Research article summary (published 18 Feb 2009):

Remembering the past and imagining the future: differences in event specificity of spontaneously generated thought.

Full Abstract

A growing interest has emerged in the role that autobiographical memory retrieval plays in simulation of future events. Cognitive explorations in this domain have generally relied on cue word paradigms with instructions to develop specific (relating to one particular day) memories or future events. However, the usefulness of this paradigm has been questioned with respect to its ability to assess habitual patterns of retrieval within autobiographical memory. The current study investigated similarities and differences in how participants spontaneously remember the past and imagine the future when the specificity constraints inherent in the cue word task are removed. A total of 93 undergraduate students completed two sentence-completion tasks, probing for past and future events. A number of differences emerged between past and future thought; in particular, they were less specific when simulating future events compared with past events. This reduction in specificity was the result of participants producing more future thoughts relating to extended lifetime periods and semantic associates. The findings are discussed in relation to the underlying cognitive processes involved in autobiographical memory retrieval and future event simulation.

Author information

Author/s: Anderson, Rachel J (RJ); Dewhurst, Stephen A (SA);

Affiliation: Faculty of Health, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK. r.anderson(-atsign-)leedsmet.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article

Journal: Memory (Hove, England) (Memory), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-May; vol 17 (issue 4) : pp 367-73

Dates: Created 2009/04/09; Completed 2009/08/05;

PMID: 19235018, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 8/21/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Adult Analysis of Variance Autobiography Cues Depression - psychology Female Forecasting

Humans Imagination Male Mental Recall Thinking Time Factors Word Association Tests Young Adult

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