Modeling an enactivist multiple-trace memory. ATHENA: A fractal model of human memory

Enactive Memory

“…More recently, the ATHENA model (Briglia et al, 2018), referring to the enactivist idea that the experience of seeing occurs when an organism perceives sensorimotor regularities or sensorimotor contingencies, proposes that what is learned are the covariances between the present sensorimotor information processing and past sensorimotor information processing. Consequently, in ATHENA, memory does not remember recoverable contents but reusable processes (Brouillet and Versace, 2019).…”

Storage of Information and Its Implications for Human Development: A Dialectic Approach

“…We are coming to terms with the idea that human cognition in general may extend beyond the brain. Proponents of E4 cognition theory argue that mental processes are embodied (e.g., in the body), embedded (within an environmental context), enacted (namely, dependent on an organism’s activity), and extended (relying on information storage beyond the brain) ( Clark and Chalmers, 1998 ; Clark, 2008a ; Menary, 2010 ; Rowlands, 2010 ; Favela and Chemero, 2016 ; Briglia et al, 2018 ). The last attribute of the E4 cognition thesis is especially relevant today, since we are in an era where massive amounts of information are encoded within and permeate our daily experience.…”

Memory: An Extended Definition

“…Single-system models posit that the hippocampus supports the neocortex in encoding and storing long-term memories through strengthening connections, finally leading the memory to become independent from the hippocampus (Ibid.). Multiple-trace theory instead proposes that each memory has a unique code or memory trace, which continues to involve the hippocampus to an extent (Hintzman and Block, 1971; Hintzman, 1986, 1990; Whittlesea, 1987; Versace et al, 2014; Briglia et al, 2018). In another theory, memory is understood as a form of negative entropy or rich energy (Wiener, 1961, 1988), which is then processed in a way that minimizes the expenditure of energy by the brain (Friston, 2010; Van der Helm, 2016).…”

“…This approach is being called 4E cognition (Embodied, Embedded, Extended, and Enactive). For example, enactivism posits that cognition is a dynamic interaction between an organism and its environment (Varela et al, 1991; Chemero, 2009; Menary, 2010; Rowlands, 2010; Favela and Chemero, 2016; Briglia et al, 2018). According to this framework, cognition is a process of incorporation between the environment and the body/brain/mind.…”