Abstract
The assumption that the past is preserved in a memory trace contains, as we have seen, a paradox in that the past is seen to derive from present elements, but how this happens is not explained. The past is thus assumed but not explained, and any possibility of understanding the nature of recollection is therefore lost. But the paradox of the memory trace is not the only problem with current theories on memory. According to these theories, in order for the recollection of a memory or of knowledge to be correct, that is for it to be the recollection of memory or information that we wanted to evoke, certain selection and verification mechanisms of the memory trace must be called into play. Depending on what the subject wants to remember, these mechanisms first make a selection from the various traces stored in the memory systems, and then check whether the result of the selection meets the conditions set by the recollection task. If these conditions are not met, due to contradictions between the selection result and verification criteria, the mechanisms in question continue to make new selections until a satisfactory choice is made, a choice which does not contradict the verification criteria and which also meets the demands of the recollection task. According to these theories, if, for example, I remember eating in a restaurant yesterday evening this is due to the fact that the trace “dinner in restaurant” has been selected from a host of other traces for example, “dinner at home”, “dinner at a friend’s”, in accordance with the criteria and mechanisms which guarantee the selection of the correct memory. The most widespread explanation of confabulatory symptoms provides a good example of an interpretative application of this hypothesis.
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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Barba, G.D. (2002). The Homunculus Fallacy. In: Memory, Consciousness and Temporality. Neurobiological Foundation of Aberrant Behaviors, vol 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1741-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1741-2_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6813-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1741-2
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