Subjective feeling of re-experiencing past events using immersive virtual reality prevents a loss of episodic memory

Personally meaningful past episodes, defined as episodic memories (EM), are subjectively re-experienced from the natural perspective and location of one's own body, as described by bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Neurobiological mechanisms of memory consolidation suggest how initially irrelevant episodes may be remembered, if related information makes them gain importance later in time, leading for instance, to a retroactive memory strengthening in humans.

Using an immersive virtual reality system, we were able to directly manipulate the presence or absence of one's body, which seems to prevent a loss of initially irrelevant, self-unrelated past events.

Our findings provide an evidence that personally meaningful memories of our past are not fixed, but may be strengthened by later events, and that body-related integration is important for the successful recall of episodic memories.