Microgenetic approach to thought and memory

Abstract

In neuropsychology, disorders of memory and thinking are usually treated as independent problems mediated by different neural substrates. This paper describes the process of thinking from a microgenetic standpoint, and to this end, takes up some aspects of thought that are often neglected in other accounts, such as the relation of conscious thought to unconscious process, the relation to memory, and to the self, agency and causation. The argument is that thought, memory, language and feeling are generated by a common process, with language "grafted" to the axis of act and object development. The apparent separation of these capacities is due to a difference in the configural nature of the core construct, the primary path of its micro-temporal development (action, perception), the dominant segment in the phase-transition and the emphasis in the mental state underlying the final content on visual or verbal imagery, i.e. introspection or imagination. It is hoped that this approach will provide an antidote to the increasing modularization of content and neglect of formative process anterior to content, and recapture the generality out of which an act of cognition develops.