In this special issue, dedicated to Martin A. Conway, we have assembled a series of papers by individuals’ whose work was affected by Martin’s own research. We specifically solicited empirical papers that are somehow connected to the influence that Martin had on the authors’ own work or papers that review or summarise a body of their work that was influenced by Martin and his work. Martin’s research, predominantly work on autobiographical memory, has had an immense impact on our understanding of human memory and will continue to influence much of memory research in the future.
As most readers will know, Martin died on March 30, 2022. He will be remembered for his many contributions to the memory community, particularly his unique contribution to the scientific study of autobiographical memory. Although many of these contributions came through the design of ingenious experiments on memory retrieval, his theoretical contributions are also legend. In particular, his model of the self-memory system (Conway, Citation2005; Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, Citation2000) helped to define the study of autobiographical memory. Moreover, his work provided a natural link between the cognitive science of memory and theories of personality as well as the use of clinical techniques that used retrieval of (early) autobiographical memories in therapeutic practice (e.g., see Conway et al., Citation2004).
Martin’s work on autobiographical memory has also been used to inform theories about the reconstructive nature of memory and the (dubious) reliability of memories as evidence in the courtroom. This work led to the publication of a set of guidelines for the use of memory in the courtroom which was published by the British Psychological Society in 2008 (and revised/updated in 2010). He reflected on his numerous experiences as an expert witness in the courtroom in an article published in a special issue of the journal Memory (Conway, Citation2013), one that was dedicated to the importance of the science of memory in legal proceedings.
Of course, Martin will be remembered not only for his empirical, theoretical, and more applied contributions to the field of memory, but also as cofounder (along with Susan Gathercole) of this journal and the International Conference on Memory. He mentored and advised many early career researchers, some of whom contributed to this special issue in his honour. We hope that you enjoy this special-issue tribute to Martin, a tribute that we believe illustrates the enormous impact he has had and will continue to have on the field of memory.
References
- Conway, M. A. (2005). Memory and the self. Journal of Memory and Language, 54(4), 594–628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2005.08.005
- Conway, M. A. (2013). On being a memory expert witness: Three cases. Memory, 21(5), 566–575. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.794241
- Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.2.261
- Conway, M. A., Singer, J. A., & Tagini, A. (2004). The self and autobiographical memory: Correspondence and coherence. Social Cognition, 22(5), 491–529. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.22.5.491.50768