Episodic Retrieval: Functions and Measurement

Abstract

A growing body of evidence indicates that people imagine specific experiences by retrieving and recombining elements of their episodic memories, a process often referred to as episodic simulation. As a result, episodic retrieval can contribute to domains of cognition not traditionally investigated in episodic memory research, so long as performance in these domains benefits from richly imagining events. In my dissertation, I will first illustrate this phenomenon in two domains. For the first and second paper, I will provide evidence that episodic retrieval contributes to mentalizing and creative writing. To further facilitate research on episodic simulation, I will use my third paper to develop and validate software that automatically scores details in episodic narratives, based on scoring guidelines from the Autobiographical Interview.