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Tulving's concept of mental time travel (MTT), and the related distinction of episodic and semantic memory, have been highly influential contributions to memory research, resulting in a wealth of findings and a deeper understanding of the neurocognitive correlates of memory and future thinking. Many models have conceptualized episodic and semantic representations as existing on a continuum that can help to account for various hybrid forms. Nevertheless, in most theories, MTT remains distinctly associated with episodic representations. In this article, we review existing models of memory and future thinking, and critically evaluate whether episodic representations are distinct from other types of explicit representations, including whether MTT as a neurocognitive capacity is uniquely episodic. We conclude by proposing a new framework, the Multidimensional Model of Mental Representations (MMMR), which can parsimoniously account for the range of past, present and future representations the human mind is capable of creating. This article is part of the theme issue 'Elements of episodic memory: lessons from 40 years of research'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the hypothesis that interpolated testing in a multiple list paradigm protects against proactive interference by sustaining test expectancy during encoding. In both experiments, recall on the last of 5 word lists was compared between 4 conditions: a tested group who had taken tests on all previous lists, an untested group who had not taken any tests on previous lists, and 2 other groups (one tested and the other untested) who were warned about the upcoming test prior to study of the fifth list. In both experiments, the untested/warned group performed significantly better than the untested/unwarned group on both correct recall and prior list intrusions but did not achieve the same recall accuracy as tested groups. In Experiment 2, an instruction manipulation check further narrowed the gap between the untested/warned group and the tested groups. In addition, we verified that a reduction in test expectancy indeed occurred in the untested group compared with the tested group by asking participants to indicate how likely they believed they were to receive a test on each studied list. These findings suggest that testing protects against proactive interference largely via attentional processes and/or more effective encoding.

People frequently imagine specific interpersonal experiences that might occur in their futures. The present study used a novel experimental paradigm to examine the influence of repeated simulation of future interpersonal experiences on subjective assessments of plausibility for positive, negative, and neutral events. The results demonstrate that repeated simulation increases estimates of plausibility for emotional, but not neutral, future interpersonal experiences. Additional correlational analyses reveal that increases in plausibility for emotional events are associated with concurrent increases in ease of simulation, event detail, and arousal. Implications for daily life and affective disorders such as depression and anxiety are noted. (Contains 1 table and 3 footnotes.)

In designing experiments to investigate retrieval of event memory, researchers choose between utilizing laboratory-based methods (in which to-be-remembered materials are presented to participants) and autobiographical approaches (in which the to-be-remembered materials are events from the participant's pre-experimental life). In practice, most laboratory studies have utilized old/new recognition memory, and most autobiographical memory studies have used the Galton-Crovitz word cueing technique [Crovitz, H.F., & Schiffman, H. (1974). "Frequency of episodic memories as a function of their age." "Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society," 4, 517-518]. What are the implications of these methodological choices for understanding the component processes and underlying neural substrates of memory retrieval? An Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis procedure [Turkeltaub, P., Eden, G., Jones, K., & Zeffiro, TA. (2002). "Meta-analysis of the functional neuroanatomy of single-word reading: Method and validation." "NeuroImage," 16, 765-780] was used to construct two whole-brain statistical maps: one showing brain regions that are consistently implicated when the task utilized is old/new recognition memory and one showing regions that tend to emerge when autobiographical event memory is queried. A comparison of the two maps shows very few regions of overlap. This basic methodological choice has a profound impact on the conclusions reached regarding human memory retrieval and its neural substrates. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

Recent interest in the benefits of retrieval practice on long-term retention--the testing effect--has spawned a considerable amount of research toward understanding the underlying nature of this ubiquitous memory phenomenon. Taking a test may benefit retention through both direct means (engaging appropriate retrieval processes) and indirect means (fostering directed study). Here the authors report 4 experiments demonstrating a novel benefit of testing. Extended study sessions cause a buildup of proactive interference, but interpolating tests during the study sequence insulates against this negative influence. These findings highlight a unique benefit of testing and have important implications for study strategies.

Three experiments examined changes in liking and memory for music as a function of number of previous exposures, the ecological validity of the music, and whether the exposure phase required focused or incidental listening. After incidental listening, liking ratings were higher for music heard more often in the exposure phase and this association was stronger as ecological validity increased. After focused listening, liking ratings followed an inverted U-shaped function of exposure for the most ecologically valid stimuli (initial increases followed by decreases), but this curvilinear function was attenuated or nonexistent for less valid stimuli. In general, recognition improved as a function of previous exposure for focused listeners, but the effect was attenuated or absent for incidental listeners.

The way personal and collective event cognition are alike, differ from, and interact with one another is drawing considerable attention from researchers across several disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and the humanities. In this reply to commentaries on our target article (Liu & Szpunar, 2023), we address calls for future studies to diversify both the nature of event cueing techniques that are used to evoke personal and collective event cognitions and to expand the study of collective cognition beyond the level of the nation. In addition to these methodological considerations, we emphasize that theoretical accounts of the relation(s) between personal and collective event cognition will not only need to consider the individual (e.g., episodic memory) and group-based (e.g., cultural scripts and narratives) processes that are the focus of many of the commentaries but also the dynamism between individuals and groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological and sociological literature indicate that personal events are remembered and imagined as more positive than negative, whereas public events are remembered and imagined as more negative than positive. We discuss daily experiences, scripted events, and the impact of living in a particular moment of historical time within a nation as cultural phenomena providing plausible mechanisms for the emotional climate that characterizes personal compared to public events. We take into account narrative processes, especially personal versus group/intergroup narratives that provide meaning for negative events and foster a sense of personal and collective continuity for people living as cohorts in time. Difficult objective situations are theorized to bring memory for personal lives and national events together in a theoretical account of identity fusion. We conclude by highlighting the implications of collective cognition for group interactions, education, public policy, and collective action. General Audience Summary: When people reflect on their past and look ahead to their future, they tend to focus on positive events, such as getting married, the birth of a child, or settling on a career. Conversely, when people reflect on the past and future of their nation, they often recall negative events, such as war, political turmoil, terrorism, and economic downturns. In this article, we bring these largely disparate findings together and attempt to make sense of how people hold onto a positive sense of themselves in the context of a negative national climate. After reviewing the literature, we turn our attention to the fact that our thoughts, whether they are directed toward personal or shared experiences, are governed by our daily experiences and culturally prescribed scripts and narratives that provide us with a sense of purpose and continuity. For instance, cultural life scripts dictate that there are prototypical events that we should all strive to experience and subsequently remember. Self-reflective narrative processes help to make sense of things when our experiences deviate from these scripts. Similarly, national narratives frame the history of nations, which is often borne out of conflict, in a meaningful way that shapes citizens' sense of national identity. Such national narratives are likely to be less reflective of individuals' daily lives. Critically, we suggest that holding a distinction between personal and public life, and hence an opportunity to view one as more positive or negative than the other, is more likely to occur in contemporary situations wherein people have the objective security to think of their lives as separate from that of their nation. We conclude by highlighting that how people think about the collective past and/or future can influence their behaviors in meaningful ways that bear significance for our systems of education and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]