Galvanised seminar 4: Memory and the importance of forgetting

Galvanised: connecting science, engineering and the arts in EFI: Seminar 4

In the fourth seminar of the series, guest lecturer's will be Prof Richard Morris FRS and Laura Cram

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This seminar will cover '"memory and the importance of forgetting". Memory is a process of mind that we are apt to take for granted despite it serving so often as the "glue" that holds so much together. Historians, philosophers, experimental psychologists and now neuroscientists have long been interested in facets of memory. In this seminar, we shall reflect on where we are in understanding it and how memory can be part of the future.

The seminars this week are given by Professors Richard Morris (Edinburgh Neuroscience) and Laura Cram (Politics and International Relations).

"The systematic scientific study of memory has been underway for over 100 years and understanding its neurobiological mechanisms represents one of the "grand challenges" of contemporary neuroscience. It is a challenge in which the diverse scientific community is making considerable progress. Memory is central to daily life - family and work - and understandably its expression can be a joy and its loss greatly feared. I shall touch on the organisation of memory, the making or 'encoding' process, some puzzles about memory retention, and the loss of memory. Interestingly, the automaticity of memory implies that forgetting is vital for normal function, a theme taken up in the second talk (Richard Morris).

"Memory is central to the study of collective identities and their effects. Shared memories, whether real or constructed, form a central pillar of, for example, national narratives and myths. Individuals are exposed daily to symbolic and functional reminders of their national identity. Coins, symbols, background flags, driving licences and passports all ‘flag’ the belonging of the individual to the collective. Implicit exposure to reminders of national identity have been demonstrated to have an effect on political attitudes and behaviours and even on the relative valuation of monetary gains. Just as important, however, for collective identity formation and maintenance is the process of collective forgetting of past antagonisms or inconvenient pasts. This allows a constant re-imagination and re-learning of the collective. I ask whether the neurobiological mechanisms related to memory, visual attention and social learning may help us to understand a little more about the processes through which, national identities are imagined, re-imagined and mobilised in a political context (Laura Cram)

About the series

This semester, a series of seminars have been organised by Professor Richard Morris in conjunction with the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) involving fellow science and engineering colleagues in the University.

EFI hopes to spark new insights by galvanising radically different perspectives on a theme. Each fortnight, we will have one scientist/engineer, and one researcher in humanities, arts or social sciences sharing work and leading discussion. The themes this year range from climate issues and their likely impact on sustainable design, the origin of HIV and issues surrounding public health in fragile nations, astonishing new materials that are on the horizon, the science of memory and developments in neuroscience that may affect our politics. The series will end with a return to a core theme of our age - policies for global sustainability.

Drinks and snacks will be served at the start of each session: the perfect weekend kick off.

Itinerary for evening:

4.00pm Drinks and Snacks served

4.15pm Talks start

5.30pm Break for refreshments whilst question are taken from the audience

6.00pm Finish

Please be aware that they distribute 25% more tickets than seats that are available, this is due to a high number of events that only have 50% attendance rate. Due to this we advise being on time for the event, as we will maintain a first come basis for seats for ticket holders.