Tell me why: the missing w in episodic memory’s what, where, and when

Abstract

Endel Tulving defined episodic memory as consisting of a spatiotemporal context. It enables us to recollect personal experiences of people, things, places, and situations. In other words, it is made up of what, where, and when components. However, this definition does not include arguably the most important aspect of episodic memory: the why. Understanding why we remember has important implications to better understand how our memory system works and as a potential target of intervention for memory impairment. The intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to why some experiences are better remembered than others have been widely investigated but largely independently studied. How these factors interact with one another to drive an event to become a lasting memory is still unknown. This review summarizes research examining the why of episodic memory, where we aim to uncover the factors that drive core features of our memory. We discuss the concept of episodic memory examining the what, where, and when, and how the why is essential to each of these key components of episodic memory. Furthermore, we discuss the neural mechanisms known to support our rich episodic memories and how a why signal may provide critical modulatory impact on neural activity and communication. Finally, we discuss the individual differences that may further drive why we remember certain experiences over others. A better understanding of these elements, and how we experience memory in daily life, can elucidate why we remember what we remember, providing important insight into the overarching goal of our memory system.