In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that episodic memory is a critical component for cognitive architectures that support general intelligence. Episodic memory overlaps with case-based reasoning (CBR) and can be seen as a taskindependent, architectural approach to CBR. We define the design space for episodic memory systems and the criteria any implementation must meet to be useful in a cog...

We present a neural network model of how events are stored in and retrieved from episodic long-term memory (LTM). The model is novel in giving an explicit account of the working memory (WM) medium mediating access to episodic memory: it makes a specific proposal about how representations of events and situations in WM interface with representations of events and situations in episodic memory. I...

The cognitive function to project oneself into the specific past or future is labeled mental time travel (MTT). MTT to the past is considered "episodic memory" and the future is termed "episodic future thinking". Remembering the past and imaging the future during MTT both draw on information stored in episodic memory: a process that enables integration of episodic information into a coherent ev...

Episodic and autobiographical memory are clearly related, yet in both the adult and developmental literatures it is difficult to compare them because of differences in how the constructs are assessed, including differences in content, levels of control, and time since experience. To address these issues, we directly compared children's and adults' autobiographical and episodic memory using the ...

Episodic memory has been analyzed in a number of different ways in both philosophy and psychology, and most controversy has centered on its self-referential, 'autonoetic' character. Here, we offer a comprehensive characterization of episodic memory in representational terms, and propose a novel functional account on this basis. We argue that episodic memory should be understood as a distinctive...

Studying episodic memory in nonhuman animals has proved difficult because definitions in humans require conscious recollection. Here, we assessed humans’ experience of episodic-like recognition memory tasks that have been used with animals. It was found that tasks using contextual information to discriminate events could only be accurately performed using recollection, not familiarity. However,...

When remembering past events or imagining possible future events, older adults generate fewer episodic details than do younger adults. These results support the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis: deficits in retrieving episodic details underlie changes during memory and imagination. To examine the extent of this age-related reduction in specificity, we compared performance on memory a...

The primary aim of this review is to examine evidence for a functional role of gamma and theta oscillations in human episodic memory. It is proposed here that gamma and theta oscillations allow for the transient interaction between cortical structures and the hippocampus for the encoding and retrieval of episodic memories as described by the hippocampal memory indexing theory (Teyler and DiScen...

As humans, we are consciously aware of unobservable mental states, including our own during episodic memory and other people's by having a "theory of mind" (ToM). Episodic memory and ToM are closely related: they share a neural substrate and emerge close in time in ontogenetic development. This relationship is central to prominent child development and cognitive neuroscience theories of ToM, bu...

This paper presents a cognitive neuroscientific perspective on how human episodic memories are formed. Convergent evidence from multiple brain imaging studies using positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggests a role for frontal cortex in episodic memory encoding. Activity levels within frontal cortex can predict episodic memory encoding across a ...