Proust's contribution to the psychology of memory - The reminiscences fromthe standpoint of cognitive science

The work of Proust is generally considered to be a major contribution to th e psychology of memory. However, there has been no recent evaluation of thi s contribution from the standpoint of the cognitive sciences. In this artic le, I examined the scientific status of the reminiscences, this form of ret rieval being illustrated by the famous episode of the petite madeleine. It appears that the reminiscences have a place in the taxonomy of the normal m emory: they are a form of cued retrieval of explicit memory, characterized by an episodic content where the spatial component of the context is partic ularly important. Current interpretations in terms of affective or unconsci ous memory do not seem to be well. grounded. The description of the reminis cences cannot be taken at face value for it is subordinate to a philosophy of art which is the main purpose of A la recherche du temps perdu.