Coordination Funds

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Sen Cheng
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology ; Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 397530566

Despite five decades of research into episodic memory, it remains controversial how to conceptualize episodic memory and delineate it from other forms of memory. According to early concepts information is preserved in memory and later retrieved. However, overwhelming empirical evidence suggests that the content of episodic memory is – at least to a certain degree – constructed in the act of remembering. However, there are three key issues. First, there is little consensus on what exactly it means that memory is (re-)constructed and what the underlying cognitive processes and neural mechanisms are. Second, even though few researchers oppose the view of episodic memory as a generative process, it has not become standard in empirical research. Third, there are large conceptual differences regarding episodic memory across different research disciplines. In the first funding period, this research unit made significant progress in addressing these issues by developing and extending the scenario construction framework. Scenarios are mental simulations of a past episode based on episodic memory traces and semantic information. They provide flexibility to deal with missing data and to adjust to variable demands and constraints, e.g., those imposed by the self-model and social concerns. We developed novel experimental paradigms that were applied to study behavioral and neural responses to violations of episodic predictions, the interaction between prior knowledge, and conflicting episodic memory, and the effect of the self-model and social interactions on episodic memory. We also developed computational models to study the function of episodic memory and the interaction between semantic information and episodic memory traces, as well as philosophical theories on the nature of the memory trace and the interaction between the self-model and episodic memory. In the second funding period, we will elaborate and expand on these paradigms, models, and theories to study four research areas. 1. The directive, self, and social functions of episodic memory; 2. the interaction between episodic memory traces and semantic information; 3. the mechanisms by which the self-model and social interactions shape scenario construction; and 4. a novel aim is to examine the encoding of episodic memory traces and its interdependence with the semantic network. Specifically, we will focus on the conversion of memory traces into narratives, the role of the representational format, memory of non-perceptual experiences, memory updating, and the social dimension of these processes. In sum, this research will contribute to firmly establishing scenario construction as one of the major explanatory frameworks for studying episodic memory.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2812: Constructing Scenarios of the Past: A New Framework in Episodic Memory