Two-Way Memory Effect: Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.4 Acquisition of Memory by SMA Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
6.5 Other Memory Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
7 Paul Ricoeur: “Memory, History, Forgetfulness” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.2 Memory Abuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
7.3 Memory, History, and Forgetfulness: All Interlaced . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.4 Forgetfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7.5 A Profound Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.6 Memory and Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.7 A Phenomenological Sketch of Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
8 Memory and Forgetfulness: From Psychoanalysis
to Neuroscience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
8.1 Different Forms of Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
8.2 The Release of the Compulsion to Repeat, and Forgetfulness
Through Retroactive Interference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
8.3 Transformation of Repetition into a Recollection . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8.5 Forgetfulness and Erasure of Traces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8.6 Forgetfulness and Persistence of Traces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.7 Neurosciences, a Reductionist Position? By Eve Suzanne . . . . . . 67
8.7.1 Dualism and Neurobiological Reductionism . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.7.2 Changeux and the Concept of Brain Plasticity. . . . . . . . . 68
8.8 The Case of Psychoanalysis, by Eve Suzanne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.8.1 Dualism and the Unconscious. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.8.2 Perspectives, by Eve Suzanne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
9 Forgiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.1 Denis Vasse (Psychoanalyst) and Forgiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
9.2 Paul Ricoeur and Forgiveness as a Beyond of the Deed . . . . . . . 75
Contents xi
9.2.1 Forgiveness as “A Power to Relieve the Agent
from His Deed”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9.2.2 Reciprocity and Gift Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.2.3 The Incognitos of Forgiveness at the Judicial Level,
Restorative Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9.2.4 Conclusion of This Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10 Post-memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11 Conclusion and General Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Chapter 1
Introduction: A Few Questions
Abstract Afewquestionsaboutmemory’creation.
1.Howcanwecreatememory,whetherforhumansorforamaterial?
Howismemory“acquired”?
A partial answer can be that it is to make a person or a metal alloy “undergo” or
“live”aSTORY.
For men, memory can be collective (the “butchery” of the First World War, the
Holocaust,thesoccerworldcupin1998inFrance...)orindividual.
Memoryisinherenttoanyhumanspecies(andanimals?).
2.Twoparallelscanbedrawnbetween“Memory,HistoryandForgetfulness”(see
PaulRicoeur’sbookRicoeur(2000))+forgiveness!,ontheonehand,and“material,
training,andamnesia,”ontheotherhand.
3.Memoryis“Iremember”Do“mendeprivedofmemory”exist?
Apparentlynot.
“Becauseamanwithoutmemoryisamanwithoutlife,apeoplewithoutmemoryis
apeoplewithoutafuture.”(MarshalFerdinandFoch(1851–1929)).
“Amanwithoutapast”isafilmbyAkiKaurismaki(2002).
Thestoryrunsasfollows:amanarrivesinHelsinki,whereheisattackedbyagang
andbecomesamnesic.
Then,herebuildshislifewiththehelpofhomelesspeoplewholiveinthecityand
theSalvationArmy.
Should we remember our personal, collective story? Not all our recollections are
fake,farfromit!
“TheSoftWatches”,bySalvadorDali
“ThePersistenceofMemory”isa1931surrealistpaintingbySalvadorDal.Itisan
oiloncanvasgenerallyknownas“TheSoftWatches”bythegeneralpublic,andone
ofthepainter’smostfamousworks.
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