Concept · Revised

Adaptive memory

The capacity of memory to be reconstructed, reweighted, and updated as present needs and meanings change.

Why it matters

A working definition, open to revision.

Memory systems often treat fidelity as their only measure of quality. Adaptive memory asks when change supports learning, recovery, identity, and social repair, and when it instead becomes distortion or manipulation.

Dissenting question

Who is protected, and who is denied accountability, when a memory is allowed to change?

Related concepts

Synthetic memory→Continuity pressure→Canonical recall→

Key publications