Collective place memory: Remembering together in place-people ecosystems

Citation

Fernandez Velasco P & Sutton J (2025) Collective place memory: Remembering together in place-people ecosystems. Current Opinion in Psychology, 68, Art. No.: 102225. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X25002386; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225

Abstract
Collective memory is deeply connected to place. Places are powerful mnemonic cues, and many practices of collective remembering are tied to place. However, experimental psychology has largely overlooked this connection. Here, we leverage distributed cognition theory to develop a framework within which existing psychological research can explore the connection between place and collective memory. We do so by focusing on two areas of growing recent research attention: social wayfinding and atmospheres, two key examples of how collective memory and place are intertwined.

Keywords
Collective memory; Place; Social wayfinding; Distributed cognition; Atmospheres

Journal
Current Opinion in Psychology: Volume 68

• Collective place memory: Remembering together in place-people ecosystems