Cognitive processing components associated with remembering the past: Investigating belief in occurrence, mental simulation, and event accuracy

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Much of the existing research on remembering events examines memory reports that are strongly believed and clearly recollected. Hence the study of autobiographical memory has tended to be the study of vivid event representations that are believed to have occurred and are believed to be recalled accurately. When a wider variety of event representations are cued, it becomes evident that multiple distinct metacognitive appraisals contribute to the experience of remembering. Building on preceding literature, recent work conducted in my lab has shown that belief that an event genuinely occurred; vividly recollecting an event; and believing that the details recalled are accurate are empirically distinct and therefore reflect different underlying processes. My research has demonstrated that these constructs can be measured independently, and that belief in occurrence and recollection can be manipulated separately. Such observations are consistent with a components process approach to human memory. In a components process approach, remembering is posited to be reconstructive in nature. Remembering is the result of the coordination of multiple basic processing components that interact to produce event representations. The quality of representations are monitored and controlled by metacognitive processes that are reflected in belief in occurrence, recollection, and belief in accuracy appraisals. Knowledge about the distinction between belief in occurrence and recollection has expanded in recent years. Less is known about the relationships between belief in the occurrence of events, belief in the accuracy of events, and confidence in individual items within event representations. The broad goal of this phase of my research program is to enhance understanding of within-event (accuracy of individuals details) versus between-event (occurrence and source of events) monitoring processes. This will be accomplished by: 1) Developing improved scales for measuring components associated with remembering to enhance modelling of component and their interactions; 2) Conducting experimental studies to examine how providing disconfirmatory feedback about remembered events impacts occurrence, accuracy, and source monitoring judgments; 3) Conduct experimental studies to distinguish metacognitive appraisals for the occurrence of entire events, the accuracy of entire events, and confidence in individual details within events; and, 4) Explore frontal lobe activity associated with belief in occurrence vs. belief in accuracy using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS).