Selective effects of specificity inductions on episodic details: evidence for an event construction account

Abstract

Prior research has suggested that an episodic specificity induction - brief training in recollecting the details of a past event - affects downstream performance on remembering past and imagining future events, solving problems, and thinking creatively. We have hypothesised that a process common to these tasks that the induction may target is event construction - assembling and maintaining a mental scenario filled with details related to settings, people, and actions. We test this hypothesis by having participants receive a memory specificity induction, imagination specificity induction, or control induction not requiring event construction prior to memory and imagination tasks that involve event construction, and a picture description task that involves describing but not mentally constructing an event. We predicted that induction effects would be specific to episodic detail production on subsequent memory and imagination because these details assay critical elements of a constructed event. In line with an event construction account, the two specificity inductions produced significant and indistinguishable increases in the number of episodic - but not semantic - details generated during memory and imagination relative to the control. Induction did not increase detail generation on picture description. The findings provide novel evidence that event construction is a key process targeted by specificity inductions.

Changing the Future: An Initial Test of Future Specificity Training (FeST)

“…However, they focus more on the practical aspects and applications of utilising EFT, rather than particular training in improving this type of cognitive ability. A series of studies utilising a laboratory-based paradigm of a brief video followed by an interview about details of the video can increase episodic detail for future events, which generalises to improved performance on tasks which follow this induction (Madore et al, 2014a(Madore et al, , 2014b(Madore et al, , 2015(Madore et al, , 2016(Madore et al, , 2019. These studies demonstrate the important role of episodic detail on a range of tasks; however, the ability to generate higher numbers of specific events is not typically tested, rather, details are assessed within specific events.…”

A gist orientation before retrieval impacts the objective content but not the subjective experience of episodic memory

“…A first way to show that the effect of the retrieval-orientation manipulation is episodic-specific is to include a task that does not rely on episodic memory mechanisms. For instance, some studies using specificity inductions also included a description task in their design (Madore et al, 2014;Madore, Jing, & Schacter, 2019b;Madore & Schacter, 2016). They found an increase in the number of reported episodic details when remembering the past or imagining the future after the specificity induction while the induction did not impact the number of reported details in the description task.…”

Increasing Anticipated and Anticipatory Pleasure through Episodic Thinking

“…Effortful simulations of future events can increase their vividness (Boland, Riggs, & Anderson, 2018;Madore, Jing, & Schacter, 2018), and the plausibility of them occurring in one's life (Boland et al, 2018;Gregory, Cialdini, & Carpenter, 1982;Szpunar & Schacter, 2013). Indeed, episodic future thinking can increase the availability of information about future experiences with which to make decisions and form intentions (Altgassen et al, 2015;Tversky & Kahnemann, 1974).…”

“…On a related note, research has shown that recalling past experiences can prime an episodic thinking style, and subsequently increase detail/vividness when thinking of future events (e.g., Madore, Jing, & Schacter, 2018;Madore & Schacter, 2014;. This is thought to be because mentally simulating past and future events involves a similar process of generating and maintaining a mental scene populated with details (Madore et al, 2018). Indeed, activating an episodic thinking style, whether through past or future thinking, increases detail in future thinking (Madore et al, 2018).…”

“…This is thought to be because mentally simulating past and future events involves a similar process of generating and maintaining a mental scene populated with details (Madore et al, 2018). Indeed, activating an episodic thinking style, whether through past or future thinking, increases detail in future thinking (Madore et al, 2018). Regarding anticipatory pleasure, research has also indicated that thinking of positive past events might prime the prediction of positive emotions, and lead to a stronger sense of pleasure from thinking of future events (Painter & Kring, 2016).…”