Memories are not frozen in the past. Instead, they can be dynamically combined to allow individuals to adapt to the present or even imagine the future. This recombination, called event construction , also means that it might be possible to improve memory through specific interventions such as episodic specificity induction (ESI). ESI provides brief training in recollecting the details of a past event that boosts the retrieval of specific details in subsequent tasks if these tasks involve the recombination of memories. However, very little is known about how event construction is accomplished, and this is essential if we are (1) to understand how episodic memory might work and (2) to promote a specific mechanism that will help people remember the past better. The present study assesses the sensorimotor simulation hypothesis, which has been proposed within the embodied approaches to cognition. According to these approaches, access to and the recombination of memories occur through the simulation of the sensory and motor propreties of our past experiences. This hypothesis was tested using a sensory interference paradigm. In a first phase, the participants watched videos and then received a specificity or a control induction. In a second phase, they described their memories of the videos while simultaneously viewing an interfering stimulus (dynamic visual noise; DVN) or a gray control screen. In line with a sensorimotor simulation account, the presentation of a DVN during the description of the videos led to a decrease in the number of internal details (details specific to the event) only after the specificity induction rather than the control induction. The findings provide evidence that the specificity induction targets and facilitates the sensorimotor simulation mechanism, thus confirming the crucial involvement of a mechanism of this sort in the constructive functioning of memory.
L’Induction de Spécificité Épisodique (ISE) est un court entraînement à la récupération des détails d’une expérience permettant d’augmenter la production de détails épisodiques (internes) lors de la description subséquente d’un nouvel événement. L’ISE s’est avérée efficace pour différentes populations, dont les personnes âgées, et dans de nombreuses tâches (remémoration, imagination, résolution de problèmes…). Cependant, l’ISE n’a pas encore été adaptée et validée en français. Cette étude propose de réaliser ce travail auprès de jeunes adultes sans trouble cognitif. Les participants ont reçu une ISE ou une Induction Contrôle (IC) avant une tâche de remémoration et d’imagination. Les participants ont produit davantage de détails internes et moins de détails externes (sémantiques) après l’ISE qu’après l’IC aux deux tâches. Cette méthode permettrait d’étudier l’influence des processus épisodiques sur une tâche donnée, et d’envisager le développement d’un protocole de stimulation cognitive bénéficiant aux individus présentant une spécificité réduite comme observé pour les personnes âgées.Episodic Specificity Induction (ESI) – a brief training in recollecting details of a recent event—increases the production of episodic (internal) details in the subsequent description of a recalled or imagined event (i.e. memory or imagination tasks). The absence of a French adaptation and validation of the ESI does not currently allow French-speaking researchers to benefit from the theoretical and practical interests offered by this method. The present study proposes to carry out this work with young adults without cognitive impairment. Participants received the ESI or a control induction (CI) about details of a recently viewed videotape, prior to the memory and imagination tasks. They produced more internal details and fewer external (semantic) details after the ESI than after the CI, for both tasks. This method could allow to study the influence of episodic processes on a given task, and to inspire the development of a cognitive stimulation program.
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