Collective place memory: remembering together in place-people ecosystems

Pablo Fernandez Velasco; John Sutton

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225

Collective place memory: remembering together in place-people ecosystems

Pablo Fernandez Velasco, John Sutton^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

1 Downloads (Pure)

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.

Original language	English
Article number	102225
Pages (from-to)	1-5
Number of pages	5
Journal	Current Opinion in Psychology
Volume	68
Early online date	29 Nov 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225
Publication status	Published - Apr 2026
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Atmospheres
Collective memory
Distributed cognition
Place
Social wayfinding

Access to Document

10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 1.61 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{32230e74f0564d9194409a17831d3985,

title = "Collective place memory: remembering together in place-people ecosystems",

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 = "Atmospheres, Collective memory, Distributed cognition, Place, Social wayfinding",

author = "\{Fernandez Velasco\}, Pablo and John Sutton",

note = "Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2026",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225",

language = "English",

volume = "68",

pages = "1--5",

journal = "Current Opinion in Psychology",

issn = "2352-250X",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Collective place memory

T2 - remembering together in place-people ecosystems

AU - Fernandez Velasco, Pablo

AU - Sutton, John

N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2026/4

Y1 - 2026/4

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Atmospheres

KW - Collective memory

KW - Distributed cognition

KW - Place

KW - Social wayfinding

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105024540263

U2 - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225

DO - 10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102225

M3 - Review article

C2 - 41385903

AN - SCOPUS:105024540263

SN - 2352-250X

VL - 68

SP - 1

EP - 5

JO - Current Opinion in Psychology

JF - Current Opinion in Psychology

M1 - 102225

ER -

Collective place memory: remembering together in place-people ecosystems

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this