Mnemonic convergence in social networks: The emergent properties of cognition at a collective level
Abstract
Human memory is highly malleable. Because of this malleability, jointly remembering the past along with another individual often results in increased similarity between the conversational partners' memories. We propose an approach that examines the conversation between a pair of participants as part of a larger network of social interactions that has the potential to reveal how human communities form collective memories. Empirical evidence indicating that dyadic-level conversational alignment processes give rise to community-wide shared memories is presented. We find that individual-level memory updating phenomena and social network structure are two fundamental factors that contribute to the emergence of collective memories.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1525569113
- Bibcode:
- 2016PNAS..113.8171C