Abstract

This paper introduces Matraversian skepticism from aesthetics (i.e., there is no _cognitively_ interesting difference between our engagement with fiction versus our engagement with non-fiction) to debates in psychology and cognitive science on memory processing. I argue that the concept of ‘fiction’ has no place in our cognitive models of memory, neither in a specific category of memory, nor as a fact/fiction dimension. I propose a two-stage model of memory processing and explore the skeptical challenge that it poses to existing accounts of the role of the concept of ‘fiction’ in models of memory. An important element of this challenge is the realization that remembering agents typically recognize a range of different kinds of non-fictional, non-believed memories, e.g., memories originating in lies, trickery, dreams, hallucinations, illusions, etc.