Memories as Impersonal and Existing in New Worlds

Memories as Impersonal and Existing as New Worlds in the Fourfold

Heidegger tells us that we dwell within two couplings of a fourfold:  earth and sky, mortal and gods.  As humans, we are tied and bound to the earth. By saving it and preserving it, we live here.  By sharing ourselves as human, we are revealed by the sky here. By recognizing the inevitability of our own death, we are mortals here.   By keeping faith, we await our gods here.

In maintaining the balance of the fourfold’s two couplings, the twins, (both sets have an above and below), Heidegger tells us that we are able to preserve the integrity of the fourfold, and that this is important to us because it is the fourfold that allows us to know ourselves as being in the world.  We ask, how does the fourfold do that?  How does the fourfold tell us we’re being?  The fourfold tells us we’re being because there are things in the fourfold that we use to know ourselves by.  If it’s the things in the fourfold we use, what kind of things are they, then?  There are lots of things, he says, in the fourfold we use, but for an example, let’s begin with our homes.  

A home is a thing that tells us who we belong to.  We are mortal so we must choose our “home-mates” well.  When the sun shines down from the sky on our homes and streets, it reveals to our neighbors who we are, whether we’re rich or poor, trailer park trash or suburbanites.  Our neat yards show the gods that we are good people, pure of heart, clean and orderly. Our homes have an impact on the earth, and we like to think we’re doing our best to minimize any harm they cause.  In these ways, a thing, a home that dwells within the fourfold, is something that helps tell us who we are.

Things, though, are not just for defining ourselves to ourselves and others. We also use things to start things, stop things, change things, and improve things that are occurring in our world. Why would we want to change things? There are a lot of reasons why we might want to change things, but for now, suffice to say that as artists, we change things to see what will happen because of it, to our world. To affect changes in our own world, we can change things or we can change worlds. We can expect changes in our own world as a reaction to either one.  It’s helpful to understand that a reciprocal relationship exists between things and their worlds.  When things change, their worlds change, and vice versa, when worlds change, their things change, too. So if we want to change things, we can approach it from either direction, thing to world, or world to thing. Technology offers many examples of how these reciprocal relationships work.

Once upon a time, the analog phone came along, and it created a world of its own; a world of ringing, party lines, phonebooks, telephone poles, phone bills, operators, repairmen, phone booths and so on.  But phones back then pretty much stayed in your house.  They didn’t go all around with you wherever you went in the world. Then, some time went by, and a new world developed completely independent of the analog phone. It had things in it like coaxial cables, keyboards, modems, satellites, data, buttons and monitors. 

For a while, this second world existed separately from the world of the analog phone; but then, someone had the idea that we should move the old phone into the new world of the newer things.  This idea resulted in what we have now, a cellphone, and the cellphone has its very own brand new world!  It’s got applications, texting, music, videos and built in cameras.  There are service providers, cellphone towers that ping, satellites, and great big phone bills to be paid. 

When the new world emerged, the old analog phone world changed. Operators got laid off, party-lines ceased to exist, phone booths became a rarity in the world. These  changes created changes in our own worlds too.  Now we can ride around with our phones, we can write a note and send it through the phone instead of the mail, when someone calls us, we know who it is right away and we can decide whether to answer their call, or not.  These are big changes in our world!

It might not seem like it, but cellphones allow us to dwell in new ways as humans in the fourfold.  Expensive cell phones reveal our wealth and social status to others; if we are afraid for our lives due to an emergency, we can call 911.  There’s a type of cellphone etiquette that helps us to be polite to people when we’re talking on the phone.  Our phone infrastructure and its relationship to the earth, is heavily regulated as far as where it can be located, to do the least harm to the environment.  In dwelling on earth under sky, we are mortals living politely in our world.  

As an artist, I make things for a variety of reasons: out of curiosity, boredom, a desire to change things, to say or learn something new about how we can be in the world. I also want other people to share in the experience of my new thing the way I do, so I strive to create things that can exist within the fourfold.  I want them in the fourfold because, remember, things in the fourfold help us to know who we are and how we’re being in the world.  If I can put it in the fourfold, then I can share in the same experience of knowing myself as being but differently, with other people in the world. 

Artists often become blocked, they wonder, How do I do this, how do I create a something new, something to thing at the world? I do it by asking questions like, What will happen if I do something new to this thing over here? To this, the thing responds, I don’t know.  What are you going do to me? I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I know I want to do something so that something else will change, but what and why? 

I need something new because something is broken….. somewhere… that’s why! 

What’s broken? I ask myself.  I’m not sure. I need a problem worth having, so that a new thing can be made as a solution to the problem.  The thing will ideally exist within the fourfold (it will be respectful and considerate of the earth, it will reveal problems and solutions to others; it will allow me to live a more meaningful life, and it will move the gods, in its good intentions, towards the world).  Once the thing exists within the fourfold, it will attract a gathering to itself, a gathering that will give voice to a new world, one that offers solutions to problems worth having out in the bigger world.

My problem worth having pertains to what happens when impersonalized memories existing in separate worlds, are joined together in new and innovative ways. The most interesting answers begin to emerge when their two worlds collide and a piece breaks off to form a third.  In understanding how memories can exist within individual worlds, we should first understand how something non-tangible, like memories, can exist as things.

First, we need to visualize the thing as living with its related things, called assemblages, in a big open field. We must see that there are zones in the field, and that each zone has its own thing and its assemblage inside it.  Finally we have to see the entirety of this field as a structure sitting within a framework of paradigms, systems, rules and intentions.  To top off this scenario, we must understand that all of the zones have their own small worlds, and that the entirety of the structure sits within a bigger world of its own.

To illustrate all of this, we can use an egg diagram as pictured below.

 

 

 

The diagram shows us that memory can exist as things like reminders, recollections, reflections, etc., and that a thing’s assemblage might consist of a memo, a post-it note, a date circled in red, a list taped to the refrigerator, a wake-up call from the front desk, and so on. It shows us that memory things can be transformed by other things, such as age, time, disease, injury and so on. If we’re old and feeble, for example, we might need more reminders, we might need our notes to be written in bigger handwriting so we can see them better, we might need them to repeat themselves more often and louder so that we can hear them better.

More importantly, the diagram shows us how memory can exist as different types of things within their own worlds.  Their worlds exist within the fourfold too, much like the way cell phones did earlier. An anniversary, for example is just another kind of reminder, with its own assemblages. It has a god and mortality; it has the sky and earth associated with it. We give gifts to each other that are wrapped with recyclable paper; gifts which reveal to others the commitments we’ve made to our spouses. It is expected of us that we will behave in certain ways, in observation of important anniversaries.  If we forget an anniversary, we end up sleeping on the couch because it is written in law that you will remember your anniversary. When we sleep on the couch, we’re reminded of our mortality, and how our partner makes life good for us, purposeful, and worth living.  In this way, the thing and its assemblages exists as a world, a Hallmark world. A world that definitely complies with Heidegger’s fourfold.

Now that we can conceptualize a memory thing (the reminder) existing as a world within the constructs of Heidegger’s fourfold, we can approach problem solving from new and interesting perspectives.  Firstly though, we must define what an impersonal memory is in terms of my project and in relation to a problem worth having.

An impersonal memory is a memory that can be observed as occurring or existing outside of its originator. An MRI or PET scan, for example, might show us how the brain processes a memory, such as a recollection.  Another example would be if we were to study the brain’s nerve endings, synapses and gaps on a slide, under a microscope, we could get an idea of how diseases are affecting neural processes. The image below shows a metaphorical work of art depicting memory as fractured, but existing structurally, as an impersonal memory.  In other words, we don’t see this art as something taking place inside someone’s brain to make a memory; we see it in our hands or on the monitor, here. It is, therefore, impersonal to its originator.

 

Each of these impersonal memory scenarios exists within their own unique worlds. Scans live in the world of doctors, hospitals, films, radiologists and bad news. Slides live in the world of laboratories, microscopes, biologists and observation. The art piece lives in a world of suspension, cracks, memory and perception.  Interesting things happen when the worlds of impersonal memories collide.  New worlds are created, new worlds that haven’t yet been discovered.  New worlds, with new things, new assemblages and new qualities of their own emerge. Eventually the new worlds will inspire new gatherings, and this will be rewarding to me as an artist because not only does this affect positive change in my world, but it also makes me immortal.  The new world will outlive me, but It will forever be attributable to me even as it spurs exciting new worlds of its own.

At this point, we make a decision to shake up the worlds of impersonal memory.  How do we do this?  We do this by performing a sort of diagnosis of what’s currently being said about the world as it is, and by seeing who and what’s being gathered by it and why.  We shake things up by rejecting the world of impersonal memories as we know them to be true and finite.  Questions arise for us as to what would happen if we started doing new things to the world. This will be a hard thing for us to do, because we’re used to living in the world in the way that we always do.  We’re comfortable with it. We’re functioning on a day to day basis with the way impersonal memories have worked for the past however many years.  Lists have pretty much stayed lists for years.  Reminder calls are still coming from the operator at the front desk, as they always have. 

 As artists, though, we finally decide that this world is boring, or flat, or wrong, or stupid, or too much of something, or not enough of something else, and then we are driven by a demonic-like possession, to agitate the world.  It needs shaking very badly, so we start looking around for tools and ideas that might help us to agitate the world.  When we find something to beat at it with, we observe reactions and we follow their outcomes in the world.  We start asking ourselves, What is that? How did that happen? What else can happen?  What else can it say that I haven’t already heard? Our questions might not even be fully formed yet, but we can begin to find answers to them none the less. The questions will firm up as we go along in our practice.

Below is a chart that categorizes four different contextual scenarios for studying the behavior of impersonal memories in.  Each of the various items listed are in fields of their own, and these fields serve as fodder for agitating and forming new questions worth having, especially when we begin to cross reference one field against another.  Cross referencing is a kind of tool we can use for joining individual fields together in new ways.  In this case, the joining is our way of agitating the world. The joining affects newly emergent qualities that we can observe, wonder about, experiment with, listen to and foster towards growth in our practices as artists.     

 

 

A joining that I would like to propose as a possible problem worth having for me right now, might arise from Jungian archetypes and symbols being joined with the new age concepts of memory resonating as residual energy in our world.  My question worth having might unfold as something like, How can an angel linger in the residual energy of a memory? 

It is interesting to think of all the many ways that I can take a stab at answering that question.  I could write up a fairy tale; I could create some sort of magic in Photoshop that will convince everyone that angels really do exist.  I could resign myself to making snow angels all over the place and lying about how they really appeared in the snow. 

So now we have a new world of archetypes showing up as snow angels in our back yards. This is a whole new world, and it has a field with zones and assemblages. Snow angels require fields of un-trodden snow in order to express themselves fully. They require a day taken off from work, finding my snow pants, boots and mittens; chunky snow, a certain degree Fahrenheit, and a weatherman to tell me when it’s a good time to play outside.  If we agree that residual memories can exist as a type of energy, perhaps as a type of haunting, then we can make true snow angels appear in sacred or haunted places like churchyards and cemeteries; in memorial parks, and civil war battlefields. 

My angels will become a mystery to people, like crop-circles.  I say to myself and anyone who will listen, My snow angels are making a new world, and If it can exist in the fourfold, then it is a good one, you see! 

I’ll wait to see what my angels reveal to the sky?  Will they say something? Yes, they will!  They will say, Look at us!  We are living miracle angels here!  We see the angels waving their arms up at the sky, so we know they must be true and real!  It’s a miracle, hallelujah!

Other people will show up to see my angels.  Some will believe in my angels. They will sing, they fall down to their knees and pray!  Others will say I’m crazy and will walk away laughing and shaking their heads at me. 

What will the earth say, how will my art angels act to care for the earth?  They’ll say Mother earth, see how I am respecting you, and not using up all your resources here?  I am recyclable!   I will be passing from this world all too soon, leaving no footprint or a shadow of myself behind.

What will my angels say about mortality?  They’ll say, Don’t worry about it!  Death is only a doorway that leads you into this heavenly world of ours.  You can come here and live young and healthy forever!  Here’s your halow. We promise you eternal life, forever and ever, my dear!

What will the gods say?  They’ll say, See how good these people are, see how they please us, by decorating their yards with pretty angels for us to see! 

What would Darwin say about my angels?

If only their wings grew feathers, then truly they could fly!

What would McLuhan say?

If medium is the message, then they herald from on high!

 

What would Foucault say?  

If they’re marching with their trumpets, then apocalypse is nigh!

What would Deleuze say?

If they’re thinking they can stay that way, the sun will change their mind!

 

My angels create a gathering of reporters, protestors, neighbors, priests, sinners and saviors, miracle seekers, the spirits of John Lennon and Mother Theresa, proselytizing zealots, the Pope, Noah and an ark!  Things will be said. People will argue. Chairs will be thrown!  

All the while, the sun will be shining down from the sky, turning my snow angels into rivulets running down the street. They’ll yearn their way toward manholes, drainage ditches and streams, longing for new ways to be in the world. They’ll learn to swim, and live as raindrops in the sea.

It’s all good.

 

Worldmaking Questions:

 

1. View:

 

What is the big picture?  

 

Impersonalized memories can be isolated and studied within a variety of contexts and settings.  Interesting things happen when links are made between the memories of the different contexts. Finding problems worth having and exploring possible solutions is exciting endeavor when two or more fields are combined to create a new one.

 

What is the paradigm (of values) behind it all?

 

Memories are worth, preserving and maintaining access to for others. We use conventional methods like photography, scrapbooks, diaries and recordings to document our memories.  The memories of our elders are precious to us as evidence of where we came from and who we are.  Memories track events in a linear way, and they help us to remember when something happened before so that we know when it might happen again. It is a sad thing when people lose their memory to disease, this situation requires medical intervention.

 

What are the main values that it is in opposition to?

 

We are in opposition of keeping memories in such a state that they don’t survive, aren’t shared, are misinterpreted or misunderstood by others.  We oppose the idea of people keeping memories that are of historical importance to us all as internal to themselves and non-accessible by us.  We’re also opposed to presenting unreliable memories as evidence of guilt or innocence at trial. 

 

What model of action are you using?

 

I am thinking about unusual ways of joining impersonalized memories in new and interesting ways.  I do this by learning everything I can about memories, about how they are formed, where they are stored, what they mean, how they are accessed and what we can do with them.  Then when I become a mini-expert in certain aspects of memory, I think about how I can join different memories together and I imagine what might happen when I do.  I find tools.  I get to work joining my areas of expertise and I answer interesting questions as I proceed in my practice.  

 

2. Intention:

·

What are the practice’s concrete intentions?

 

To understand, preserve, and link memories, to make them accessible to us all for possible collaboration, for new world making, for answering questions and problem worth having, for helping improve people’s memory in terms of health and well-being.  To celebrate our memories and to make people feel that their memories are special and important to us all.

 

What are the practices implicit intentions?

 

To share and combine various types of impersonalized memories so that new worlds of thought and understanding can occur in response to our practices.

 

How do you differ from the intentions of a single piece and the whole of the practice?

 

A single act serves a limited purpose for a smaller number or people. The whole of the practice teaches others to reexamine our conception of what a memory is and how it might exist as something totally different than what we thought, when we situate it in new worlds. 

 

3. Speech:

 

What do you need to communicate to allow the work to have a context?

 

I need to communicate the concept of memory as something new and different than what we typically view it as. I need to reach both new and traditional audiences with this message of memory as something different than what we thought so that we can continue to explore the potential of what memories can do and be.

 

 

What terms and concepts do you have to develop?

 

I need new terms for describing new kinds of memories that are unfamiliar to people, especially when they do not behave or work in ways that people are used to.  I need new terms to describe those behaviors and new words to explain why they are occurring.

 

What spaces of dialog is your work involved in?

 

My space of dialog would depend on the context that my impersonal memory is existing in.  If it is in terms of health, disease and injury, than the dialog is clinical.  If it’s in the context of Carl Jung, than it’s philosophical.  If in terms of the new age, then as mystical, metaphorical or magical.

 

4. Action:

 

What are the practices associated with the work? (The practices of engagement, i.e. “Viewing” the work).

 

Demonstration, display, collaboration, discussion, invitation and outreach.

 

What are the key actions involved in making the work?

 

Recollecting, recording, publishing, linking, sharing, responding, joining, asking, teaching, reflecting

 

 

5. Livelihood:

 

What are the actual life practices associated with your question?

 

Showing people how their memories can exist within a new context, within a new way.

 

 

How do you make a livelihood?

 

I make a livelihood from selling my unique insights into the secret lives of memories existing in new worlds. 

 

I write books about my worlds and fill them with beautiful illustrations..  I also work on commission pieces of art and as a consultant to psychologists and memory doctors.

 

 

6. Effort:

·

Perfection: What does perfection look like in regards to this work? Perfection to me would look like resolution of unanswered questions, reacquainting people with memories and people, new understandings and appreciation for memories,

 

What are you actually striving for? (For the art and in your own life). Collaborative environments that work to preserve and share in personal memories

 

7. Mindfulness:

 

How do make sure all the parts of this practice are part of the same general logic? (It is important to imagine that your thoughts and your actions link up so to speak). I seek feedback, input, revisit key goals frequently, re-evaluate my progress frequently, reassess outcomes,

 

8. Concentration:

 

Where should you locate your effort? (It is easy to shape your practice into existing methodologies but given your problem in a pure state where should you locate your activities -- imagine that it is not in art as we know it...) A public forum, a publically available space, open environments, learning conducive, inviting and easily navigable

 

 

Legal Authority on Memory and Witness Testimony:

Key Association and Organizations

The Innocence Project

Website:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/fix/Eyewitness-Identification.php?gclid=CMXBl7jCnbQCFdKd4Aod1QkAuQ

About the Innocence Project

The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992. The project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. As a clinic, law students handle case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff.

Most of our clients are poor, forgotten, and have used up all legal avenues for relief. The hope they all have is that biological evidence from their cases still exists and can be subjected to DNA testing. All Innocence Project clients go through an extensive screening process to determine whether or not DNA testing of evidence could prove their claims of innocence. Thousands currently await our evaluation of their cases.

Contact Us

Innocence Project
40 Worth St., Suite 701
New York, NY 10013
info@innocenceproject.org
212.364.5340


MAINE

New England Innocence Project
160 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: 857-277-7858

Take Action

Artist's participation in the Innocence Project

The Innocence Project Artists’ Committee is a group of writers, directors, actors, visual artists and musicians who support the Innocence Project and are helping raise awareness about wrongful convictions.

Members of the Artists’ Committee lend their talent and voice to the Innocence Project’s vital work in a variety of ways. They help raise awareness and money to free innocent prisoners, they speak out about the need to prevent wrongful convictions, and they integrate these issues into their art. A wide range of artists have long been drawn to the Innocence Project because of the profound impact the organization has in its litigation and policy reform work and because they know first-hand the power of art and entertainment to raise awareness and engage more of the public in these issues.

Following are the members of the Innocence Project Artists’ Committee:

Joan Baez, Bob Balaban, Paris Barclay, Blue Man Group, Amy Brenneman, James Bundy, Stephen Colbert, Judy Collins, Zooey Deschanel, Dave Eggers, Eve Ensler, Nora Ephron (2007-2012), Jules Feiffer and Jenny Allen, James Gandolfini, John Grisham, Charles Grodin, Taylor Hackford, Dexter Holland, Gale Anne Hurd, Nia Long, Dave Matthews, Matisyahu, Frances McDormand and Joel Coen, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, Helen Mirren, Matthew Modine, Yoko Ono,Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Aidan Quinn, Trent Reznor, Susan Sarandon, Taryn Simon, John Singleton, Morgan Spurlock, Debra Winger and Arliss Howard
For more information about the Innocence Project Artists’ Committee, contact Paul Cates at 212-364-5346 or pcates@innocenceproject.org

US Justice Department

Mission:

To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RELEASES GUIDE ON EYEWITNESS EVIDENCE

Guide and Other Work Called for by Attorney General Reno

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) today released "Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement," which provides information to law enforcement officials responsible for the collection and preservation of eyewitness evidence. Based on Attorney General Reno's personal interest in this subject, NIJ Director Jeremy Travis convened a working group of leading practitioners and experts to develop the guide.

"Because of the role that eyewitnesses play in supplying critical evidence about crimes, I asked NIJ to explore this issue," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "The recommendations in this guide will be an invaluable resource for jurisdictions across the country, and can be incorporated as needed to fit unique local circumstances."

The guide is not intended to benchmark legal criteria for the admissibility of evidence. Rather, it sets out rigorous criteria for handling eyewitness evidence that are as demanding as those governing the handling of physical trace evidence.

"When the Attorney General asked us to explore this issue, we brought together not only law enforcement officials, but prosecutors, defense attorneys, and researchers," said NIJ Director Jeremy Travis. "This product represents a combination of the best current thinking on police practices and psychological research."

In May 1998, NIJ established the Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence to identify, define, and assemble a set of investigative tasks that could be performed in every investigation involving eyewitness evidence. The 34-member working group continues to work to identify "best practices" and relay this information to criminal justice professionals who can practically apply this knowledge. A list of the working group members is attached.

The Working Group is meeting Tuesday, October 26 in Washington, D.C. to discuss additional methods of disseminating information on its findings. Today, the group will begin development of a syllabus to support the new guide and discuss the development of a CD-ROM that can be distributed to interested criminal justice professionals with additional information on eyewitness evidence issues.

For a copy of the guide, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 1-800/851-3420. Additional information about NIJ and the Office of Justice Programs is available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij.

# # #

For additional information, contact Doug Johnson at 202/616-3559

Take Action:

Jobs

Internship opportunities

Student Involvement

Volunteer opportunities

Academics:

Marie S. Zagora, PhD

Dept of Psychology at Kent State

PH. 330-672-2018

mzaragoz@kent.edu

Research Area: Experimental - Cognitive

Publications:

Chrobak, Q., & Zaragoza, M. S. (accepted). When Forced Fabrications Become Truth: Casual Explanations and False Memory Development. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Ackil, J., & Zaragoza, M. S. (2011). Forced fabrication versus interviewer suggestions: Differences in false memory depend on how memory is assessed. Applied Cognitive Psychology. DOI: 10.1002/acp.1785.

Zaragoza, M. S., Mitchell, K. J., Payment, K., & Drivdahl, S. (2011). False memories for suggestions: The impact of conceptual elaboration. Journal of Memory and Language, 64 (1), 18-31.

Memon, A., Zaragoza, M. S., Clifford, B. & Kidd, L. (2010). Inoculation or antidote? The effects of Cognitive Interview timing on false memory for forcibly fabricated events. Law & Human Behavior, 34, 105-117.

Professor Gary L. Wells

Department of Psychology Phone: (515)294-6033
Iowa State University FAX: (515)294-6424
476 Science E-mail: glwells@iastate.edu
Ames, Iowa 50011
Web site: www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/gwells/homepage.htm

Publications:

Wells, G. L., Steblay, N. K., & Dysart, J. (2012). Eyewitness identification Reforms: Are suggestiveness-induced hits and guesses true hits? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 264-271.

Wells, G. L. & Loftus, E. F. (2012). Eyewitness memory for people and events. In A. Goldstein, Ed. Handbook of psychology, 2nd Ed, Volume 11, Forensic psychology. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Quinlivan D. S., Neuschatz, J. S., Douglass, A., Wells, G.L, & Wetmore, S. (2012). Disambiguating the accessibility hypothesis: The effect of post-identification feedback, delay, and suspicion using accurate witnesses. Law and Human Behavior, 36, 206-214

Journal Articles to Check Out

Jianjian Qin; Jodi A. Quas, Allison D. Redlich, Gail S. Goodman (1997). "Children's Eyewitness Testimony: Memory development in the legal context". In Nelson Cowan, Charles Hulme. The Development of Memory in Childhood. UK: Psychology Press. pp. 301–341.

Ma, L., & Ganea, P. A. (2010). Dealing with conflicting information: Young children's reliance on what they see versus what they are told. Developmental Science, 13(1), 151 – 160.

Neurophysiology, Memory and the Brain

Key Organizations:

Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California at Irvine

Mailing address

Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Herklotz Research Facility
320 Qureshey Research Laboratory
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3800

-General Information: (949) 824-5193
-Conference Information: (949) 824-5193
-Public Information: including Public Lectures and Friends Group and School Tours: (949) 824-5193
-Director's office: (949) 824-4201
-Assistant Director's Office: (949) 824-1125

Fax(949) 824-8439

E-mail

memory@uci.edu

For more than 25 years, the mission of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM) has been to conduct and promote research on the basic brain processes that underlie our ability to learn and remember. Understanding these enormously complex processes of the brain is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing and challenging quests of modern science. Moreover, it is only by understanding the normal processes of learning and memory that we gain insight into what happens when memory is impaired. We know all too well how the ability to create and retain memories can be crippled or destroyed by numerous influences including head injury, stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, the subtle consequences of nutritional deficiencies in infancy, and the effects of toxic substances and drug abuse.

Take Action: Donations Volunteer Opportunities

Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California at Irvine

UCI Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders2642 Biological Sciences III
Irvine, CA 92697-4545
Telephone: 949-824-3253
Fax: 949-824-0885

Mission: Researching Ways to Make Memories Last a Lifetime

UCI MIND seeks to conduct research to enhance the quality of life for the elderly by identifying factors and life-style approaches that promote successful brain aging. Toward this end, the Institute facilitates and coordinates a number of activities, some of which are listed below: etc.

Community:
Understanding the basic mechanisms of brain aging while developing effective treatments for neurodegenerative disorders of the brain is of local and national importance. People over 65 years old are the fastest growing segment of the American population. Today, this cohort comprises 12 percent of the population, although it is expected that the percentage of people over 65 will increase to 20 percent of the population, or 54 million individuals, by the year 2020. Maintaining cognitive function is vitally important to the quality of life for seniors. With age, however, the odds of falling victim to dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease in particular, increase markedly. Dementias afflict roughly 12 percent of the 65-74 year-old population and alarmingly 47% of people older than 85.

Take Action: Participate in Clinical Trials

For more information about research opportunities or clinical trials.

Telephone: 949-824-3249

Academics:

Lawrence F. Cahill, Ph.D.

ProfessorNeurobiology & BehaviorNeural mechanisms of emotionally influenced memory

Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
School of Biological Sciences

PH.D., University of California, Irvine, 1990

Phone: (949) 824-1937
Fax: (949) 824-2952
Email: lfcahill@uci.edu

University of California, Irvine
307 Qureshey Lab
Irvine, CA 92697-3800

Research Area: Neural mechanisms of emotionally influenced memory, sex difference in the brain

MarceloWood, Ph.D.

Associate ProfessorNeurobiology & BehaviorEpigenetics; Learning and memory

Marcelo A. Wood, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Director, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3800
(949) 824-2259

Publications and Journal Articles:

Wood MA (2011) Introduction to the special issue of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory on epigenetics and memory. Neurobio Learning & Memory, v96:1. [PDF]

McQuown SC and Wood MA (2011) HDAC3 and the molecular brake pad hypothesis. Neurobio Learning & Memory, v96:27-34. [PDF]

Books to Read:

Memory: Organization and Locus of Change, Edited by Larry R. Squire, Norman M. Weinberger, Gary Lynch and James L. McGaugh ,

ISBN13: 9780195069211ISBN10: 0195069218Hardback, 448 pages

Memory, Aging, and the Brain : a Festschrift in Honour of Lars-Göran Nilsson / edited by Lars Bäckman and Lars Nyberg Publisher Hove [England] ; New York : Psychology Press, 2010

The Overflowing Brain : Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory / Torkel Klingberg ; translated by Neil Betteridge. Oxford: NY; Oxford Univ. Press, 2009

Memory Traces in the Brain / Daniel L. Alkon Publisher Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1987

Unconscious Memory Representations in Perception [electronic resource] : Processes and Mechanisms in the Brain / edited by István Czigler, István Winkler Publisher Philadelphia, PA : John Benjamins, 2010

 

Podcasts to Listen to:

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain

Brain Aging with Patricia Greenwood Released July 2012

 

Virginia Campbell,MD
Brain Science Podcast
9340 Helena, RD, Suite F #320
Birmingham, AL, 35244

eFAX: (800) 759-8377

Voicemail: (205) 202-0663

Share your comments and feedback in the Brain Science Podcast Discussion Forum at http://brainscienceforum.com.

 

Carl Jung, Memory and Psychology

Books About

Author Lawson, Thomas T
Title Carl Jung, Darwin of the mind [electronic resource] / Thomas T. Lawson
Publisher London : Karnac, 2008

Author Shelburne, Walter A., 1946-
Title Mythos and Logos in the Thought of Carl Jung : The Theory of the Collective Unconscious in Scientific Perspective / Walter A. Shelburne
Publisher Albany : State University of New York Press, c1988


Articles and Books:

Jung, C. G. (1964), Man and His Symbols, Del Publishing, a division of Random House Inc.

Stevens, Anthony in "The Archetypes" (Chapter 3). Papadopoulos, Renos ed. (2006). The Handbook of Jungian Psychology.

Man and His Symbols Jung Carl

M.-L. von Franz, "Science and the unconscious", in Jung ed., Symbols p. 386 and p. 377

The Complete Book of Extraterrestrial Encounters : The Ideas of Carl Sagan, Erich von Däniken, Billy

Fitzgerald, Randall
New York : Collier Books, c1979 c1979

Books by:

Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Published April 23, 1989, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Academia and Academic Opportunities for Further Studying Jung in the Context of Psychology, Memory, Archtypes and Mythology:

Psychology Programs

The following are mostly graduate programs in psychology that include or allow some mythological studies as part of the work toward masters or doctorate degrees. They are listed approximately in terms of how close the content would be to the work of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung.

Pacifica Graduate Institute -- Archetypal Psychology orientation

Offers M.A. and Ph.D. in Depth Psychology
M.A. and Ph.D. in Mythological Studies
Coursework in three-day monthly retreats.
Website: www.pacifica.edu

249 Lambert Road, Carpinteria CA 93101
Phone: 805 969-3626

Institute of Imaginal Studies

M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology with imaginal / archetypal emphasis
I teach a course on Myth and Contemporary Culture every year.
47 Sixth Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
Phone: 707-765-1836

Texas A&M University, Dept. of Psychology

Offers PhD with Jungian specialization
College Station, Texas 77843-4235
Phone: 409-845-7146.

Union Institute, Cincinnatti, OH

Website: tui.edu

Graduate College offers doctorates open to Jungian Emphasis

Creighton University, Omaha, NE

Programs in theology and psychology with Jungian content

New School for Social Research. Dept. of Psychology

New York City -- Offers Jungian emphasis
Program led by Michael Adams, Ph.D. who is archetypal in orientation.

California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco

Offers doctorate with Jungian track/specialization.
Website: www.ciis.edu

University of Philosophical Research

Website: uprs.edu

M.A. in Consciousness Studies - includes Asian traditions
Distance Learning available.
I teach a course on Mythic Stories in Depth Psychology
3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027-0299
Phone: 323-663-2167

Saybrook Institute, San Francisco, CA

Website: www.saybrook.edu

Ph.D. programs open to Jungian emphasis

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

Menlo Park, CA Website: itp.edu
M.A. and Ph.D. programs with Jungian emphasis

John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, CA

Website: www.jfku.edu

M.A. and Psy.D. programs with Jungian emphasis

Antioch New England Graduate School, Vermont

APA Accredited doctoral program
Faculty includes Michael Conforti, Ph.D. (Jungian analyst)

California School of Professional Psychology

is now Alliant International University. Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego campuses.
Offers a minor in Jungian studies. Fresno campus is especially strong in Jung.

For a further list of educational opporutnities, find more info at: http://www.folkstory.com/gradpgms.html

Podcast Episodes:

Radio National The Spirit of Things

Carl Jung: regaining religion

Audio Episode

Last modified: 2/5/2012

Carl Jung's exploration of the psyche took him deep into the world of religion, myth and the occult. The founder of depth psychology, Jung said that his patients suffered from a lack of what religion used to give people, but lost, and that healing would come from a direct experience of the Divine... And the Art Gallery of NSW exhibition on Australian Symbolism delves into the art of dreams.

·  Spiritual Classics: Jung and Eckhart

Audio Episode

Last modified: 21/12/2007

Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections, published in 1961, unleashed a fascination with dreams and myth in the development of religious consciousness. David Tacey relates its importance in his life, and also of the 13th century German mystic, Meister Eckhart.

More

·  Spiritual Classics: Jung and Eckhart

Audio Episode

Last modified: 24/9/2007

Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections, published in 1961, unleashed a fascination with dreams and myth in the development of religious consciousness. David Tacey relates its importance in his life, and also of the 13th century German mystic, Meister Eckhart.

More

·  Jung and the New Age

Audio Episode

Last modified: 18/10/2001

Two of the most popular belief systems owe a lot to each other - Jungian psychology and the New Age. But are they good for each other? Jungian, David Tacey, argues that New Agers have not just popularised Jung but bastardised his teachings, in a sea of self absorption.

More

Take Action:

Join Jung Society of Washington

All about Jung.org!

Welcome to our site - Content is updated on a regular basis, so please visit us frequently.

Who are we? The Jung Society of Washington is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational membership society open to all who are interested in learning more about the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.

Office and Library Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 11:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. 202-237.8109, 202-237-8409 fax

Our Jung Society of Washington office e-mail address isJungSociety@Jung.org

Newsletter Editor is April Barrett at meta4s@mindspring.com

Membership Fees: Individual, $50.00 per year; Family, $75.00 per year; and Sustaining, $100.00 per year.

Lecture Fees: Members, vary with expenses; please see newsletter or website for individual rates

Artists at Work on Jung:

Nadean O'Brien (Rampal)

Quote from her website:

Living in the Mandala(Samantabadhra "In the Beginning")

The father mother symbolism ("yab yum") is not an example of erotic art but is considered by the devout to be a manifestation of the Buddha's highest spiritual essence. It is concrete evidence presented in a most striking and graphic manner of the existence of enlightenment, denoting the highest stage of yoga in which there is no polarity, no discrimination and the truth is indivisible. There in meditation in the presence of this artistic revelation, one can discover infinite bliss and ultimate self-realization.

HOW DOES A MANDALA WORK?

Carl Jung, psychologist, rediscovered the mandala not in a scholarly context, but in the midst of deep personal crisis when he began sketching mandalas during the First World War. He found that sacred symbols emerged spontaneously in dreams and artwork to promote wholeness and rebirth independent of religion. Eastern traditions had depicted the realization of the higher Self in elaborate and highly ritualized imagery. But, Jung actively demonstrated in that the natural function of the Self is to promote higher consciousness by integrating opposites (e.g., masculine vs. feminine). In a process depicted by even a simple mandala, these polarities are held in conscious, creative harmony by a center that unifies them.

The Sri Yantra
(Tantric Deities Symbolized in Sacred Geometry)

See more of her art at: http://www.jeweledlotus.com/Default.htm

HOW DO YOU USE A MANDALA?

New Age

Experts and Academia

Bio
Dr. Pamela Heath obtained a BA in psychology from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1976, and an MD from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1980. She practiced medicine at a variety of locations, including serving as Chief of Anesthesia in Humana Hospital-Abilene, as Director of Education for the Anesthesia Department and a member of the Surgery Faculty in Orlando Regional Medical Center, on the faculty of Anesthesia at the University of Florida in Miami, and for two years as Chief of Anesthesia at Chinle Hospital on the Navaho Reservation.

Dr. Heath began having spontaneous psychic experiences in the early 1990s. In 1995, she returned to school for a second doctorate degree (Psy.D.), this time in parapsychology from the American School of Professional Psychology and Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Psychology in California.

Dr. Heath has over 15 years experience investigating hauntings and spontaneous paranormal events, and has appeared on television and radio shows. She is a professional member of the Parapsychological Association, a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration, and an Associate of the Society for Psychical Research. She has published journal articles and textbook chapters on mind-matter interaction, place memory, experiential research, and the afterlife. Her current books include The PK Zone and Suicide: What Really Happens in the Afterlife? (also available in Spanish), Handbook to the Afterlife and Mind-Matter Interaction: Historical Reports, Research and Theory (which will also be available in Czech and Chinese soon).

Contact:

Pamela Heath

Bay Area

California

pam@pamelaheath.com

Resume can be seen at: http://www.pamelaheath.com/resume.htm

Key Organizations:

Parapsychological Association, Inc.
Annalisa Ventola, Executive Director
PO Box 24173
Columbus, OH 43224
USA

Phone/Fax: 202.318.2364

Mission / Purpose:

The Parapsychological Association, Inc. (PA) is the international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of ‘psi’ (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition.

Such experiences seem to challenge contemporary conceptions of human nature and of the physical world. They appear to involve the transfer of information and the influence of physical systems independently of time and space, via mechanisms we cannot currently explain.

The primary objective of the Parapsychological Association is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.

Take Action

Apply for Grants through the PA

Parapsychological Association Research Endowment

The Parapsychological Association (PA) received a generous donation from Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler to establish an endowment for scholarships and grants-in-aid. Its purpose is to encourage parapsychological research by students and other researchers. Dr. Schmeidler is one of parapsychology's leading researchers and educators, and with this endowment she continues and broadens her contributions to scientific parapsychology. The awards are administered by the Board of the Parapsychological Association through a committee that evaluates the grant requests. One or more awards are made each year, and the Board's preference is to enable two or more projects that require on the order of US$2,000 to US$5,000. These awards are primarily intended to pay for direct costs of conducting research, but may also be used to help defray other expenses provided the applicant is able to document the relevance of such support to parapsychological research.

Ordinarily upon award, 90% of the funds are provided. After the awardee sends a final report to the committee detailing the results of the project and how the money was spent, the final 10% of the grant is disbursed. Under exceptional circumstances the grant committee may decide to disburse the entire amount before the final report is submitted, but a report is still required. Researchers who have received a PARE grants in prior years must complete that research before being considered for additional funding.

In accordance with the goals of the Parapsychological Association to achieve a scientific understanding of psychic phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition, experimental research is a primary target for support, but proposals addressing phenomenological, sociological, historical, and other approaches will be considered. Applications for renewal of grants are also acceptable. The committee will accept brief, formal proposals (less than 3,000 words), in either plain text or an MS Word document, preferably submitted electronically. The proposal should have a cover page with the Title and a brief abstract (50 words or less) of the research, contact information for the applicant, and a short statement of personal qualifications. The latter should include indication of student status or a degree from an accredited university. The body of the proposal should describe the proposed research with a clear statement of the hypothesis or other focus of the work, a short summary of the relevant literature, some information about methodology, a statement of the resources needed along with a budget, an expected time-line for completion, and plans for formal presentation and/or publication of the work. Letters of support from people who will be involved in supervising or helping with the work, or other relevant documentation, will substantially assist the committee in its deliberations.

Judgments will be made based on the quality of the proposal and its prospects for completion as a useful contribution to the field. Applications must be submitted by June 30, and awards will be announced at the PA's Annual meeting.

Please send all materials and inquiries to: Dr. Harvey Irwin, hirwin2@une.edu.au.

 

Artists Working with New Age Subject Matters:

Chris Mars is a new age artist I've been following recently. His work reflects upon Heidegger's fourfold in that his art demonstrates perfectly what some (mortals) do when they're having a hard time understanding (something scary that threatens their sense of wellbeing). Whether its a noise they've heard that can't be explained, a shadow that looks suspicious, or a frightening mental illness such as is the case with Chris's brother who has schizophrenia, they often attempt to explain the unfamiliar or uncomfortable as something new age or paranormal related i.e. monsters, ghosts, hauntings, curses and vampires.

Chris' artwork depicts his reaction to the way his brother has been treated by society, his peers, and the mental health care system (paradigms, values, directions, the Gods) . He feels powerless ( senses his mortality) over why it happens, and wants somehow to control it so that it doesnt' feel so scary to him (denies mortality (how deluszian)). By creating these fascinating depictions of goblins, zombies and ghouls, he not only creates something that helps him to cope with the unknown and scary, but he feels as though he is helping to bring those who are marginalized for various reasons, back into society by teaching others how to identify with the ostracized, to accept and maybe embrace the differences in others, to find compassion and healing throuch acceptance and inclusion (what is revealed, shown to the sky). In this sense, Chris' art creates an important gathering i.e. the mental health care system, caretakers, the mentally ill, those who marginalize, institutions and legislation that work to inadvertently or systematically marginalize the mentally ill and those who are seeking to bring the marginalized back into a more understanding and better adjusted society. What is hidden here, or not revealed, (earth) are all of the other issues that get in the way of us (mortals) being able to better include the mentally ill into society: need for better insurance coverage, a better understanding of how to treat mental illness, more social spending on programs that can assist the disabled, respite for those who are exhausted and depleted of resources in caring for the loved ones who are mentally ill.

A quote from Chis' website: http://www.chrismarspublishing.com/home.htm

2005

I learned it first from my Brother. He didn’t teach me; I watched it. They will pin a word on your chest and use it against you. They will create a word that’s excuse to take your humanity away. I saw it happen to him.

And everyday, this: A word zto make you serve, and one to make you grateful for it. There is a label out there just for you. This will make you easier to categorize, and sell to. There is a word for the man next to you that makes you comfortable with the fact that you have so much more than he does. There is a word for you that tells you what to settle for.

There are the voiceless, who cannot speak for themselves. These are the easiest ones to shrink down. There are words for the non-conformers, simple words that can be quickly acknowledged by those that buy in. Crazy. Faggot. Gang. Rich. One is sinful, one is lazy, one is violent by nature and one is always, always good enough.

It’s such a precious thing that no one wants you to have it. You can’t be trusted with it. It’s such a delicate thing that it turns to something different in different hands. They might bury it but you can dig it up. You are strong enough for the Truthz. From my hands, my mission: To free the oppressed; to champion the persecuted, and the submissive; to liberate through revelation the actualized Self in those proposed by some to have no self at all. It’s in every single one of us, somewhere underneath that word on our chest.

In my hands, my version: All art is political in some sense, be it through conformity, reflection, propaganda or rebellion. My paintings are rallies and trials, photographs of a moment when Truth was made public, and Mercy known.

Question why a villain is villainized, a victim martyred. Ask why a group is demonized, and the motives for control. See for yourself what the truth looks like in your hands. Dig it up and hold it for a while. This work you see, it’s my Truth. But please don’t take my word for it.

So look closely at my work, look hard. Because I'm trying to show you something beautiful.