The dynamic and flexible nature of memories is evident in our ability to adopt multiple visual perspectives. Although autobiographical memories are typically encoded from the visual perspective of our own eyes they can be retrieved from the perspective of an observer looking at our self. Here, we examined the neural mechanisms of shifting visual perspective during long-term memory retrieval and its influence on online and subsequent memories using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants generated specific autobiographical memories from the last five years and rated their visual perspective. In a separate fMRI session, they were asked to retrieve the memories across three repetitions while maintaining the same visual perspective as their initial rating or by shifting to an alternative perspective. Visual perspective shifting during autobiographical memory retrieval was supported by a linear decrease in neural recruitment across repetitions in the posterior parietal cortices. Additional analyses revealed that the precuneus, in particular, contributed to both online and subsequent changes in the phenomenology of memories. Our findings show that flexibly shifting egocentric perspective during autobiographical memory retrieval is supported by the precuneus, and suggest that this manipulation of mental imagery during retrieval has consequences for how memories are retrieved and later remembered.
KeywordsEgocentric Perspective; Memory; fMRI; Precuneus; Repetition Suppression
IntroductionMemories from our personal past are not static, but can be retrieved and thought about in multiple ways. This adaptive and flexible characteristic of memories enables us to construct alternative visual perspectives from which to view the past, in which we shift our first person viewpoint from inside the body to outside the body-seeing ourselves within the memory rather than re-experiencing it directly (Nigro and Neisser, 1983). Moreover, retrieving the Corresponding Author: Dr. Peggy L. St. Jacques, School of Psychology, Pevensey 1, Room 2C5, Brighton, UK BN1 9QH, Phone: +44 (0) 1273 873878, p.stjacques@sussex.ac.uk.
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Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript past from alternative visual perspectives is not merely epiphenomenal, but impacts our sense of self (Sutin and Robins, 2008), affects our current mood and future behavior (Holmes et al., 2008;Libby et al., 2007), influences our causal attributions (Frank and Gilovich, 1989), and is affected in several mental disorders (Kenny et al., 2009). Thus, understanding the mechanisms by which we can adopt alternative visual perspectives during memory retrieval has important implications for many domains. Here we examine how neural mechanisms that enable the construction of alternative versions of the personal past when adopting different visual perspectives during memory retrieval shape remembering and subsequent memories.Visual perspective is a necessary feature in order to retrieve memories as remembered events rathe...