Meaning construction in remembering: A synthesis of Bartlett and Vygotsky

F.C. Bartlett and L.S.Vygotsky were two seminal figures in the psychological study of remembering. Both emphasized the role of meaning and imagination in this process. Bartlett did this by showing the systematic and holistic changes that ensue when cultural material is repeatedly reproduced outside of the group to which it belongs. Vygotsky, on the other hand, attended to the ways in which we construct meaningful ―signs‖ as artificial memory aids to solve memory problems that go beyond our natural capacities. These two approaches are brought together to show how we utilize various cultural resources as tools to imaginatively overcome difficulties in remembering, and in so doing elaborate new meanings. The synthesis is exemplified with an example from research conducted in conversational remembering.