Cited by 1,398Memory Processes and InfluencesMemory and Neural MechanismsCognitive Functions and Memory

The future of memory: remembering, imagining, and the brain

Open access
Schacter, Daniel L., Addis, Donna Rose, Hassabis, Demis, Martin, Victoria C., Spreng, R. Nathan, Szpunar, Karl K.·2012·Neuron

Abstract

During the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in research examining the role of memory in imagination and future thinking. This work has revealed striking similarities between remembering the past and imagining or simulating the future, including the finding that a common brain network underlies both memory and imagination. Here, we discuss a number of key points that have emerged during recent years, focusing in particular on the importance of distinguishing between temporal and nontemporal factors in analyses of memory and imagination, the nature of differences between remembering the past and imagining the future, the identification of component processes that comprise the default network supporting memory-based simulations, and the finding that this network can couple flexibly with other networks to support complex goal-directed simulations. This growing area of research has broadened our conception of memory by highlighting the many ways in which memory supports adaptive functioning.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.001

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223 of 223 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Visual imagery may be an essential and unifying representational format potentiating episodic simulation processes.

    “suggest that visual imagery may be an essential and unifying representational format potentiating these processes.”

    From A cognitive profile of multi-sensory imagery, memory and dreaming in aphantasia (2020) · cites this paper as [25]

    In “Neural and cognitive similarities: A brief summary” (page unavailable), the paper describes scene construction as a critical component of remembering and imagining. It distinguishes that process from simple visual imagery, however, and does not identify visual imagery itself as an essential, unifying representational format that potentiates episodic simulation. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The default network shows robust activation when people imagine future experiences.

    “The default network has shown robust activation when people imagine future experiences [14, 22–23].”

    From Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics (2016) · cites this paper as [23]

  • Some key issues remain controversial, including the nature of hippocampal contributions to episodic future thinking and the extent to which neural and cognitive signatures of episodic future thinking are specific to imagining future experiences as opposed to atemporal imagining or imagining counterfactuals to past experiences.

    “Some key issues remain controversial, such as the nature of hippocampal contributions to episodic future thinking, and the related question of the extent to which neural and cognitive signatures of episodic future thinking are specific to imagining future experiences as opposed to atemporal imagining or imagining counterfactuals to past experiences”

    From Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions (2017) · cites this paper as [4]

  • Episodic memory may be recruited for additional tasks where particular details of past experiences are leveraged to generate, or assemble and maintain, mental content that incorporates specific elements of prior events.

    “Studies on this topic have indicated that episodic memory may be recruited for additional tasks where particular details of past experiences are leveraged to generate, or assemble and maintain, mental content that incorporates specific elements of prior events.”

    From Neural Mechanisms of Episodic Retrieval Support Divergent Creative Thinking (2019) · cites this paper as Schacter et al. 2012

  • During the past decade, episodic memory and its neural processes have been found to be engaged during tasks beyond simple remembering, such as future thinking or simulation, decision making, and problem solving.

    “Strikingly, during the past decade, episodic memory, and the neural processes that support it, have been found to be engaged during tasks beyond simple remembering that may also involve the retrieval and reconstruction of episodic details for completion, such as future thinking or simulation, decision making, and problem solving (for review, see Schacter et al. 2012;Moscovitch et al. 2016;Schacter”

    From Neural Mechanisms of Episodic Retrieval Support Divergent Creative Thinking (2019) · cites this paper as Schacter et al. 2012

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1 of the 224 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Bartlett FC 1932 Remembering Cambridge Cambridge University Press
  2. Loftus EF 1979 Eyewitness Testimony Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press

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Authors
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of Auckland (NZ)
  • Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit (GB)
  • Cornell University (US)
Corresponding author
Schacter, Daniel L.
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-11
Volume
76
Issue
4
Pages
677-694
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2166620359
Cited by
1,398
References
224
Citations by year
2026: 75 · 2025: 87 · 2024: 97 · 2023: 103 · 2022: 88 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 194 · 2019: 106 · 2018: 115 · 2017: 108 · 2016: 104 · 2015: 78 · 2014: 82 · 2013: 53 · 2012: 3
FWCI
5.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH060941)
  • National Institute on Aging (AG08441)
  • Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords
memory, imagination, future thinking, default mode network, artificial neural networks, adaptive cognition
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain, Humans, Imagination, Memory, Time Factors

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