Transformations of Memory: Articulations between Sigmund Freud and Eric Kandel (Transformations of memory)

Abstract

The topic of this investigation is the memory and its transformations, exemplified by the dialogue between psychoanalysis and the neurosciences, represented by the works of S. Freud and E. Kandel, respectively. The goal is to investigate the points of convergence between the theorizations of these two authors about changes in memory and, from that, to outlines the possible connections, regarding some psychological and neurological processes that act in such transformations. For that, Freud’s notions about mnemic retranscriptions, concealing memories and Nachträglichkeit (après-coup) and also the consolidation and reconsolidation mechanisms of long-term memory described by Kandel are addressed. The main convergence identified in the publications of these authors is the fact that the memory is susceptible to (re) constructions retroactively.