Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:04:09.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constructive episodic simulation, flexible recombination, and memory errors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2018

Daniel L. Schacter ,
Alexis C. Carpenter ,
Aleea Devitt ,
Reece P. Roberts  and
Donna Rose Addis
Daniel L. Schacter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. [email protected]@[email protected]://scholar.harvard.edu/schacterlab/home
Alexis C. Carpenter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. [email protected]@[email protected]://scholar.harvard.edu/schacterlab/home
Aleea Devitt
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. [email protected]@[email protected]://scholar.harvard.edu/schacterlab/home
Reece P. Roberts
Affiliation:
School of Psychology and Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. [email protected]@auckland.ac.nzhttp://www.memorylab.org
Donna Rose Addis
Affiliation:
School of Psychology and Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. [email protected]@auckland.ac.nzhttp://www.memorylab.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

According to Mahr & Csibra (M&C), the view that the constructive nature of episodic memory is related to its role in simulating future events has difficulty explaining why memory is often accurate. We hold this view, but disagree with their conclusion. Here we consider ideas and evidence regarding flexible recombination processes in episodic retrieval that accommodate both accuracy and distortion.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e32
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

Addis, D. R., Pan, L., Vu, M. A., Laiser, N. & Schacter, D. L. (2009) Constructive episodic simulation of the future and the past: Distinct subsystems of a core brain network mediate imagining and remembering. Neuropsychologia 47(11):2222–38.Google Scholar
Carpenter, A. C. & Schacter, D. L. (2017) Flexible retrieval: When true inferences produce false memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 43:335–49.Google ScholarPubMed
Devitt, A. L., Monk-Fromont, E., Schacter, D. L. & Addis, D. R. (2016) Factors that influence the generation of autobiographical memory conjunction errors. Memory 24:204–22.Google Scholar
Devitt, A. L. & Schacter, D. L. (2016) False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings. Neuropsychologia 91:346–59.Google Scholar
Dudai, Y. & Carruthers, M. (2005) The Janus face of mnemosyne. Nature 434:823–24.Google Scholar
Eichenbaum, H. E. & Cohen, N. J. (2014) Can we reconcile the declarative memory and spatial navigation views on hippocampal function? Neuron 83:764–70.Google Scholar
Gilbert, D. T. & Wilson, T. (2007) Prospection: Experiencing the future. Science 317:1351–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M. K., Hashtroudi, S. & Lindsay, D. S. (1993) Source monitoring. Psychological Bulletin 114(1):3–28. Available at: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/114/1/3/.Google Scholar
Reinitz, M. T., Lammers, W. J. & Cochran, B. P. (1992) Memory conjunction errors: Miscombination of stored stimulus features can produce illusions of memory. Memory & Cognition 20:1–11.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. P., Schacter, D. L. & Addis, D. R. (2017) Scene construction and relational processing: Separable constructs? Cerebral Cortex. Advance online publication. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx081.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L. (2001) The seven sins of memory: How the mind forgets and remembers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L. (2012) Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory. American Psychologist 67:603–13.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L. & Addis, D. R. (2007) The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory: Remembering the past and imagining the future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 362:773–86. Available at: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/362/1481/773.short.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N. & Szpunar, K. K. (2012) The future of memory: Remembering, imagining, and the brain. Neuron 76:677–94. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312009919.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L., Benoit, R. G., De Brigard, F. & Szpunar, K. K. (2015) Episodic future thinking and episodic counterfactual thinking: Intersections between memory and decisions. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 117:14–21. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2013.12.008.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L. & Madore, K. P. (2016) Remembering the past and imagining the future: Identifying and enhancing the contribution of episodic memory. Memory Studies 9(3):245–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suddendorf, T. & Corballis, M. C. (2007) The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 30(3):299–313.Google Scholar
Zeithamova, D. & Preston, A. R. (2010) Flexible memories: Differential roles for medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex in cross-episode binding. Journal of Neuroscience 30:14676–84.Google Scholar