Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of Episodic Memory

“…2005), episodic future thinking (Atance and O’Neill, 2001; Addis et al., 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007), the default mode (Raichle et al., 2001) and daydreaming (Mason et al., 2007), leading to suggestions that it performs a general function (Buckner and Carroll, 2007;…”

“…theory of mind (Kumaran and Maguire, 2005; Amodio and Frith, 2006) and episodic future thinking (Addis et al., 2007) suggesting that the amPFC and PCC might be supporting pro- cesses related to the self (Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000) and mental time travel (Wheeler et al., 1997; Tulving, 2002).”

“…a purely created imagined experience does not have the same reliance or effect on the imaginer’s self-schema compared with a real episodic memory (Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Gallagher, 2000) although both likely involve the adoption of an egocentric viewpoint (Burgess, 2006) on the part…”

“…bears a striking resemblance to networks found to support self-reflection (Johnson et al., 2002), theory of mind (Kumaran and Maguire, 2005; Amodio and Frith, 2006) and episodic future thinking (Addis et al., 2007) suggesting that the amPFC and PCC might be supporting pro- cesses related…”

“Moreover, by using rich imaginary memories as a well matched comparison task we were able to isolate processes specific to episodic memory, such as the use of self-schema (Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Gallagher, 2000), a sense of familiarity and mental time travel (Tulving, 2002).”

“, 2001), and perhaps even daydreaming (Mason et al., 2007).”

“…network (also replicated in this study with the RM RO contrast) has also been activated in a variety of other circumstances including navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Hartley et al., 2003; Spiers and Maguire, 2006), spatial tasks (Maguire et al., 2003; Kumaran and Maguire, 2005), episodic…”

“…a key component of episodic memory recall lends additional support to constructive theories of episodic memory (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter et al., 1998) and the recently proposed constructive episodic simulation function of the episodic memory system (Schacter and Addis, 2007; Schacter et al., 2007).”

“…cognitive functions including future thinking (Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007), spatial navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Hartley et al., 2003), theory of mind (Frith and Frith, 2003), the default network (Raichle et al., 2001), and perhaps even daydreaming (Mason et al., 2007).”

“By using imagining fictitious experiences as a comparison task for episodic memory, it is possible to address some key questions not amenable to previous studies (Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007).”

“…control conditions involving the vivid visualization of acontextual objects which allowed us to distinguish between the processes of “simple” imagery (Kosslyn et al., 2001) (e.g., of objects), and that of complex scene construction and visualization, and attribute the latter to a distributed…”

“Recollection of this type of memory is widely accepted to be a reconstructive process (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter et al., 1998; Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Rubin et al., 2003; Hassabis and Maguire, 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007) as opposed to the simple retrieval of a perfect holistic record.”

“…theory of mind (Kumaran and Maguire, 2005; Amodio and Frith, 2006) and episodic future thinking (Addis et al., 2007) suggesting that the amPFC and PCC might be supporting pro- cesses related to the self (Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000) and mental time travel (Wheeler et al., 1997; Tulving, 2002).”

“…not surprisingly given their often highly familiar content, more familiar than imaginary memories, in line with proposals concerning the function of this region derived from studies of recognition memory (Rugg et al., 2002; Wagner et al., 2005; Hornberger et al., 2006; Vincent et al., 2006).”

“as the hippocampus (Hassabis et al., 2007) not thought to be”

“…2002; Hartley et al., 2003; Spiers and Maguire, 2006), spatial tasks (Maguire et al., 2003; Kumaran and Maguire, 2005), episodic future thinking (Atance and O’Neill, 2001; Addis et al., 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007), the default mode (Raichle et al., 2001) and…”

“By contrasting the recall of recent episodic memories to the recall of acontextual objects previously seen in the interview session (RM RO) we replicated the well established episodic memory retrieval network consistently activated in studies of autobiographical memory (Maguire, 2001; Rugg et al., 2002; Svoboda et al.…”

“Recollection of this type of memory is widely accepted to be a reconstructive process (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter et al., 1998; Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Rubin et al., 2003; Hassabis and Maguire, 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007) as opposed to the simple retrieval of a perfect holistic record.”

“…not surprisingly given their often highly familiar content, more familiar than imaginary memories, in line with proposals concerning the function of this region derived from studies of recognition memory (Rugg et al., 2002; Wagner et al., 2005; Hornberger et al., 2006; Vincent et al., 2006).”

“In fact the pattern of activation revealed by this contrast bears a striking resemblance to networks found to support self-reflection (Johnson et al., 2002), theory of mind (Kumaran and Maguire, 2005; Amodio and Frith, 2006) and episodic future thinking (Addis et al., 2007) suggesting that the…”

“Their descriptions were fragmented, lacked a coherent spatial context, and were significantly less rich suggesting that the hippocampus plays a critical role in integrating the disparate elements of a scene into a coherent whole (O’Keefe and Nadel, 1978; Burgess et al., 2001; Eichenbaum, 2004; Moscovitch et al., 2005;…”

“…(Conway and PleydellPearce, 2000), visual imagery (Rubin et al., 2003), narrative structure (Rubin et al., 2003), retrieval of semantic information (Wheeler et al., 1997) and multimodal details (Wheeler et al., 2000; Gottfried et al., 2004), and feelings of familiarity (Wagner et al., 2005).”

“…imagined experience does not have the same reliance or effect on the imaginer’s self-schema compared with a real episodic memory (Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Gallagher, 2000) although both likely involve the adoption of an egocentric viewpoint (Burgess, 2006) on the part of the imaginer.”

“…reconstructed along very similar lines to the way imagined events are constructed, dovetailing with the idea that memory is (re)constructive in nature (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter et al., 1998; Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Rubin et al., 2003; Hassabis and Maguire, 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007).”

“…other high-level cognitive functions including future thinking (Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007), spatial navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Hartley et al., 2003), theory of mind (Frith and Frith, 2003), the default network (Raichle et al., 2001), and perhaps even daydreaming (Mason et…”

“By using imagining fictitious experiences as a comparison task for episodic memory, it is possible to address some key questions not amenable to previous studies (Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007).”

“Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of”

“Recollection of this type of memory is widely accepted to be a reconstructive process (Bartlett, 1932; Schacter et al., 1998; Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Rubin et al., 2003; Hassabis and Maguire, 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007) as opposed to the simple retrieval of a perfect holistic record.”

“A standard conjunction analysis (Friston et al., 2005), as implemented in SPM5 and reported at p 0.001, was performed to reveal the regions activated in common between the main scene conditions compared with their respective individual baseline object conditions.”

“…present study advances efforts to dissociate the functions of the many brain regions consistently activated in studies of episodic memory recall (Maguire, 2001; Svoboda et al., 2006; Cabeza and St Jacques, 2007) and episodic future thinking (Atance and O’Neill, 2001; Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar…”

“Their descriptions were fragmented, lacked a coherent spatial context, and were significantly less rich suggesting that the hippocampus plays a critical role in integrating the disparate elements of a scene into a coherent whole (O’Keefe and Nadel, 1978; Burgess et al., 2001; Eichenbaum, 2004; Moscovitch et al., 2005;…”

“…the RM RO contrast) has also been activated in a variety of other circumstances including navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Hartley et al., 2003; Spiers and Maguire, 2006), spatial tasks (Maguire et al., 2003; Kumaran and Maguire, 2005), episodic future thinking (Atance and O’Neill, 2001; Addis…”

“…not surprisingly given their often highly familiar content, more familiar than imaginary memories, in line with proposals concerning the function of this region derived from studies of recognition memory (Rugg et al., 2002; Wagner et al., 2005; Hornberger et al., 2006; Vincent et al., 2006).”

“…and imagining fictitious experiences share striking similarities in terms of the psychological processes engaged (Conway and Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Greenberg and Rubin, 2003; Schacter and Addis, 2007) including imagery (Rubin et al., 2003) and the retrieval of relevant semantic information…”

“…(Conway and PleydellPearce, 2000), visual imagery (Rubin et al., 2003), narrative structure (Rubin et al., 2003), retrieval of semantic information (Wheeler et al., 1997) and multimodal details (Wheeler et al., 2000; Gottfried et al., 2004), and feelings of familiarity (Wagner et al., 2005).”

“…in a variety of other circumstances including navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Hartley et al., 2003; Spiers and Maguire, 2006), spatial tasks (Maguire et al., 2003; Kumaran and Maguire, 2005), episodic future thinking (Atance and O’Neill, 2001; Addis et al., 2007; Schacter and Addis, 2007;…”

“This is strikingly consistent with other studies that have investigated objects compared with places (Sugiura et al., 2005), and has been attributed to greater attention and focus being directed toward the object when present in isolation (Sugiura et al.”

“Moreover, evidence from a previous EEG study (Conway et al., 2003) also suggests that common processes underlie the recall of both real and imaginary events.”

“As such, scene construction likely recruits a set of additional processes underpinned by regions such as the hippocampus (Hassabis et al., 2007) not thought to be involved in simple imagery (Rosenbaum et al., 2004).”

“…not surprisingly given their often highly familiar content, more familiar than imaginary memories, in line with proposals concerning the function of this region derived from studies of recognition memory (Rugg et al., 2002; Wagner et al., 2005; Hornberger et al., 2006; Vincent et al., 2006).”

“They refer to this process as “scene construction,” a term emphasizing that mental simulation often un-folds in one’s mind as an imagined scene with rich visual and spatial content (see also Hassabis et al. 2007).”

“Consistent with this finding, patients with hippocampal amnesia lack the ability to imagine a coherent scene presumably void of a temporal context (Hassabis et al., 2007b; see also Hassabis et al., 2007a; Addis et al., 2009).”