ORIGINAL ARTICLE Not being there: An analysis of expertise-induced amnesia Simon Høffding 1 | Barbara Gail Montero 2 1 RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 2 Philosophy Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York Correspondence Barbara G. Montero, Philosophy Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 65 Fifth Avenue, Room 7113, New York, NY 10016. Email: bmontero@gc.cuny.edu Abstract It has been hypothesized that postperformance memory gaps occur in highly skilled individuals because experts generally perform their skills without conscious attention. In contrast, we hypothesize that such memory gaps may occur when performers focus so intently on their unfolding actions that their ongoing attention interferes with long- term memory formation of what was previously attended to, or when performers are highly focused on aspects of their bodily skills that are not readily put into words. In neither case, we argue, does performance proceed auto- matically yet both situations, we suggest, may lead to an inability to recollect performance. KEYWORDS attention, automaticity, bodily awareness, expertise-induced amnesia, memory 1 | INTRODUCTION After a performance of Giselle—described by the New York Times dance critic Martin (1955) as one in which “the two [leading dancers] saw the work eye to eye, played together with a beautiful rapport and developed the dramatic theme with power and an irresistible poignance”—the male lead, Erik Bruhn, reported that he had no recollection of what he had done: When I left the scene, I went to my dressing room, quite dazed. I was suddenly afraid. I had been so engaged in the performance that, when trying to recall what I had done, I was blank. I was terrified that I had done terrible things and that everything had gone wrong. (Meinertz, 2008, p. 117 [Høffding's translation]) Simon Høffding and Barbara G. Montero contributed equally to this work. Received: 15 October 2018 Revised: 18 February 2019 Accepted: 9 April 2019 DOI: 10.1111/mila.12260 Mind & Language. 2019;1–20. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mila © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1