Computational mind reading group

Speaker: Dr Celia Harris (Macquarie University)

Topic: What are the active ingredients of successful shared remembering?

Abstract:

In this deceptively simple exchange, in which an older couple – married for 40 years – remember their honeymoon, we see the mundane but potentially powerful processes that can cue and facilitate memory when we remember with other people. In ongoing research, I have demonstrated that memory benefits are possible when older couples reminisce together, but even in these highly intimate and experienced groups, not all collaborative remembering is successful.

There have been recent suggestions that collaborative remembering may have therapeutic value in supporting memory for those who need it, particularly older adults and those experiencing cognitive decline. But so far, we don’t know what “active ingredients” of collaboration drive memory benefits in older couples: is it their shared history, their intimacy, their need for cognitive support, their skill and practice at reminiscing together, or some combination of these? Each of these factors needs to be clearly identified and evaluated before this promising empirical research can be translated into effective therapy.

In this talk, I discuss a range of possible active ingredients contributing to benefits of shared remembering; different factors that may underlie the heterogenous outcomes of group remembering. I sketch early findings from across a series of experiments in which I isolate and test particular aspects of group remembering – the cues provided, the individuals within the group, and group communication processes – to determine which of these “ingredients” modulate group success. I highlight considerations for such attempts to apply findings from collaborative recall experiments to intervention development.

Further information

Bio: Celia Harris is currently an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University. She completed her PhD at Macquarie University and her postdoc at the Center of Autobiographical Memory Research at Aarhus University, Denmark. Harris’ research focuses on the way that memories are shared in groups, the ways that memories can be cued, and the functions that memory serves in bringing meaning to people and building social relationships.

Celia Harris

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Contact details

Dr Mark Sprevak