Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T10:07:28.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beyond communication: Episodic memory is key to the self in time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2018

Karl K. Szpunar  and
Jason C. K. Chan
Karl K. Szpunar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607. [email protected]://www.uicmemorylab.com
Jason C. K. Chan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50014. [email protected]://www.jasonckchan.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mahr & Csibra (M&C) propose that episodic memory evolved to support epistemic authority in social communication. We argue for a more parsimonious interpretation whereby episodic memory subserves a broader preparatory function for both social and non-social behavior. We conclude by highlighting that functional accounts of episodic memory may need to consider the complex interrelations between self and subjective time.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benoit, R. G., Gilbert, S. J. & Burgess, P. W. (2011) A neural mechanism mediating the impact of episodic prospection on farsighted decisions. The Journal of Neuroscience 31(18):6771–79. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6559-10.2011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corkin, S. (2013) Permanent present tense. The unforgettable life of the amnesic patient H.M. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Dickerson, B. C. & Eichenbaum, H. (2010) The episodic memory system: Neurocircuitry and disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology 35:86–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hintzman, D. L. (2004) Judgment frequency versus recognition confidence: Repetition and recursive reminding. Memory & Cognition 32:336–50.Google Scholar
Klein, S. B. (2013c) The temporal orientation of memory: It's time for a change in direction. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 2:222–34.Google Scholar
Klein, S. B. & Gangi, C. E. (2010) The multiplicity of self: Neuropsychological evidence and its implications for the self as a construct in psychological research. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1191:1–15. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05441.x/full.Google Scholar
Kwan, D., Craver, C. F., Green, L., Myerson, J., Boyer, P. & Rosenbaum, R. S. (2012) Future decision-making without episodic mental time travel. Hippocampus 22(6):1215–19. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.20981.Google Scholar
Kwan, D., Craver, C. F., Green, L., Myerson, J., Gao, F., Black, S. E. & Rosenbaum, R. S. (2015) Cueing the personal future to reduce discounting in intertemporal choice: Is episodic prospection necessary? Hippocampus 25(4):432–43. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.22431.Google Scholar
Palombo, D. J., Keane, M. M. & Verfaellie, M. (2015) The medial temporal lobes are critical for reward-based decision making under conditions that promote episodic future thinking. Hippocampus 25(3):345–53. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.22376.Google Scholar
Peters, J. & Büchel, C. (2010) Episodic future thinking reduces reward delay discounting through an enhancement of prefrontal-mediotemporal interactions. Neuron 66(1):138–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.026.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, R. S., Kohler, S., Schacter, D. L., Moscovitch, M., Westmacott, R., Black, S. E., Gao, F. & Tulving, E. (2005) The case of K.C.: Contributions of a memory-impaired person to memory theory. Neuropsychologia 43:989–1021.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szpunar, K. K. & McDermott, K. B. (2008b) Episodic memory: An evolving concept. In: Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference, vol. 2: Cognitive psychology of memory, ed. Byrne, J. H., pp. 491–509. Elsevier.Google Scholar
Szpunar, K. K., Spreng, R. N. & Schacter, D. L. (2014) A taxonomy of prospection: Introducing an organizational framework for future-oriented cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 111:18414–21.Google Scholar
Tulving, E. (1983b) Elements of episodic memory. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tulving, E. (1985) Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology 26:1–12. Available at: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/cap/26/1/1/.Google Scholar
Tulving, E. (2002a) Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology 53: 1–25. Available at: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulving, E. (2002b) Chronesthesia: Conscious awareness of subjective time. In: Principles of frontal lobe function, ed. Stuss, D. T. & Knight, R. C., pp. 311–25. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulving, E. & Szpunar, K. K. (2012) Does the future exist? In: The mind and the frontal lobes: Cognition, behavior, and brain imaging, ed. Levine, B. & Craik, F. I. M., pp. 248–63. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vanderveldt, A., Oliveira, L. & Green, L. (2016) Delay discounting: Pigeon, rat, human – Does it matter? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 42:141–62.Google ScholarPubMed