Episodic Memory through the lens of Aphantasia

We are pleased to invite you to the next session of the Empirically Informed Philosophy of Mind online Seminar 

Who: Margherita Arcangeli (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Jean Nicod Institute)
When: Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 — 5:00–6:30 pm (CET)
Where: Online via Zoom — Join here
What: Episodic Memory through the lens of Aphantasia

A recent proposal is to characterize aphantasia as an episodic memory condition. Aphantasics show difficulties in recalling details of situations from their distant and recent past. They are less confident about their episodic memories and also seem to be less emotionally affected by them. But can we really say that aphantasics have a poor episodic memory? The aim of this talk is to analyze in depth four strands of research (i.e., pictorial memory tests, memory accuracy, hippocampal activity, and SDAM) that challenge this idea and emphasize the necessity for a more in-depth understanding of episodic memory in aphantasics. 

For any questions, please contact:
Sacha Behrend — [email protected]
Elodie Boissard — [email protected]

Program

• 17 Sept 2025: Géraldine Carranante — Can we list what we can see?
• 1 Oct 2025: Jérôme Dokic — Two levels of confusion between Imagination and Memory
• 12 Nov 2025: Margherita Arcangeli — Episodic Memory through the lens of Aphantasia
• 3 Dec 2025: James Grayot — How do embodied and extended minds internalize contents?
• 13 Jan 2026: Raphaël Künstler — TBA
• 4 Feb 2026: Constant Bonard — Can a Belief–Desire Theory Explain All Affective States?

Organizers:
Sacha Behrend — Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Hradec Králové (Czech Republic) / Affiliated Researcher, Institut d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Elodie Boissard — Postdoctoral Researcher, Bordeaux Neurocampus Department / Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (UMR 5287), Université de Bordeaux, CNRS