Memory for the future
Memory for the future refers to the ability to use memory to picture and plan future events. It is a subcategory of "mental time travel" which Suddendorf and Corballis described to be the process that allows people to imagine both past and potential future events. Mental time travel into the future has been discovered to use the same processes as mental time travel into the past or recall. There are two ways that we can use our memory for the future. The first is by using episodic memory and is therefore named "episodic future thinking". The second is by using semantic memory, also known as "semantic future thinking". Prospective memory can be seen as a subtopic of memory for the future, as it involves remembering to carry out some action that has been previously thought of, without needing an explicit reminder. Having the ability to mentally travel forward in time is an important tool that allows humans to adapt to and prepare for future events.
Processes
Cognitive resources used
In order to use memory for the future, certain processes are required. These processes include: working memory, long term memory, declarative memory, recursion, understanding of time, inhibition of present needs, and episodic and semantic memory. together with semantic memory (general knowledge of the world) allows for visualization of novel situations and prepare for future events. Tulving used Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to discover that the left frontal lobes are important in semantic memory retrieval.
Prefrontal cortex
Suddendorf and Corballis explain that the expansion of the prefrontal cortex in humans and not in many other primates could be evidence as to why many other primates cannot use memory for the future. The prefrontal cortex is an important brain region to the retrieval of episodic memory,
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies have demonstrated the role of the hippocampal-cortical system in future episodic thought. It was found that the same regions are active during envisioning the future as remembering the past. In 2006 Svoboda et al. used data from twenty-four Positron Emission Tomography and fMRI studies that tested participants autobiographical memory retrieval. During the testing period in which the subjects were asked to recall these past memories, the hippocampal-cortical system was constantly active. When participants were asked to imagine future scenarios, the same hippocampal-cortical system was proven to be active. Behavioural studies have also proved that thinking about the future ellicits the same behavioural properties as thinking about the past. Spzunar and McDermott conducted a study in which they tested participants in different environments. One study asked subjects to imagine future events in previously known environments as opposed to never-experienced environments. It was found that imagined future events contained significantly more detail if they were constructed on familiar environments as opposed to new ones. This shows that acts of envisioning the future rely heavily on memories from the past. and Alzheimer's disease.
Many frontal lobe patients have a working semantic memory system, and are able to imagine themselves in the future through this system. The problem lies in their episodic memory. A damaged episodic memory system including "episodic future thinking," causes the patient to be unable to view themselves in specific future events.
Human life
Evolution
Most processes passed on through natural selection are important for survival and allow the particular species or individual to live long enough to produce more offspring. Mental time travel is considered a crucial ability for human beings from an evolutionary stand point. This is because it offers a selective advantage by enhancing flexibility in new situations, and helps in goal setting and long term planning. Language experiments have been conducted to prove that memory has specific future oriented systems involved. Participants were given a list of either thirty planning words or thirty other words to memorize. The participants who had a list of planning words performed better when asked to recall their list.
With the gift of foresight, humans must also suffer in the knowledge of a death that is inevitable, and create future possibilities such as the end of the Earth that we will have no control over. For example, the media continues to create films such as 2012, The Day After, and The Day After Tomorrow.
Daily life
Humans have evolved using memory for the future it has become an important aspect of day-to-day life. Memory for the future is used when setting all goals in life, The Bischof-Köhler hypothesis, states that nonhuman animals do not have the ability to think of the future states they may have as being different from the ones they are currently experiencing. Many of the behaviors exhibited by animals that would seem to involve planning for the future can be explained as instinctive or behavioral predispositions. This is not a behavioral predisposition because after researchers destroyed or stole the food items that were hidden, the scrub jays learned not to store their food. It was also discovered that they would re-hide any food items that other scrub jays had witnessed, if they themselves had previously stolen food items from another bird. This shows that they can imagine the future possibility of food theft from their own past experiences.
Bonobos and orangutans
The Bonobo and Orangutan are close evolutionary relatives of human beings. Researchers gave apes from these species a chance to experience and learn how to use a tool to obtain a reward from an obstacle. They were later allowed to select a suitable tool from the test room when the obstacle was in view, but not accessible. Each ape was then led to a waiting room. The apes brought the tool into the waiting room and were left there for different time periods. Next they were again brought to the test room and were required to voluntarily bring the tool back into the test room upon their return. Seventy percent chose the right tool and brought it with them to the waiting room and back into the test room, with the anticipation that they would need it in future use. The apes were able to do this task with up to a fourteen hour delay. Therefore, they chose appropriate tools, saved them, and carried them around with the anticipation that they would need them in the future.<ref name="frtn" />
Squirrel monkeys
Experimenters have also found results of memory for the future in the squirrel monkey. In the first experiment, researchers gave squirrel monkeys the choice of four peanuts or two peanuts. Next, they were given the choice of only two peanuts and the researcher would come back with a larger reward of ten peanuts fifteen minutes later. After this experience, when given the choice of four peanuts at the present moment or two peanuts with the anticipation of ten more peanuts on the way, more of the monkeys chose two peanuts.
Another experiment gave the monkeys a choice of one or four dates, which made the squirrel monkeys thirsty. When they made the choice of four dates they had a three hour period without water. A choice of one date gave them water half an hour later, relieving the monkey's thirst much faster. Most monkeys learned from this experience, and using the memory from their past, planned for the future experience of being thirsty and chose only one date in later trials.<ref name="sixt" />
Processes
Cognitive resources used
In order to use memory for the future, certain processes are required. These processes include: working memory, long term memory, declarative memory, recursion, understanding of time, inhibition of present needs, and episodic and semantic memory. together with semantic memory (general knowledge of the world) allows for visualization of novel situations and prepare for future events. Tulving used Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to discover that the left frontal lobes are important in semantic memory retrieval.
Prefrontal cortex
Suddendorf and Corballis explain that the expansion of the prefrontal cortex in humans and not in many other primates could be evidence as to why many other primates cannot use memory for the future. The prefrontal cortex is an important brain region to the retrieval of episodic memory,
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies have demonstrated the role of the hippocampal-cortical system in future episodic thought. It was found that the same regions are active during envisioning the future as remembering the past. In 2006 Svoboda et al. used data from twenty-four Positron Emission Tomography and fMRI studies that tested participants autobiographical memory retrieval. During the testing period in which the subjects were asked to recall these past memories, the hippocampal-cortical system was constantly active. When participants were asked to imagine future scenarios, the same hippocampal-cortical system was proven to be active. Behavioural studies have also proved that thinking about the future ellicits the same behavioural properties as thinking about the past. Spzunar and McDermott conducted a study in which they tested participants in different environments. One study asked subjects to imagine future events in previously known environments as opposed to never-experienced environments. It was found that imagined future events contained significantly more detail if they were constructed on familiar environments as opposed to new ones. This shows that acts of envisioning the future rely heavily on memories from the past. and Alzheimer's disease.
Many frontal lobe patients have a working semantic memory system, and are able to imagine themselves in the future through this system. The problem lies in their episodic memory. A damaged episodic memory system including "episodic future thinking," causes the patient to be unable to view themselves in specific future events.
Human life
Evolution
Most processes passed on through natural selection are important for survival and allow the particular species or individual to live long enough to produce more offspring. Mental time travel is considered a crucial ability for human beings from an evolutionary stand point. This is because it offers a selective advantage by enhancing flexibility in new situations, and helps in goal setting and long term planning. Language experiments have been conducted to prove that memory has specific future oriented systems involved. Participants were given a list of either thirty planning words or thirty other words to memorize. The participants who had a list of planning words performed better when asked to recall their list.
With the gift of foresight, humans must also suffer in the knowledge of a death that is inevitable, and create future possibilities such as the end of the Earth that we will have no control over. For example, the media continues to create films such as 2012, The Day After, and The Day After Tomorrow.
Daily life
Humans have evolved using memory for the future it has become an important aspect of day-to-day life. Memory for the future is used when setting all goals in life, The Bischof-Köhler hypothesis, states that nonhuman animals do not have the ability to think of the future states they may have as being different from the ones they are currently experiencing. Many of the behaviors exhibited by animals that would seem to involve planning for the future can be explained as instinctive or behavioral predispositions. This is not a behavioral predisposition because after researchers destroyed or stole the food items that were hidden, the scrub jays learned not to store their food. It was also discovered that they would re-hide any food items that other scrub jays had witnessed, if they themselves had previously stolen food items from another bird. This shows that they can imagine the future possibility of food theft from their own past experiences.
Bonobos and orangutans
The Bonobo and Orangutan are close evolutionary relatives of human beings. Researchers gave apes from these species a chance to experience and learn how to use a tool to obtain a reward from an obstacle. They were later allowed to select a suitable tool from the test room when the obstacle was in view, but not accessible. Each ape was then led to a waiting room. The apes brought the tool into the waiting room and were left there for different time periods. Next they were again brought to the test room and were required to voluntarily bring the tool back into the test room upon their return. Seventy percent chose the right tool and brought it with them to the waiting room and back into the test room, with the anticipation that they would need it in future use. The apes were able to do this task with up to a fourteen hour delay. Therefore, they chose appropriate tools, saved them, and carried them around with the anticipation that they would need them in the future.<ref name="frtn" />
Squirrel monkeys
Experimenters have also found results of memory for the future in the squirrel monkey. In the first experiment, researchers gave squirrel monkeys the choice of four peanuts or two peanuts. Next, they were given the choice of only two peanuts and the researcher would come back with a larger reward of ten peanuts fifteen minutes later. After this experience, when given the choice of four peanuts at the present moment or two peanuts with the anticipation of ten more peanuts on the way, more of the monkeys chose two peanuts.
Another experiment gave the monkeys a choice of one or four dates, which made the squirrel monkeys thirsty. When they made the choice of four dates they had a three hour period without water. A choice of one date gave them water half an hour later, relieving the monkey's thirst much faster. Most monkeys learned from this experience, and using the memory from their past, planned for the future experience of being thirsty and chose only one date in later trials.<ref name="sixt" />
Comments