"Memory is a verb, not a noun" - The Ecological Explorers Christmas Lecture feat Andrew Wilson

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Dec 21, 2025

In this enlightening discussion, Andrew Wilson, an academic from Leeds Beckett University, explores memory as an active process rather than a static storage system. He introduces the concept of remembering as reassembling our brain-body-environment systems. Andrew critiques traditional memory models and presents dynamical systems as a more effective framework. He emphasizes the role of cues in reconstructive memory and discusses implications for coaching, showcasing how our actions reshape our memory capabilities. This radical approach offers fresh insights into learning and skill development.

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INSIGHT

Memory As Embodied Reassembly

Memory is not a stored representation but a capacity of a brain-body-environment system to reassemble into past dynamics.
Remembering is an active, embodied process of becoming the system that can perform the past behaviour.

INSIGHT

Learning Changes Who You Are

Learning reshapes the whole brain-body-environment system into a new dynamical state space.
The stable thing over time is the reorganised dynamic, not a stored internal copy of an event.

INSIGHT

Temporary Assemblies Underpin Action

Talons/synergies are transient assemblies that configure degrees of freedom for a specific task.
Remembering requires reassembling those task-specific assemblies, not retrieving a symbol.

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In this special 300th episode of the podcast my good friend Andrew Wilson from Leeds Beckett University delivers a ;Christmas Lecture for members of the Ecological Explorers Club and The Guild of Ecological Explorers.

In the lecture he navigates a fascinating discussion about how ecological psychology reconceptualises memory. Rather than viewing memory as stored representations in the brain, Andrew introduces a radical embodied approach where remembering is an active process of reassembling ourselves into the dynamical systems we once were. Drawing on Robin Wilford and Mike Anderson's recent paper on radical embodied memory, he challenges us to think about memory not as a noun but as a verb - not as something we have, but as something we do.

Three Key Takeaways:

Memory isn't stored, it's reconstructed: The traditional view of encoding, storage, and retrieval misses the point. What remains stable over time isn't a representation tucked away in your brain, but your capacity to become the kind of brain-body-environment system that can manifest that behaviour again. You don't retrieve a memory - you reassemble yourself into something capable of doing what you did before. The entire system remembers, not just the brain:

Skilled behaviour emerges from the coupling of brain, body, and environment working together as a dynamical system. When you learn to hit a softball or walk on ice, you're not just changing your brain - you're reorganising your entire perception-action system. This is why muscle memory is misleading language; the remembering happens in the whole assembled system, not in isolated parts.

Learning changes what you are, not what you know: Every experience reshapes you as a dynamical system, adding new capabilities to your state space. When you learn a new skill, you become an entirely different kind of system - one that can now do this new thing as well as all your previous capabilities. This explains why confidence knocks can be so disruptive: they don't block access to a stored memory, they reshape your dynamic in ways that make you literally unable to reassemble into the system that could perform that skill.

Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers to explore these ideas further and connect with a community of practitioners thinking differently about coaching and development. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'join a learning group' button.

Link to Andrew's Blog post on the paper https://psychsciencenotes.blogspot.com/2025/11/radical-embodied-memory-wilford.html

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Ready to explore these ideas further? Join The Guild of Ecological Explorers – a community of practitioners committed to deepening their understanding of ecological dynamics and constraints-led approaches. Head to www.thetalentequation.co.uk and click the 'Join a Learning Group' button to become part of this transformative conversation