Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: When recalling memories, we often scan information-rich continuous episodes, e.g., to find our keys. How does our brain access and search through naturalistic memories? We suggest that high-level structure, marked by event boundaries, guides us through this process. We present a computational model where memory-scanning is sped up by ``skipping ahead’’ to the next event boundary upon reaching a decision-threshold. Using a movie (normed for event boundaries; study 1), we then prompt participants to perform memory-scanning of movie-segments for target answers (study 2) and mental simulation (study 3) of these segments (total N=601 adults across studies). Confirming model predictions, memory-scanning times were a function of the number of event boundaries within a segment and the distance of the search-target to the previous boundary. Mental simulation times were also described by a skipping-process, but with a higher skipping-threshold than memory-scanning. These findings identify event boundaries as access points to naturalistic memory.
Source: Psychological Science
Institution: Princeton University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4313454308