Cited by 417Memory Processes and InfluencesCognitive Functions and MemoryIdentity, Memory, and Therapy

Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory

Open access
Schacter, Daniel L.·2012·American Psychologist

Abstract

Memory serves critical functions in everyday life but is also prone to error. This article examines adaptive constructive processes, which play a functional role in memory and cognition but can also produce distortions, errors, and illusions. The article describes several types of memory errors that are produced by adaptive constructive processes and focuses in particular on the process of imagining or simulating events that might occur in one's personal future. Simulating future events relies on many of the same cognitive and neural processes as remembering past events, which may help to explain why imagination and memory can be easily confused. The article considers both pitfalls and adaptive aspects of future event simulation in the context of research on planning, prediction, problem solving, mind-wandering, prospective and retrospective memory, coping and positivity bias, and the interconnected set of brain regions known as the default network.

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Crossref · 10.1037/a0029869

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  • Early laboratory and clinical studies provided initial evidence that episodic future thinking serves functions including decision making, emotion regulation, intention formation, and planning.

    “Early laboratory and clinical studies provided initial evidence that they serve a range of functions, including decision making, emotion regulation, intention formation, and planning (67)”

    From Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions (2017) · cites this paper as [67]

    The sections on goal-directed cognition, psychological well-being, and prospective memory report evidence for decision making, planning, coping with stress, and carrying out intended actions (page numbers unavailable). They do not show that future thinking helps form intentions: the implementation-intentions passage describes linking an existing intention to a future situation. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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3 of the 113 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Bartlett FC Remembering 1932 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
  2. McClelland JL Schacter DL Constructive memory and memory distortions: A parallel-distributed processing approach Memory distortion: How minds, brains and societies reconstruct the past 1995 Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press 69 90
  3. Roediger HL III Memory illusions Journal of Memory and Language 1996 35 76 100

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Authors
Schacter, D. L.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Schacter, Daniel L.
Venue
American Psychologist
Published
2012
Volume
67
Issue
8
Pages
603-613
ISSN
  • 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-990X
OpenAlex
W2055900812
Cited by
417
References
113
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 4
FWCI
12.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Psychologist (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
  • National Institute on Aging
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
Keywords
memory errors, memory distortion, memory illusions, imagination, prospective memory, retrospective memory, mind wandering, prediction, planning, problem solving, coping, positivity bias, default mode network
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological, Cognition, Humans, Imagination, Memory

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