Constructing autobiographical events within a spatial or temporal context: a comparison of two targeted episodic induction techniques

The effect of episodic specificity inductions on cognitive tasks involving episodic retrieval: A quantitative review

A growing body of research suggests that an episodic specificity induction (ESI), that is, training in recalled details of a (recent) past event, impacts performance on subsequent tasks that require episodic retrieval processes. The constructive episodic simulation hypothesis (Schacter and Addis, 2007) posits that various tasks which require, at least partially, episodic retrieval processes rely on a single, flexible episodic memory system. As such, a specificity induction activates that episodic memory system and improves subsequent performance on tasks that require use of that memory system. The present quantitative review analyzed the literature demonstrating that the Episodic Specificity Induction (ESI) improves performance on subsequence cognitive tasks that require (at least partial) episodic retrieval processes. Twenty-three studies met criteria for measuring the impact of ESI, compared to a non-specificity control induction(s), on subsequent tasks requiring edpisodic retrieval, including memory, imagination, problem solving, divergent thinking. The results of this review demonstrate a strong, positive effect of ESI on episodic memory, imagination, divergent thinking, and problem-solving tasks.

Transdiagnostic and transtherapeutic strategies for optimising autobiographical memory

Our memories for past personally experienced autobiographical events play an important role in therapy, irrespective of presenting issue, diagnoses or therapeutic modality. Here, we summarise evidence for how autobiographical memory abilities can influence our mental health and the relevance of this for the treatment of mental health problems. We then guide the reader through principles and strategies for optimising autobiographical memory within treatment. We ground these recommendations within research for stand-alone interventions for improving autobiographical memory and from studies of how to support the formation and retrieval of therapeutic memories. Options are given for clinicians to guide clients in improving retrieval of autobiographical memories within treatment, for improving autobiographical memory for the therapeutic experience itself, and for creating improvements in autobiographical memory that endure post-treatment. We also provide worksheets for clinicians to use within treatment.

Spatial context scaffolds long-term episodic richness of weaker real-world autobiographical memories in both older and younger adults

Remembering life experiences involves recalling not only what occurred (episodic details), but also where an event took place (spatial context), both of which decline with age. Although spatial context can cue episodic detail recollection, it is unknown whether initially recalling an event alongside greater reinstatement of spatial context protects memory for episodic details in the long term, and whether this is affected by age. Here, we analysed 1079 personally-experienced, real-world events from 29 older adults and 12 younger adults. Events were recalled first on average 6 weeks after they occurred and then again on average 24 weeks after they occurred. We developed a novel scoring protocol to quantify spatial contextual details and used the established Autobiographical Interview to quantify episodic details. We found improved recall of episodic details after a delay if those details had initially been recalled situated in greater spatial context. Notably, for both older and younger adults, this preservation was observed for memories initially recalled with low, but not high, numbers of episodic details, suggesting that spatial context aided episodic retrieval for memories that required more support. This work supports the notion that spatial context scaffolds detail-rich event recollection and inspires memory interventions that leverage this spatial scaffold.

The Language of Creativity: Evidence from Humans and Large Language Models

Recent developments in computerized scoring via semantic distance have provided automated assessments of verbal creativity. Here, we extend past work, applying computational linguistic approaches to characterize salient features of creative text. We hypothesize that, in addition to semantic diversity, the degree to which a story includes perceptual details, thus transporting the reader to another time and place, would be predictive of creativity. Additionally, we explore the use of generative language models to supplement human data collection and examine the extent to which machine-generated stories can mimic human creativity. We collect 600 short stories from human participants and GPT-3, subsequently randomized and assessed on their creative quality. Results indicate that the presence of perceptual details, in conjunction with semantic diversity, is highly predictive of creativity. These results were replicated in an independent sample of stories (n = 120) generated by GPT-4. We do not observe a significant difference between human and AI-generated stories in terms of creativity ratings, and we also observe positive correlations between human and AI assessments of creativity. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Using an episodic specificity induction to improve children's future thinking

Episodic future thinking (EFT) is the ability to subjectively pre-experience a specific future event. Future-oriented cognition in young children positively predicts physical health and financial status later in life. Can EFT be improved in children, even temporarily? Developmental research emphasizes the importance of thinking about one's own near future to enhance EFT, whereas research in adults suggests benefits reside in constructing a richly detailed event. We bridged the two perspectives to examine whether a procedure, the "episodic specificity induction" (ESI), could be adapted to encourage an episodic mode of thinking in children, benefitting performance on a variety of subsequent EFT tasks. The present study implemented a child-friendly ESI in which children mentally simulated a future event and were probed for specific details about it. We randomly assigned 66 children aged 6 and 7 years to one of two conditions: (1) ESI, in which children imagined "having breakfast tomorrow" in detail, describing surroundings, people, and actions, or (2) a Control condition (i.e., no construction), in which children simply viewed and described a picture of another child having breakfast. Children then completed a series of future thinking tasks assessing prospective memory, recollection/imagination of events, delay of gratification, and planning. Our ESI was successful in promoting the construction of a detailed event, and subsequently increasing the number of details of recollected and imagined events on an outcome task as compared to a control condition. Nonetheless, the effect of ESI was smaller than expected - a finding that fits with recent work suggesting that such interventions may be too cognitively taxing for young children and/or that benefits may hinge on further development in episodic processes. We discuss possible modifications to the induction and implications for EFT amelioration in young children.

From basic science to clinical practice: Can cognitive behavioural therapy tasks be augmented with enhanced episodic specificity?

Individuals with depression typically remember their past in a generalised manner, at the cost of retrieving specific event memories. This may impair engagement with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) tasks that use concrete episodic information to challenge maladaptive beliefs, potentially limiting their therapeutic benefit. Study 1 demonstrated that an episodic specificity induction increased detail and specificity of autobiographical memory in people with major depression, relative to control conditions (N = 88). We therefore examined whether the induction enhanced the efficacy of CBT tasks that depend on episodic memory - cognitive reappraisal (Study 2, N = 30), evidence gathering (Study 2, N = 30), and planning behavioural experiments (Study 3a, N = 30). Across all three tasks, there were no significant differences in emotion- or belief-change between the specificity and control conditions. Although the induction temporarily enhanced specificity in depressed individuals, it did not significantly augment the efficacy of CBT tasks theorised to benefit from the use of specific mnemonic information.

Selective effects of focusing on spatial details in episodic future thinking for self-relevant positive events

Mental simulations of positive future events increase their detail/vividness and plausibility, with effects on cognitive-affective processes such as anticipated and anticipatory pleasure. More recently, spatial details have been distinguished as important in increasing detail and elaborating mental scene construction. Building on this research, this study (N = 54; M age = 26.9) compared simulations of positive, self-relevant future events spatial details (i.e. people, objects, sequences of actions) with simulations focused on content details. Cross-sectionally at baseline, spatial details uniquely predicted phenomenological characteristics of future events, including anticipatory pleasure. The guided simulations increased detail and vividness, mental imagery, and pre-experiencing in both conditions. The content simulation condition did not increase content details relative to the spatial simulation condition, however, the inverse was true. Relatedly, overall detail and vividness were higher in the spatial condition, as was perceived control. The findings are discussed in relation to future thinking and mental health.

Autobiographical event memory and aging: older adults get the gist

We propose that older adults' ability to retrieve episodic autobiographical events, although often viewed through a lens of decline, reveals much about what is preserved and prioritized in cognitive aging. Central to our proposal is the idea that the so-called gist of an autobiographical event is not only spared with normal aging but also well adapted to serve memory-guided behavior in older age. To support our proposal, we review cognitive and brain evidence indicating an age-related shift toward gist memory. We then discuss why this shift likely arises from more than age-related decline and instead partly reflects a natural, arguably adaptive, outcome of experience, motivation, and mode-of-thinking factors. Our proposal reveals an upside of age-related memory changes and identifies important research questions.

Memories with a blind mind: Remembering the past and imagining the future with aphantasia

Our capacity to re-experience the past and simulate the future is thought to depend heavily on visual imagery, which allows us to construct complex sensory representations in the absence of sensory stimulation. There are large individual differences in visual imagery ability, but their impact on autobiographical memory and future prospection remains poorly understood. Research in this field assumes the normative use of visual imagery as a cognitive tool to simulate the past and future, however some individuals lack the ability to visualise altogether (a condition termed "aphantasia"). Aphantasia represents a rare and naturally occurring knock-out model for examining the role of visual imagery in episodic memory recall. Here, we assessed individuals with aphantasia on an adapted form of the Autobiographical Interview, a behavioural measure of the specificity and richness of episodic details underpinning the memory of events. Aphantasic participants generated significantly fewer episodic details than controls for both past and future events. This effect was most pronounced for novel future events, driven by selective reductions in visual detail retrieval, accompanied by comparatively reduced ratings of the phenomenological richness of simulated events, and paralleled by quantitative linguistic markers of reduced perceptual language use in aphantasic participants compared to those with visual imagery. Our findings represent the first systematic evidence (using combined objective and subjective data streams) that aphantasia is associated with a diminished ability to re-experience the past and simulate the future, indicating that visual imagery is an important cognitive tool for the dynamic retrieval and recombination of episodic details during mental simulation.

Playing "guess who?": when an episodic specificity induction increases trace distinctiveness and reduces memory errors during event reconstruction

The constructive nature of memory implies a possible confusion between details of similar events. Memory interventions should thus target the reduction of memory errors. We postulate that a brief intervention called Episodic Specificity Induction (ESI) facilitates the sensorimotor simulation of event-related details by improving the distinctiveness of the event memory trace. As such, ESI should reduce memory errors only when event memory traces are strongly overlapping based on their sensorimotor features. Participants memorised videos showing characters performing an action on a given object. The characters were either visually very similar to each other or very distinct (low vs. high distinctiveness condition). Next, participants performed either an imagination version of the ESI or a control induction. Finally, a voice announced one of the actions seen and a character was then briefly displayed. The participants had to indicate whether the association was correct. For incorrect associations, in the low distinctiveness condition, false alarms were more likely than in the high distinctiveness condition and were reduced after the ESI. It suggests that facilitating the simulation of specific details through the ESI increased trace distinctiveness and reduced memory errors at the critical time of event reconstruction. Future clinical applications might be possible.

Brief inductions in episodic past or future thinking: effects on episodic detail and problem-solving

Episodic specificity inductions, involving brief training in recollecting episodic details, have been shown to improve subsequent performance on tasks involving remembering the past, imagining the future and problem solving. The current study examined if specificity inductions targeting self-referential past or future episodic thinking would have dissociable effects on generating past and future episodic detail and problem solving. Sixty-three participants were randomised to either a past self-referential or future self-referential episodic induction. All participants also completed a control task. Participants randomised to the self-referential future thinking induction generated more episodic details on past and future narrative tasks compared to a control task, whereas participants randomised to a self-referential past thinking induction showed similar performance to the control task. When examining within-group performance of participants randomised to the past or future induction, we found some evidence of dissociable effects of inductions on narrative generation tasks, but not on problem solving outcomes. Our findings suggest that self-referential inductions may be useful for increasing episodic specificity, but that the temporal distance and direction of the induction matters. We discuss our results in the context of the potential clinical utility of this approach for populations vulnerable to autobiographical memory disruption.

Dynamic Content Reactivation Supports Naturalistic Autobiographical Recall in Humans

Humans can vividly recall and re-experience events from their past, and these are commonly referred to as episodic or autobiographical memories. fMRI experiments reliably associate autobiographical event recall with activity in a network of "default" or "core" brain regions. However, as prior studies have relied on covert (silent) recall procedures, current understanding may be hampered by methodological limitations that obscure dynamic effects supporting moment-to-moment content retrieval. Here, fMRI participants (N = 40) overtly (verbally) recalled memories for ∼2 min periods. The content of spoken descriptions was categorized using a variant of the Autobiographical Interview (AI) procedure (Levine et al., 2002) and temporally re-aligned with BOLD data so activity accompanying the recall of different details could be measured. Replicating prior work, sustained effects associated with autobiographical recall periods (which are insensitive to the moment-to-moment content of retrieval) fell primarily within canonical default network regions. Spoken descriptions were rich in episodic details, frequently focusing on physical entities, their ongoing activities, and their appearances. Critically, neural activity associated with recalling specific details (e.g., those related to people or places) was transient, broadly distributed, and grounded in category-selective cortex (e.g., regions related to social cognition or scene processing). Thus, although a single network may generally support the process of vivid event reconstruction, the structures required to provide detail-related information shift in a predictable manner that respects domain-level representations across the cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans can vividly recall memories of autobiographical episodes, a process thought to involve the reconstruction of numerous distinct event details. Yet how the brain represents a complex episode as it unfolds over time remains unclear and appears inconsistent across experimental traditions. One hurdle is the use of covert (silent) in-scanner recall to study autobiographical memory, which prevents experimenter knowledge of what information is being retrieved, and when, throughout the remembering process. In this experiment, participants overtly described autobiographical memories while undergoing fMRI. Activity associated with the recall and description of specific details was transient, broadly distributed, and grounded in category-selective cortex. Thus, it appears that as events unfold mentally, structures are dynamically reactivated to support vivid recollection.

Links between autobiographical memory richness and temporal discounting in older adults

When making choices between smaller, sooner rewards and larger, later ones, people tend to discount future outcomes. Individual differences in temporal discounting in older adults have been associated with episodic memory abilities and entorhinal cortical thickness. The cause of this association between better memory and more future-oriented choice remains unclear, however. One possibility is that people with perceptually richer recollections are more patient because they also imagine the future more vividly. Alternatively, perhaps people whose memories focus more on the meaning of events (i.e., are more "gist-based") show reduced temporal discounting, since imagining the future depends on interactions between semantic and episodic memory. We examined which categories of episodic details - perception-based or gist-based - are associated with temporal discounting in older adults. Older adults whose autobiographical memories were richer in perception-based details showed reduced temporal discounting. Furthermore, in an exploratory neuroanatomical analysis, both discount rates and perception-based details correlated with entorhinal cortical thickness. Retrieving autobiographical memories before choice did not affect temporal discounting, however, suggesting that activating episodic memory circuitry at the time of choice is insufficient to alter discounting in older adults. These findings elucidate the role of episodic memory in decision making, which will inform interventions to nudge intertemporal choices.

Zooming In and Out on One's Life: Autobiographical Representations at Multiple Time Scales

The ability to decouple from the present environment and explore other times is a central feature of the human mind. Research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience has shown that the personal past and future is represented at multiple timescales and levels of resolution, from broad lifetime periods that span years to short-time slices of experience that span seconds. Here, I review this evidence and propose a theoretical framework for understanding mental time travel as the capacity to flexibly navigate hierarchical layers of autobiographical representations. On this view, past and future thoughts rely on two main systems-event simulation and autobiographical knowledge-that allow us to represent experiential contents that are decoupled from sensory input and to place these on a personal timeline scaffolded from conceptual knowledge of the content and structure of our life. The neural basis of this cognitive architecture is discussed, emphasizing the possible role of the medial pFC in integrating layers of autobiographical representations in the service of mental time travel.

Evidence that an episodic mode of thinking facilitates encoding of perceptually rich memories for naturalistic events relative to a gist-based mode of thinking

Several studies have demonstrated that an episodic specificity induction (ESI) can influence cognitive abilities that involve episodic processes at retrieval. To better understand the downstream implications of an "episodic mode of thinking," we investigate whether an ESI influences encoding of new events. In a between-subjects design, participants were given an ESI or gist (control) induction. In an ostensibly unrelated task, participants then were shown film clips of naturalistic events. After a filled delay, participants were given a surprise memory test, which required narrative recollection of the film clips. Participants who received the ESI generated narratives that contained more perceptual details specifically. Relative to gist thinking, an episodic mode of thinking appears to facilitate encoding of perceptually rich memories for naturalistic events.