Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Counterfactual Thinking01:19

Counterfactual Thinking

432
Counterfactual thinking is a cognitive process wherein individuals mentally reconstruct alternative versions of past events, often beginning with “what if” or “if only.” This reflective mechanism plays a significant role in shaping emotional experiences and guiding future behavior. Though typically triggered by unfavorable or unexpected outcomes, counterfactual thinking can also emerge in mundane, everyday decisions and experiences, revealing its deep entrenchment in...
432
Amnesia01:13

Amnesia

943
Amnesia is a condition marked by long-term memory loss, which impairs the ability to recall past events or create new memories.
The severity and duration of memory loss vary depending on the type and underlying cause. Amnesia is classified into two main types: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia is marked by the loss of memories formed before the onset of the condition. Patients may recall distant past events but often forget those occurring shortly before the incident.
Anterograde...
943
False Memories01:18

False Memories

702
False memories represent a cognitive distortion in which individuals recall events that did not happen, or remember them in an altered form. This phenomenon highlights the brain's constructive nature in processing and recalling memories, emphasizing that memory is not a perfect representation of past events but rather a dynamic reconstruction influenced by various factors.
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information...
702
Dissociative Amnesia01:21

Dissociative Amnesia

1.2K
Dissociative amnesia is a complex psychological condition that manifests as an inability to recall personal information, often tied to traumatic or stressful events. Unlike general amnesia, individuals with this condition retain the ability to perform routine activities and procedural tasks, such as operating a phone or navigating public transportation, yet experience profound gaps in autobiographical memory. These lapses may encompass significant life events, such as suicide attempts or...
1.2K
Hindsight Biases01:12

Hindsight Biases

3.5K
Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now? 
3.5K
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

2.2K
Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or...
2.2K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Growing-up autistic: Sharing autistic children's experiences and insights.

Autism : the international journal of research and practice·2026
Same author

CA2/3-dependent stability of frontal mnemonic representations predict episodic deficits in human amnesia.

Cell reports·2025
Same author

"I felt shamed and blamed": an exploration of the parental lived experience of school distress.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2025
Same author

Anatomically Veridical On-Scalp Sensor Topographies.

The European journal of neuroscience·2025
Same author

Automated protocols for delineating human hippocampal subfields from 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging data.

Hippocampus·2024
Same author

School distress and the school attendance crisis: a story dominated by neurodivergence and unmet need.

Frontiers in psychiatry·2023

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
11:01

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Published on: August 30, 2011

12.6K

Counterfactual thinking in patients with amnesia.

Sinéad L Mullally1, Eleanor A Maguire

  • 1Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building for Neuroecology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

Hippocampus
|July 1, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Counterfactual thinking, or imagining "what might have been," does not require the hippocampus for non-episodic scenarios. However, hippocampal patients avoided simulations needing spatial representation.

Keywords:
amnesiacounterfactual thinkingepisodic memoryhippocampusimaginationscene construction

More Related Videos

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
09:13

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test

Published on: May 16, 2017

10.9K
Utilizing the Modified T-Maze to Assess Functional Memory Outcomes After Cardiac Arrest
07:02

Utilizing the Modified T-Maze to Assess Functional Memory Outcomes After Cardiac Arrest

Published on: January 5, 2018

11.7K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
11:01

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Published on: August 30, 2011

12.6K
A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test
09:13

A Real-world What-Where-When Memory Test

Published on: May 16, 2017

10.9K
Utilizing the Modified T-Maze to Assess Functional Memory Outcomes After Cardiac Arrest
07:02

Utilizing the Modified T-Maze to Assess Functional Memory Outcomes After Cardiac Arrest

Published on: January 5, 2018

11.7K

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuropsychology

Background:

  • Counterfactual (CF) thinking involves simulating alternative realities, similar to recalling the past or imagining the future.
  • Episodic memory and future imagination are impaired in patients with hippocampal damage.
  • The role of the hippocampus in CF thinking remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the hippocampus is essential for non-episodic counterfactual thinking.
  • To determine if hippocampal integrity influences the ability to construct alternative scenarios.

Main Methods:

  • Two non-episodic counterfactual thinking tasks were administered.
  • Performance of patients with bilateral hippocampal damage and amnesia was compared to matched controls.

Main Results:

  • Patients with hippocampal damage performed comparably to controls on deconstructing and recombining elements to form alternative scenarios.
  • Patients showed a subtle avoidance of CF simulations requiring internal spatial representation construction.
  • Non-episodic CF thinking appears intact despite hippocampal damage.

Conclusions:

  • The hippocampus is not essential for non-episodic counterfactual thinking.
  • Hippocampal function may be necessary for CF simulations that involve constructing a coherent spatial scene.