Radical Embodied Memory

In this paper, we present Radical Embodied Memory (REM), a new theory of memory grounded in thecommitments and concepts of radical embodiment. First, we distinguish between the conceptualfoundations of mainstream cognitive neuroscience and radical embodied cognitive neuroscience anddescribe what it means for a theory of memory to be “radically embodied”. Specifically, we argue thatREM is radically embodied insofar as it explains memory using the conceptual resources of neural reuse,neural resonance, environmental coordination, and dynamical systems theory instead of the mainstreammemory concepts of stimulus, encoding, storage and retrieval. Using the sorts of models proposed indynamical systems theory, REM posits that memories are previously traversed locations in the state spaceof the brain-body-environment system. The activity of remembering is then that system’s dynamicsmoving back to those locations. We then survey key findings from the memory neuroscience literatureand reinterpret the results through the lens of REM. Namely, we explain the role of the hippocampus andcortico-hippocampal interactions, amnesia, relational memory, and memory consolidation using this newframework. We end with a discussion on the practical implications of modelling memory as distributedacross the brain-body-environment system, including new hypotheses and considerations for experimentaldesign. In doing so, we hope to provide a conceptual and methodological framework for the cognitiveneuroscientist interested in studying memory as radically embodied.