Reminiscence is a mysterious phenomenon, the mechanisms of which are not completely clear to researchers. Human memory is selective and memorable are those events, materials that were emotionally colored and had practical meaning. But it would seem: a lot of time has passed and everything has been forgotten ... and suddenly comes to mind unexpectedly and so brightly.
What is a reminiscence?
Each person met with such a phenomenon as an unexpected memory of a seemingly long-forgotten childhood event, an old song or a poem - a reminiscence (lat.reminiscentia - a reminder), a long-term memory effect in which lifelong traces of recycled information that can not be erased and pop up in memory by the time incident.
What is a reminiscence in psychology?
Reminiscence in psychology is a phenomenon of memory. Pierre Janet, a French scientist who studied the phenomenon, came to the conclusion that reminiscence does not depend on external events and factors and is a completely automatic repetition of actions. Psychologists believe that the reminiscence of memory is a normal state of the psyche: during overflowing with joyful or stressful events, the person's mental processes are subject to inhibition, due to overload - this is a protective mechanism of the psyche . In the following emotionally colored events are suddenly recalled.
Allusion and Reminiscence - differences
Allusions and reminiscences are almost identical concepts in the literary sphere. Allusion is a "hint" or "joke" referring to another literary work, to the author of an event, to a specific person. Elements of allusions are concentrated throughout the text. Without a knowledge of the source to which the allusion refers, it is difficult for the reader to perceive the text. The concept of reminiscence differs from allusion, in that it is always an unconscious "memory", an echo of "literature in literature", whereas an allusion is an explicit, clear reference to another source.
Reminiscence - types
The phenomenon of reminiscence as a process can be seen in various fields of applied sciences, art, everyday life. The most famous types of reminiscence:
- Historical and philosophical reminiscence . Ancient Greek philosopher Plato reasoned that all surrounding phenomena and objects are related to each other and thanks to this fact one can recall everything about everything. Any knowledge is a memory or a remember. In his work "Phaedra" - Plato argues that reminiscence is like the sacrament of initiation and the approach to the spiritual.
- Cinematographic reminiscence . Bright stylistic devices and effects, something that attracts the viewer in the cinema. Reminiscence in cinema is a frequent technique. Attention of the viewer is sent to any cross events, a return to the past, works of art of great artists are used, as in L. Riefenstahl's film "The Triumph of Will", when an analogy with the painting by K.Mone is shown: "St. Denis Street on National Day ": Fluttering flags, without the designation of figures holding banners.
- Reminiscence - as a phenomenon of the psyche . Delayed recollection of any material or event.
- Philological (literary) reminiscence . Text reminiscences are of the following varieties:
- introduction to the text of certain words or expressions (recognizable by the reader proverbs, aphorisms, quotations);
- mention of cultural events of the past;
- the creation of the author characters with a descriptive characteristic of the characters familiar to the reader ("this was a typical Shakespearean Romeo").
Forgetting and Reminiscence
Remembering a large amount of information is a very important process for students, on this depends the success and effectiveness of learning the disciplines. The memory of a person is arranged so that information that is not subject to comprehension and systematic repetition is quickly forgotten. Forgetting is the opposite of reminiscence process, but this does not mean that everything is erased from memory, the so-called traces remain and the effect of reminiscence is that a person after a long time suddenly recalls a song, film or book that was once forgotten, with the smallest details.