Chris Moulin, "Memory is always on: Exploration of spontaneous phenomena in human memory"

Monday 19 Jan 2026, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Brussels

B-30/0-000 - Big meeting room (CRC)

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in spontaneous phenomena in cognition, partly motivated by our understanding of the default mode network, but also by a growing interest in how memory operates in the real world. In this presentation, we will put forward our view that human memory—particularly memory for one’s personal past—should be conceived as a constantly active system that monitors the environment and brings past experiences into consciousness when they are relevant. A set of associated sensations and subjective experiences, such as familiarity and novelty, plays a metacognitive role in guiding this system. We present results from tasks showing how this content and these sensations emerge spontaneously when attention is diffuse.

Christopher Moulin, PhD, is a professor of cognitive neuropsychology at Grenoble Alpes University in France. He is a specialist in human memory, especially the processes involved in coordinating and accessing memory function in humans, and especially in memory dysfunction. He is notably known for his work in the field of déjà vu.

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