Remembering the past and imagining the future: Differences in event specificity of spontaneously generated thought
Remembering the past and imagining the future: Differences in event specificity of spontaneously generated thought
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DOI：
10.1080/09658210902751669
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发表时间：
2009-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Dewhurst, Stephen A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Anderson, Rachel J.;Dewhurst, Stephen A.
人们对自传体记忆提取在模拟未来事件中所起的作用越来越感兴趣。这一领域的认知探索通常依赖于线索词范式和指令来发展特定(与特定的一天有关)记忆或未来事件。然而，在评估自传体记忆中习惯性提取模式的能力方面，这一范式的有用性受到了质疑。目前的研究调查了当提示词任务中固有的特殊性限制被移除时，参与者如何自发地记住过去和想象未来的异同。共有93名本科生完成了两个句子补全任务，探究过去和未来的事件。过去和未来的想法之间出现了一些差异；特别是，与过去的事件相比，它们在模拟未来事件时不那么具体。这种特异性的降低是参与者产生更多与延长的终身期和语义关联有关的未来想法的结果。这些发现与涉及自传体记忆提取和未来事件模拟的潜在认知过程有关。
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.