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Is my Memory an Extended Notebook?

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Abstract

Clark and Chalmer’s conception of spatially extended memory is underpinned by an objectified conception of biological memory. To the extent that this can be identified with a ‘storage’ approach to memory, criticisms of it are well known and an alternative approach, perhaps more suited to an enactive account of cognition, might be one which focuses on remembering as a type of action. In the Otto story the objectification of memory is apparent not only in C&C’s characterization of the notebook but also in the notion that Inga’s memory is notebook-like. Insofar as Inga’s practices, or conceptions, of remembering might be notebook-like this should not be taken as evidence of the existence of an internal store, but could instead be the result of prior interaction with notebook-like artifacts.

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Notes

  1. The question might be partially resolvable through historical research, building on existing work (e.g. Yates 1966; Carruthers 1990; Carruthers and Ziolkowski 2002), aimed at tracing links between technical innovation/artifact usage and popular conceptions of memory and memory practices. Highly speculatively, an additional avenue might be laboratory research measuring the effects of prolonged participation in document search tasks (versus e.g. recollection tasks using information presented verbally) on subsequent memory performance and strategy.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks Kourken Michaelian, John Sutton, and one anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.

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  1. Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RH, UK

    Paul Loader

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  1. Paul Loader
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Loader, P. Is my Memory an Extended Notebook?. Rev.Phil.Psych. 4, 167–184 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-012-0123-2

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