The process of memory semantization as the result of interactions between individual, collective, and social memories

The study of the links between episodic memory (memory of personal experiences) and semantic memory (memory of general knowledge about the world, others, and oneself) has played a significant role in psychology and neuroscience research for several decades. The way memories lose specificity and become semantized over time, and how these two major memory systems interact to represent the individual in the social world and allow to project themselves into the future, are particularly fascinating themes in understanding the mechanisms of autobiographical memory. Numerous studies rely on various memory pathologies, primarily amnesic syndromes but also other disorders where memory impairment is not the main symptom, such as autism spectrum disorders. The thesis we support in this opinion paper is that the process of semantization is not limited to the individual system of consciousness alone, at the root of individual memories, but presupposes cooperation between three types of systems: the central nervous system, the individual system of consciousness and the social system (society). The conceptual tools favored by historians and sociologists complement those of psychologists and neuroscientists, allowing for an original elaboration of this construction of human memory, at the interfaces of individual, collective, and social memories. Based on pioneering works in the social sciences and cognitive neuroscience, we illustrated our position with longitudinal studies conducted in the framework of the “Programme 13-Novembre”, established following the attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris and its surrounding suburbs. Using this example, and after recalling the theoretical origins of the process of memory semantization in neuropsychology, this article proposes a framework for analyzing the cognitive and social processes that lead to the semantization of memories in individuals, within groups of various sizes, and in society as a whole.