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27 - On the Interaction Between Episodic and Semantic Representations – Constructing a Unified Account of Imagination

from Part IV - Novel Combinatorial Forms of the Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2020

By
Muireann Irish
Edited by
Anna Abraham
Anna Abraham
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

Few topics in cognitive neuroscience can be said to have spurred intense research interest and vigorous debate as much as the neurocognitive architecture of imagination. Despite the tendency to view imagination as a unitary mental faculty, its multifaceted nature implicates a diverse range of underlying processes. Episodic memory has been ascribed a foundational role in furnishing the contents of mental constructions. By contrast, semantic memory has long been overlooked in the discourse, despite converging evidence of its centrality for all forms of inner mentation. Here, I expand upon the idea that the undifferentiated and flexible nature of semantic memory renders it particularly well suited to support imagination in its many guises. The imagined scenario thus reflects the output of a dynamic process that shifts back and forth along an episodic-semantic continuum, the weighting of which hinges largely upon task demands and integrity of the underlying memory system. Accordingly, the aim of this chapter is to move the focus away from the traditional episodic/semantic dichotomy in favour of a unified account in which episodic and semantic processes coalesce in the service of constructive endeavors.

Keywords

Mental constructionepisodic memorysemantic memoryfuture thinkinghippocampusanterior temporal lobedementiascene construction
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination , pp. 447 - 465
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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