Episodic Memory, Simulated Future Planning, and their Evolution

Episodic Memory and Unrestricted Learning

“…Before introducing further potential solutions, we can further refine it by asking how it relates to the much-discussed issue of the function of episodic memory (Allen and Fortin 2013;Boyer 2008;Boyle 2019;Buckner and Carroll 2007 Berntsen 2009; Schacter, Addis, and Buckner 2007;Schacter, Guerin, and Jacques 2011;Schulz and Robins 2022;Suddendorf and Corballis 1997;Templer and Hampton 2013). Schwartz (2020) argues that this literature is often ambiguous between asking about the causal role episodic memory plays in producing specific phenomena, and the selection pressures that shaped the evolution of episodic memory.…”

“…We have refined the puzzle to: why do we use episodic memories in contexts where other forms of memory would seem cheaper and more effective to store, retrieve, and operate on? Before introducing further potential solutions, we can further refine it by asking how it relates to the much-discussed issue of the function of episodic memory (Allen and Fortin 2013;Boyer 2008;2009;Boyle 2019;2021;Buckner and Carroll 2007;De Brigard 2014;Klein 2014;Klein, Cosmides, Tooby, and Chance 2002;Mahr and Csibra 2018;Michaelian 2016;Rasmussen and Berntsen 2009;Schacter, Addis, and Buckner 2007;Schacter, Guerin, and Jacques 2011;Schulz and Robins 2022;Suddendorf and Corballis 1997;Templer and Hampton 2013). Schwartz (2020) argues that this literature is often ambiguous between asking about the causal role episodic memory plays in producing specific phenomena, and the selection pressures that shaped the evolution of episodic memory.…”

“…Even if the main reason we have the capacity for remembering particular events in rich detail lies in a more general-purpose simulation system, this does not explain why we exercise this capacity so frequently, especially if many of these exercises are costly and inappropriate relative to other processes we could be using. Schulz and Robins (2022) emphasize that suboptimal traits can persist for some time if selection pressures against them are weak enough. However, this point is not enough to solve the problem.…”

“…4 It is not always obvious which of these views different simulationists are advocating (and exegesis is complicated by different uses of "episodic memory"). Relatively clear examples of advocates of these views areSchulz and Robins (2022) for the side-effect view (although they would resist many claims about what memory is which typically fall under the label "simulationism"); andSchacter et al (2007) for the simulation-supporting view.https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2023.16 Published online by Cambridge University Press establishing special epistemic memory' which on close inspection requires only richness, not particularity Lengyel and Dayan (2007). in effect suggest that in extremely complicated environments, rather than trying to extract abstract features of scenarios in which certain actions are rewarding, it can make sense instead to store detailed records of successful episodes, and to attempt to reproduce identical sequences of actions in similar scenarios.…”

Episodic representation: A mental models account

“…Simulationists have long discussed the selective advantages of episodic memory and future-oriented imagination (Tulving, 2002;Suddendorf and Corballis, 2007;Schacter, 2012). In recent years, there have been more systematic treatments of the evolutionary function of episodic modeling, re-examining the relationship between remembering and imagining (Jablonka, 2017;Mahr and Csibra, 2018;Boyle, 2019;Schulz and Robins, 2022). These typically employ a kind of "form-to-function" reasoning, inferring the function of the episodic system from features of phenotypic form, i.e., from the structure of the system's proprietary operations and representations.…”