Frontiers | The Hippocampus and Imagining the Future: Where Do We Stand?

Note also that this view is consistent with and indeed emerges from the multi-component model of hippocampal contributions to episodic future simulation put forth by Addis and Schacter (2012), which links the hippocampus with distinct components of future simulations, including both retrieval of episodic details and recombining those details.

One of the leading researchers in this area is Donna Rose Addis, Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory and Aging and a senior scientist at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. Her work has redefined the function of episodic memory as being ‘primarily future-focused’, and she recently discovered that some parts of the hippoc

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One of the leading researchers in this area is Donna Rose Addis, Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory and Aging and a senior scientist at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. Her work has redefined the function of episodic memory as being ‘primarily future-focused’, and she recently discovered that some parts of the hippoc

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According to the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis, extracted episodic details must also be recombined into a coherent event simulation. This recombinatory ability is thought to be central to flexibly imagining the future – to construct as well as disassemble and rework the components of scenarios to create different outcomes to enhance f... See more

The hippocampus has been a focus in the study of recombination during simulation – perhaps unsurprising given the established role of this structure in relational processing, including the binding together of disparate elements during working memory as well as episodic encoding and retrieval (Axmacher et al., 2010; Eichenbaum, 2001; Hannula & R... See more

Challenging the past as a viable template for the future is an important part of envisioning and enacting new futures. The parts of the brain responsible for creative imagination are directly linked to those that store and manage memories. Our ideas about the future are essentially tapestries remixed from of our memories of former days.

This suggests that the linear relationship between plausibility and hippocampal activity observed in the Weiler et al. study may not hold for the entire spectrum of plausibility. Instead, extremely implausible events may be associated with decreased hippocampal activity (relative to less implausible events), as observed in the current study where h... See more

Thinking about the future is remembering the future, putting memories together in a creative way to imagine a possible way things might turn out. Those brain pathways include the hippocampus (a key structure for memory) and the prefrontal cortex, which controls System 2, deliberative decision-making. It is our cognitive control center.* By engaging

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