Chapter 1: Memory in the Wild: Life Space, Setting-Specificity, and Ecologies of Experience

There is a well-known picture (see Figure 1.1) of Wilhem Wundt standing with his research colleagues in his Leipzig Psychological Laboratory. Wundt stares directly into the camera lens, his hands placed symmetrically either side of two response switches, surrounded by the attentive assistants. He is clearly the “subject” of an experiment about to begin, but also, equally clearly, the “head” of the group, placed at the very center of the image, with his body framed against the contrasting white backdrop of a large graph of data. To the left of Wundt in the picture are the older members of the group, taking notes and carefully observing proceedings. To the right are the younger members, poised over the control switches, skilled in the operation of the technical apparatus that fills the room. Moving from the left to right, the viewer is confronted with a new synthesis in knowledge of the psychological—the fusion of the tradition of philosophical empiricism with emerging scientific technics.