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

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Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory

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Schacter, Daniel L.·2012·American Psychologist

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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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Authors: Schacter, D. L.
Affiliations: Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author: Schacter, Daniel L.
ORCID: Schacter, Daniel L.
Venue: American Psychologist
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2012
Volume: 67
Issue: 8
Pages: 603-613
ISSN: 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
1935-990X
DOI: 10.1037/a0029869
PMC: PMC3815569
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: green
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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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