Constructive memory: past and future

Figures & data

Figure 1. Regions of a core network engaged by imagining future events. In a recent study described in the text,⁸⁷ participants imagined future events including person, place, and object details that were taken from actual memories. On control trials, participants created a “size sentence,” ordering three objects by physical size. The contrast of future events relative to control trials revealed significant activation of a core network identified in other similar studies, including bilateral medial parietal and prefrontal cortices (right and middle) and bilateral medial temporal lobes and left lateral temporal cortex (left). Adapted from ref 87: Martin VC, Schacter DL, Corballis MC, Addis DR. A role for the hippocampus in encoding simulations of future events. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011;108:13858-13863. Copyright© National Academy of Sciences 2011.

Figure 2. Hippocampal responses to encoding. In the same study described in Figure 1, ⁸⁷ approximately 10 minutes after imagining future events comprised of person, place, and object details, participants were given a cued recall test in which two details from the simulation were provided, and they were asked to recall the third detail. A subsequent memory analysis revealed clusters in anterior and posterior right hippocampus that showed significantly greater activity during encoding for those simulations in which details were subsequently remembered vs those in which details were subsequently forgotten. Adapted from ref 87: Martin VC, Schacter DL, Corballis MC, Addis DR. A role for the hippocampus in encoding simulations of future events. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011;108:13858-13863. Copyright© National Academy of Sciences 2011.

MartinVC.SchacterDL.CorballisMC.AddisDR.A role for the hippocampus in encoding simulations of future events.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.2011108138581386321810986

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar