From memory to prospection: what are the overlapping and the distinct components between remembering and imagining?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Memory and future thinking (prospection) are linked, with past experiences constraining future imagination.
• Neuroimaging, lesion, and developmental studies support the connection between memory recall and future planning.
• The precise mechanisms by which novel future episodes are constructed from historical memories remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and synthesize research on intermediary processes linking memory and prospection.
• To explore how memory cooperates with other cognitive functions to generate future-oriented thought.
• To investigate the neural underpinnings and clinical implications of memory-based prospection.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of studies on goal-directed processing, associative learning, cognitive control, and creativity.
• Integration of findings from cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and lesion studies.
• Theoretical synthesis linking memory mechanisms with prospection research.

Main Results:

• Memory serves as a foundation for future thinking, utilizing intermediary processes.
• Cognitive functions like goal-directed learning, cognitive control, and creativity work with memory to construct future events.
• Hippocampal-cortical interactions are implicated in memory-based prospection.

Conclusions:

• Memory and prospection are tightly coupled through intermediary cognitive processes.
• Disruptions in memory-based prospection may underlie mental disorders, including schizophrenia.
• Understanding these constructive processes is key to comprehending future-oriented cognition.