Objectual Memory: Remembering Objects by Simulating the Past

Project Information

MEMOBJECT

Grant agreement ID: 101032391

DOI

10.3030/101032391

Project closed

EC signature date 15 April 2021

Start date 27 September 2021

End date 31 July 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 184 707,84

EU contribution

€ 184 707,84

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE GRENOBLE ALPES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MEMOBJECT (Objectual Memory: Remembering Objects by Simulating the Past)

Reporting period: 2021-09-27 to 2023-09-26

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project identifies and corrects for a systematic oversight in the theoretical literature on declarative (or person-level) memory. The influential distinction between episodic and semantic memory *systems*, and the informal characterisation of those systems as concerned with events and facts, respectively, has led to many theorists and philosophers to be concerned only with conscious/experiential remembering where it involves the representation of an *event* in the subject’s personal past. However, underlying systems and the memory phenomena to be explained are not related one-one. In particular, systems interact to produce a diversity of outputs with various characteristics. Instances of remembering may result from the activity of both episodic and semantic systems, and when they do they may not be about specific events, accompanied with the phenomenology of ‘reliving’ an episode, and involving imagery as of a particular scene with a point of view. The Core Hypothesis of MEMOBJECT was that many phenomena of memory to be explained cannot be related straightforwardly to the activity of one memory system. In particular, what I called objectual memory requires a more nuanced account and raises new philosophical issues which must be addressed if we are to have a full picture of memory.
The project’s work is therefore important for aspects of society which depend on our understanding of memory, its implications on personal identity, the self, and moral responsibility, and also overlooked ways in which memory as a faculty may break down in ageing or dysfunctions such as Capgras delusion (which would appear to involve peculiar deficits objectual memory).
The overarching objectives of the project were to (i) provide a framework for understanding objectual memory and its distinction from other forms/outputs of memory; (ii) consider the implications of this issue for causalist versus simulationist approaches to remembering more generally; (iii) argue that the nature of memory experience in cases of objectual memory is compatible with relationist theories of awareness.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work Package 1 addressed objective (i), above. The resulting paper, ‘Remembering objects’, was drafted and submitted for publication within the first 6 months of the project, as expected in the proposal Gantt chart. It was accepted at the first-choice journal, Philosophers’ Imprint, shortly after.
Work package 2 addressed objective (ii). ‘(In defence of) preservationism and the previous awareness condition...’ was submitted in February 2023, in accordance with the intended timeline of the proposal Gantt chart. It was accepted for publication at the first-choice journal, Philosophical Perspectives, shortly after.
Work package 3, which addresses objective (iii), has resulted in the final paper of the project (expected title ‘Remembering imprecisely’). This is still in the process of being drafted in light of comments received on presentation of this material at conferences in Summer 2024. It is expected that this will be submitted for publication in the coming months.
In addition to these outputs, 2 single-authored and 5 co-authored articles were accepted for publication during the course of the project. All of this involved presentations in which the research was disseminated at workshops and conferences internationally, of which there were 27 during the course of the project. A secondment was also carried out which supported the networking and dissemination opportunities.
The Training work package involved formulating a career development plan in collaboration with senior academics, gaining experience of co-supervising PhD students, organising an international conference, co-editing a topical collection, and writing a public engagement piece. All of these have been achieved except for the public engagement piece which is in progress and can be expected to be completed in the coming months. An indicator of the success of the training work package is that the fellow secured and recently begun a tenure-track assistant professorship in philosophy.
Finally there was also a work package for Project Management, Dissemination, and Engagement which safeguarded the smooth running of the project throughout.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The papers published, presentations delivered, conferences co-organised, collection co-edited, and PhD student co-supervised throughout the course of this project have progressed the state of the art in philosophy of memory. As the project’s results and ideas continue to be taken up within the literature (indicated by existing citations), the state of the art will continue to advance thanks to the research carried out. Moreover, the fellow will continue on the research trajectory for which this project laid the foundations, continuing to expand on the impact and significance achieved.
Expected results not yet realized include the publication of the final paper, expected title ‘Remembering imprecisely’, and the capstone public engagement piece. Additionally, 2-3 further papers can be expected to be added to the journal topical collection co-edited, and an editorial introduction to this topical collection will then be drafted in collaboration with this project’s primary and secondary supervisors.
The project’s outputs have had and will continue to have an impact on the philosophical literature concerned with memory, imagination, reference, and related themes. While its interdisciplinary impact so far has been limited to presentations at interdisciplinary conferences, the fellow’s continued engagement with colleagues in psychology in their future career will provide opportunities for the results of this project to be taken up within the published literature in the near future (as has been the case with the fellow’s work on perception).
Its wider societal impacts include the access/outreach work carried out by the fellow in a UK secondary school on two occasions during the project. The fellow gave advice and answered questions on university education/applications, and also described how they came to work in philosophy and the broad topic of this project to sixth form students.

Conference poster