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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    to the other extremity in the brain at which the impression is communicated to the Conscious Self—this nerve being in fact, an extension of the brain. We can only conceive of this action as being performed by motions of the mole- cules of the brain, which motions suggest to the Conscious Self (of which the brain is the molecular organ for commu- nication with the molecular world) the words so impressed upon the sense of hearing. The Conscious Self takes cognizance of this motion of the brain and retains the consciousness of it. This is what we call memory, and thus it_is that we “ commit to memory.” Years afterwards we desire to recal the words so con- signed to the memory. How is this process of recollection accomplished ? Thus : The Will goes to work and calls into action that part of the brain which performs the functions of the mental faculty of language, (for each mental faculty has its own memory). The process by which the required words are found when not immediately reproduced is by recalling other words or objects with which the desired words had been associated; a process well called by the Mental Philoso- phers “ simple suggestion.” This brain action is received by the Self, and the past impression is revived, or, as we say, recollected. This is the Psychological view of the Mechanism of Memory and Recollection, and it is equally good as an explanation of it, whether the brain be the Conscious Self, as the Materialists contend, or whether the Conscious Self be something other than the brain, as Psychology contends. Even if the brain be the ultimate agent, no other reasonable explanation of the mental action of Memory and Recollec- tion has been yet suggested. The explanation offered by some, that all mental action is merely a motion of the molecules of the brain, and that [142]