The DOI matches its Crossref record; 110 of the 113 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory
Open accessAbstract
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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“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]
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Cites
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Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain
Corbetta, M., & Shulman, G. L. (2002) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn755 · Cited by 12,881
A default mode of brain function
Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.98.2.676 · Cited by 12,190
The Brain's Default Network: Anatomy, Function, and Relevance to Disease
Buckner, R. L., Andrews‐Hanna, J. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2008) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1440.011 · Cited by 9,761
Self-citationImplementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans.
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.54.7.493 · Cited by 5,478
Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists.
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Specific impairments of planning
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Wandering minds: the default network and stimulus-independent thought
Mason, M. F., Norton, M. I., Van Horn, J. D., Wegner, D. M., Grafton, S. T., & Macrae, C. N. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1131295 · Cited by 2,792
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3 of the 113 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Bartlett FC Remembering 1932 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
- 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
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The future of memory: remembering, imagining, and the brain
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K. (2012) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.001 · Cited by 1,398
Self-citationEpisodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions
Schacter, D. L., Benoit, R. G., & Szpunar, K. K. (2017) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.06.002 · Cited by 771
“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], and recent work has both strengthened and broadened this evidence.”
BackgroundSelf-citationA taxonomy of prospection: Introducing an organizational framework for future-oriented cognition
Szpunar, K. K., Spreng, R. N., & Schacter, D. L. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1417144111 · Cited by 539
Self-citationThe hippocampus and related neocortical structures in memory transformation
Sekeres, M. J., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. (2018) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2018.05.006 · Cited by 370
The effects of psychological distance on abstraction: Two meta-analyses.
Soderberg, C. K., Callahan, S. P., Kochersberger, A. O., Amit, E., & Ledgerwood, A. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000005 · Cited by 350
Metadata
- Authors
- Schacter, D. L.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schacter, Daniel L.
- ORCID
- Schacter, Daniel L.
- Venue
- American Psychologist
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 603-613
- ISSN
- 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-990X
- 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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