Motivation and emotion/Book/2021/Episodic memory and planning

Episodic memory and planning:
What role does episodic memory play in planning?

Overview

This chapter examines the term episodic memory and how it affects future planning. We will be going into the details of why it exists, the science behind it and what role memory plays in planning for the future.

Included in the article is a quiz, some imagery and addition links in order to dive into the topic further.

What is episodic memory?

Episodic memory is the ability to remember personally experienced events and situations. These memories include details of the context of the event, emotions associated with it and specific details of the event (Tulving, 1993).

Examples of episodic memory (Perera, 2021):

Buying your first car
Graduating university
Your first kiss
What you ate for dinner
Your friend's birthday party
First day at school

The science behind it[what?] (Wright, 2015).

According to the International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, episodic memory refers to a neurocognitive system that renders possible the conscious recollection of events as they were previously experienced

Episodic memory of a great birthday

Episodic memory and future planning

As episodic memory allows for the recall of specific events, this cognitive function contributes to future planning. With the ability to remember events, past feelings and emotions associated with past experiences, you are able to use this information for future planning purposes (How Episodic Memory Helps You Remember Events, 2020). For example, if you got food poisoning from a Mexican restaurant, you would be very hesitant to go there again as you would remember how you felt previously. This recall of information would lead you to choosing a different restaurant for food next time as you would want to avoid feeling like that again.

Why does Episodic Memory exist?

The oxford handbook of comparative evolutionary psychology has looked into the theory and reasoning for episodic memory (Vonk & Shackelford, 2012) . They have listed 3 main reasons for this theory.

to use past information to solve problems in the present and for future issues
to provide knowledge about oneself in the past and as predicted in the future
to allow humans to understand and empathize[grammar?] while providing information and memories for conversation

The role of Episodic memory in planning

According to the Constructive Episodic Simulation Hypothesis developed in 2007, the ability to remember past events and imagine future events is due to episodic memory (Schacter & Addis, 2007).

When imagining future events, the aspect of the brain that lights up, also becomes active when we remember our past and or past events. The similarity of brain activity indicates that when we draw on memories or imagine future plans, we draw on the same areas of the brain that is required.[factual?][citation needed]

A case study from 2019 looked into what is the role of episodic foresight in planning for future needs. Their results indicated that where there were strong feelings or memories against an event which determined future planning, this was confirmed to be influenced by episodic memory (Cheke & Clayton, 2019).[Provide more detail]

In addition, an article written in 2001 has looked into the concept of ‘episodic future thinking’: a projection of the self into the future to pre-experience an event. This research used the theory of episodic memory combined with future planning to predict one feelings, emotions and thoughts for future events or scenarios (Atance & O’Neill, 2001).[Provide more detail]

While these articles are looking at different aspects, all three of these case studies provide an explanation as to the connection of memory and planning. These articles also pose the question of, if we alter someone's memory, can that alter their future? These are the lead on questions that would be fascinating to look into[vague].

How memory affects the planning of adults with Depression or Alzheimer

Recent research has uncovered that people who are depressed have impaired memory that makes it difficult to not only remember previous memories and events but makes it difficult to imagine future events as well[factual?]. Due to the loss of connection[vague], this can make their situation more difficult (L, 2015).

In addition, another study has looked into the connection of episodic memory and future planning amongst older adults with alzheimer's and amnesia[factual?]. The results revealed that when episodic memory is compromised there is a corresponding loss of details in future events that they imagined (Madore et al., 2014)[Provide more detail].

Both of these pieces of research indicate that if there are aspects of the brain that aren't healthy, this can lead to difficulty either viewing the future or creating current memories.

Comment: Adults with depression might struggle to integrate and organize information effectively. This can hinder their ability to generate and execute well-structured plans. Reduced Motivation: Depression can lead to decreased motivation and interest in activities, making it challenging to engage in complex planning tasks. The lack of motivation might result in poor execution of plans.

Quiz

Take a quick quiz to see if you understand the concept!

Conclusion

Episodic memory is the ability to remember personally experienced events, situations and emotions attached (Gillund, 2012).This type of memory allows you to recall your first kiss, first car or even your graduation. While this type of memory allows for the recall of emotions or feelings, it also can affect how someone plans for the future. Since episodic memory and future planning utilize the same area of the brain, studies have found that they not only work together and influence each other, but if one aspect isn't working correctly, the other element is negatively influenced. This type of research has informed us that episodic memory and future planning play a large role in working together to create new memory with the ability to plan ahead for more.

The future recommendation will be to look at the relationship between fake memories and future planning and future planning based on someone else recollection. This type of future research may assist brain injury victims and those without the ability to create memories[how?].

References

Atance, C. M., & O’Neill, D. K. (2001). Episodic future thinking. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(12), 533–539. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01804-0

Cheke, L. G., & Clayton, N. S. (2019). What is the role of episodic foresight in planning for future needs? Theory and two experiments. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(8), 1961–1976. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021818820808

Cherry, K. (2020, March 6). What is episodic memory?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-episodic-memory-2795173#:%7E:text=Episodic%20memory%20is%20a%20category,all%20examples%20of%20episodic%20memories

Gillund, G. (2012). Episodic memory. In V. S. Ramachandran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (pp. 68-72). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-375000-6.00152-X

Madore, K. P., Gaesser, B., & Schacter, D. L. (2014). Constructive episodic simulation: Dissociable effects of a specificity induction on remembering, imagining, and describing in young and older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(3), 609–622. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034885

Munoz, L. M. P. (2015, March 16). Linking the past to the future through memory. Cognitive Neuroscience Society. https://www.cogneurosociety.org/memory_addis_yia/

Perera, A. (2021, March 16). Episodic memory: Definitions & Examples. Simple Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/episodic-memory.html

Schacter, D. L., & Addis, D. R. (2007). On the constructive episodic simulation of past and future events. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(3), 331–332. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x07002178

Tulving, E. (1993). What is episodic memory?. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2(3), 67–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep10770899

Vonk, J., & Shackelford, T. K. (Eds.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of comparative evolutionary psychology. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738182.001.0001

Wright, J. D. (2015). International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780080970875/international-encyclopedia-of-the-social-and-behavioral-sciences

External sources

Differences and diagrams of episodic and semantic memory - (The Human Memory)
Episodic Memory (sciencedirect.com)
Episodic and Semantic Memory - (human-memory.net)
Memory is often a large part of a person's identity - (memory.ucsf.edu)
Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain - (annualreviews.org)