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Paper short abstract:

How do we construct the definition of the situation based on template matching schemes within our system? This paper examines the relationship between memory and imagination as mediators and facilitators for "present constructs".

Paper long abstract:

The past and the future change as we change our uses for them in the present. We notice objects depending on their usefulness for us at the current moment. Thus, it's interesting to explore how your current identity is expressed through what you notice and how complex dilemmas might occur if you have to operate in several clashing identities, simultaneously.

Memory brings the past into the present and imagination brings the future into the present. Thus, our performance at any point is tied to a previous experience due to the mental models that navigate us through "the perceived present". We usually rely on our previous experiences and categorization to assess contextual information we are faced with. This helps us to associate particular fragments of our identity with situational contexts by means of applying template-matching schemes developed through habituation.

One of the interesting processes related to "collaboration" between memory, identity and imagination is the following sequence. We are constructing present performances through abstracting some crucial elements from the current context, "filtering" them through the past mental models and recombining them to form the definition of the situation in advance (prior to its execution). Then, we control the conduct of the other through navigation of the output construction within the defined front stage and backstage.