anamnesis
noun

- the recollection or remembrance of the past; reminiscence

- a patient's account of their medical history

- a prompt immune response to a previously encountered antigen, characterized by more rapid onset and greater effectiveness of antibody and T cell reaction

- the recollection, especially of a supposed previous existence

Oxford Languages / Dictionary(dot)com / Collins Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

“Anamnesis” stems from two Greek components: ana- (ανά) meaning "up", "back", or "again” and mnēsis (μνήσις) meaning "memory" or "act of remembering”. Literally translated, anamnesis translates to "recollection" or "calling to mind”.

The concept of anamnesis finds its roots in Plato's theory of knowledge. Plato believed knowledge wasn't acquired anew, but rather recollected from a previous existence, the realm of Forms. Through anamnesis, one could access this innate knowledge through reason and contemplation.

The term "anamnesis" entered the English language in the mid-1600s, borrowed directly from Latin and derived from Greek.

Over time, anamnesis transcended philosophy and entered the medical field by the Middle Ages. It referred to the process of gathering a patient's medical history.

Today, anamnesis retains its medical meaning and has also found application in psychology, particularly in psychoanalysis, where it signifies the process of uncovering repressed memories.

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MEMORIES LOST & FOUND

In his monumental novel 'In Search of Lost Time', Marcel Proust pioneered the literary exploration of a profound psychological concept - anamnesis. This term refers to the vivid resurrection of long-forgotten memories triggered by seemingly insignificant sensory experiences in the present. For Proust, it was the taste of a madeleine cookie dipped in tea that unlocked an overwhelming tide of memories from his childhood in Combray. The evocative smell and flavour transported him back decades, resurrecting intricate details and emotional resonances inaccessible through voluntary acts of remembering.

Proust's revolutionary insights revealed that memory is fundamentally encoded through all five senses, not just visual inputs. Smells, tastes, textures, and sounds imprint themselves subtly into our subconscious, only to be later recovered by parallel sensory cues.

Paul & Helga Smith

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SYNONYMS

Synonyms for “recollection”:

anamnesis, calling to mind, commemoration, déjà vu, eidetic memory, flashback, flash of memory, flood/fragment of memories, glimmer of recollection, hint of the past, journey (trip) down memory lane, memory flashback (jogger, lane, picture, recall, revival), mental flashback (photograph, picture, snapshot), musing, nod to the past, recall, recapture, recognition, RECOLLECTION, reflection, reliving, reminiscence, remembrance, retrospect, retrospection, review, reviewal, rumination, stirring of memory

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