Self-Improvising Memory: A Perspective on Memories as Agential, Dynamically Reinterpreting Cognitive Glue

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Biology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Synthetic Bioengineering
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Traditional memory research focuses on data storage and retrieval mechanisms.
• This study explores memory's role in dynamic adaptation and reinterpretation by agents.
• It considers memory from molecular to societal scales.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a new perspective on memory as preserving salience rather than fidelity.
• To investigate the role of adaptive confabulation in memory persistence.
• To explore substrate-independent and processual views of memory in cognitive systems.

Main Methods:

• Cross-disciplinary synthesis of examples from biology, neuroscience, and engineering.
• Conceptual analysis of memory as a dynamic, adaptive process.
• Exploration of embodied perspectives and polycomputation in sense-making.

Main Results:

• Memory's primary function is preserving salience, enabling adaptation to changing environments.
• Adaptive confabulation is key to overcoming the persistence paradox across biological scales.
• A processual view suggests memories act as active agents in sense-making.

Conclusions:

• Memory's adaptive nature is crucial for individual and lineage persistence.
• Viewing memory as active agents in sense-making offers unifying insights.
• This perspective is relevant for Diverse Intelligence and novel embodied mind engineering.