Documenting inner states over time presupposes that memory is a faithful record. It is not. Cognitive research has established for several decades that memory is a reconstructive process — it does not store experiences but traces that are reactivated, reinterpreted and partially reconstructed at each recall.
For inner observation work, this has direct consequences. Retrospective observation journals — filled in the evening for the entire day — do not document the states they claim to document. They document the reconstruction of those states through the filter of the state at the moment of recall.
Specific reconstruction biases
- Narrative coherence: memory tends to produce a coherent story, erasing real discontinuities and contradictions.
- End-of-day bias: the dominant state at the end of the day colours all memories of the day.
- Normalisation: unusual states are brought closer to habitual states in recall.
These biases do not make the observation journal useless. They invite using it differently: note immediately, not retrospectively. Document raw data rather than interpretations. Treat notes as approximations to be compared over time.