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Taxing memory: Writing, memory, and conceptual change

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Commentary onDonaldMerlin (1993) Précis of Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. BBS 16: 737–791

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

David R. Olson
David R. Olson
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Cognitive Science, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor Street W., Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, Canada. dolson@oise.on.ca
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Abstract

Writing is important not because it “extends memory” but because it invites new concepts. The basic cognitive resources, including memory, have remained unchanged for perhaps a million years but the objects on which it has to work have changed significantly partly because of writing which has tended to turn speech into an object of reflection and analysis.

Type
Continuing Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 158
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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