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Episodic memory solves both social and nonsocial problems, and evolved to fulfill many different functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2018

Raymond A. Mar  and
R. Nathan Spreng
Raymond A. Mar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3Canada. mar@yorku.cayorku.ca/mar
R. Nathan Spreng
Affiliation:
Montreal Neurological Institute, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada. nathan.spreng@gmail.com Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. http://lbc.human.cornell.edu
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Abstract

The episodic memory system is flexible and complex, and likely evolved in response to a wide range of survival-relevant problems in our evolutionary past, both social and nonsocial. Episodic memory allows us to recollect and infer details that may have seemed trivial on encoding, but are now known to be relevant. This memory aids humans in navigating their uncertain environment.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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