Muscle Memory and the Somaesthetic Pathologies of Everyday Life

Memory is a cherished cognitive skill that contributes enormously to human flourishing, yet it sometimes proves detrimental. Much of the memory we productively employ in everyday life is implicit memory that results from habit. The paper first demonstrates the important somatic dimension of implicit memory that gives rise to the popular notion of "muscle memory" by articulating six different forms of implicit memory in which the body plays a central role. The paper next focuses on some problems relating to these forms of memory and deriving from flawed habits of somatic perception and performance. I then explain how these problems of muscle memory can be treated by disrupting such memory through heightened, explicit consciousness involving methods of somaesthetic attention and reflection.