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Distance- rather than location-based temporal judgments are more accurate during episodic recall in a real-world task

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 21:54 authored by Maneesh KuruvillaManeesh Kuruvilla, O'Connor, AR, Ainge, JA
Definitions of episodic memory typically emphasise the importance of spatiotemporal frameworks in the contextual reconstruction of episodic retrieval. However, our ability to retrieve specific temporal contexts of experienced episodes is poor. This has bearing on the prominence of temporal context in the definition and evaluation of episodic memory, particularly among non-human animals. Studies demonstrating that rats rely on elapsed time (distance) rather than specific timestamps (location) to disambiguate events have been used to suggest that human episodic memory is qualitatively different to other species. We examined whether humans were more accurate using a distance- or location-based method for judging when an event happened. Participants (n = 57) were exposed to a series of events and then asked either when (e.g., 1:03 pm) or how long ago (HLA; e.g., 33 min) a specific event took place. HLA judgements were significantly more accurate, particularly for the most recently experienced episode. Additionally, a significantly higher proportion of participants making HLA judgements accurately recalled non-temporal episodic features across all episodes. Finally, for participants given the choice of methods for making temporal judgements, a significantly higher proportion chose to use HLA judgements. These findings suggest that human and non-human temporal judgements are not qualitatively different.

History

Publication title

Memory

Volume

28

Issue

6

Pagination

783-794

ISSN

0965-8211

Department/School

Wicking Dementia Research Education Centre

Publisher

Psychology Press

Place of publication

27 Church Rd, Hove, England, East Sussex, Bn3 2Fa

Rights statement

Copyright 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Behaviour and health

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