Our brains use different types of memory.
Cortical dementia is thought to affect semantic memory
to a greater
degree than episodic memory. Sub-cortical dementia, as in HD, is thought to
affect
semantic memory to
a lesser degree than cortical dementias.
(December 22, 2015) To
anticipate the future, one must know the past
Episodic memory is only one component of mental time travel
Are humans the only ones who are able to remember events
that they had experienced and mentally time travel not only into the past but
also the future? Or do animals have the same capacity? To a certain extend,
according to three researchers who are contributing a new theoretical model to
this long-standing discussion. They published their results in the journal
“Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews”.
Episodic memory is a
component of mental time travel
The model developed by the three researchers Prof Markus
Werning, Prof Sen Cheng (both Mercator Research Group “Structure of Memory” at
RUB) and Prof Thomas Suddendorf (University of Queensland) differs from other
approaches with regard to one major aspect: it suggests a new relationship
between mental time travel and episodic memory. The research team assumes that
mental time travel is composed of different components. “Component one are
memory traces from episodic memory. That means: fairly accurate representations
of personally experienced episodes, where each trace represents a particular
experience, i.e. is very specific,” explains Prof Sen Cheng. Component two is
the ability to construct mental scenarios; by this, the researchers mean
dynamic representations of past or expected situations that are not isolated
but rather can be embedded into larger contexts and be reflected. If, for
example, someone misplaces their key, they mentally travel back to places and
situations where they still had the key. By associating the past situation with
other experiences and information, a scenario is created. The question if and,
if so, how the construction of mental scenarios is linked to a specific
“autonoetic” form of consciousness is particularly interesting from the
philosophical point of view. The authors discuss several options with an open
outcome.