The psychology of memory and recollection : read to the Psychological Society of Great Britain, June 1st, 1876 / by Mr. Serjeant Cox.

  • Edward William Cox
Date:
1876
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The psychology of memory and recollection : read to the Psychological Society of Great Britain, June 1st, 1876 / by Mr. Serjeant Cox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    contend that these varieties of memories are dependent upon the capacities of the several mental faculties to whose pro- vince those mental actions are consigned. Referring to the physiology of memory suggested above, it will be seen to be in entire accord with the contention of the Phrenologists, so far as it relates to the distinct offices of the various mental faculties. But the Psychological theory carries it one step further. According to the suggestion I have ventured to advance, that memory is an act of the Conscious Self and not of the brain merely, the process may be thus described : The various mental faculties, through their material organ the brain, impart their impressions to the Conscious Self, by which they are stored away. Inasmuch as the number and vividness of the memories so stored are dependent upon the capacity of the brain organ of those faculties, the power of recollection—that is to to say, the capacity for recalling those stored-up memories—would be proportioned to the power of transmission. The memory, thus understood, is a faculty of the entire individual Con- scious Self, which receives and retains all the brain impres- sions brought to it by the brain, and, therefore, is dependent upon the various capacities of the brain that brings them. With the Metaphysicians we hold Memory to be one faculty ofjthe Conscious Self—the individual entity we recognise as “I” and “You.” With the Phrenologists we hold that each mental faculty conveys to that Conscious Self its own impressions and that the process of Recollection is performed through the same mental faculty. The process of memory and that of recollection are consequently alike dependent for power upon the capacity of the brain organ that conducts them. The mechanism of Memory and the manner of its action may, therefore, be thus described : The brain receives all sense impressions, which it carries [140]