Perspectives on Episodic-Like and Episodic Memory

Abstract

Episodic memory refers to the conscious recollection of a personal experience that contains information on what has happened and also where and when it happened. Recollection from episodic memory also implies a kind of first-person subjectivity that has been termed autonoetic consciousness. Episodic memory is extremely sensitive to cerebral aging and neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimer’s disease deficits in episodic memory function are among the first cognitive symptoms observed. Furthermore, impaired episodic memory function is also observed in a variety of other neuropsychiatric diseases including dissociative disorders, schizophrenia, and Parkinson disease. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to induce and measure episodic memories in the laboratory and it is even more difficult to measure it in clinical populations. Presently, the tests used to assess episodic memory function do not comply with even down-sized definitions of episodic-like memory as a memory for what happened, where, and when. They also require sophisticated verbal competences and are difficult to apply to patient populations. In this review, we will summarize the progress made in defining behavioral criteria of episodic-like memory in animals (and humans) as well as the perspectives in developing novel tests of human episodic memory which can also account for phenomenological aspects of episodic memory such as autonoetic awareness. We will also define basic behavioral, procedural, and phenomenological criteria which might be helpful for the development of a valid and reliable clinical test of human episodic memory.

The temporal orientation of memory: It's time for a change of direction.

“…A slightly more recent volume on the same topic (Parker, Crawford, & Harris, 2006) presents a somewhat more encouraging picture. Two of the 16 chapters are explicitly addressed to the future-orientation of memory, while several others at least mention the theme.…”

“…. .awareness of re-experiencing here and now something that happened before, at another time and in another place"; Tulving, 1993, p. 68), such abilities are most judiciously characterized as "episodic-like" (for a recent review, see Pause et al, 2013). Whether non-human animals eventually will be shown to experience episodic recollection is presently indeterminable.…”

Computerized Structured Cognitive Training in Patients Affected by Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease is Feasible and Effective: A Randomized Controlled Study

“…It is relevant to note that converging evidence clearly indicates that some cognitive subsystems (e.g. procedural memory) remain relatively intact, whilst others (e.g., episodic memory) are dramatically impaired (Salmon & Bondi, 2009;Pause et al, 2013). These dissociations are indeed supported also by a developing understanding of the role played by different brain areas in the cognitive processes of memory encoding, storing and retrieval (Glisky, 1998;Graham & Hodges, 1997;Nadel & Moscovitch, 1997).…”

Wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) remember single foraging episodes

“…Evidence for the latter comes from the finding that human and rat declarative memory consolidation co-varies with stress hormones levels: experienced stress at the time of learning leads to increased long-term memory performance (Sandi and PineloNava 2007;Wolf 2009), and humans often form vivid episodic memories in stressful or emotionally otherwise prominent situations (Joels et al 2006;Pause et al 2013). For example, a need to bring an unaccomplished task to an end ("ungestilltes Erledigungsbedürfnis") has been suggested to trigger human episodic memory formation (Zeigarnik 1927).…”