The stability of visual perspective and vividness during mental time travel

Berg, Jeffrey J.; Gilmore, Adrian W.; Shaffer, Ruth A.; McDermott, Kathleen B.

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103116

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 140 publications

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“…Certain event characteristics may predict perspective changes given that some types of events seem to encourage a given perspective over another—events involving self-evaluation versus evaluation of others elicit more observer than own perspective, and vice versa (D’Argembeau & Van der Linden, 2008; also see Rice & Rubin, 2011). Alternatively, degree and direction of perspective shifts may reflect individual differences (Berg et al, 2021; Rubin, 2021). Future work exploring these possibilities is important.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fade In, Fade Out: Do Shifts in Visual Perspective Predict the Consistency of Real-World Memories?

et al. 2023

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Memories of our personal past are not exact accounts of what occurred. Instead, memory reconstructs the past in adaptive—though not always faithful—ways. Using a naturalistic design, we asked how the visual perspective adopted in the mind’s eye when recalling the past—namely, an “own eyes” versus “observer” perspective—relates to the stability of autobiographical memories. We hypothesized that changes in visual perspective over time would predict poorer consistency of memories. Young adults ( N = 178) rated the phenomenology of and freely recalled self-selected memories of everyday events at two time points (10 weeks apart). Multilevel linear modeling revealed, as expected, that greater shifts in visual perspective over time predicted lower memory consistency, particularly for emotional details. Our results offer insight into the factors that predict the fidelity of memories for everyday events. Moreover, our results may elucidate new metrics that are useful in interpreting eyewitness testimony or experiences relayed in clinical contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fade In, Fade Out: Do Shifts in Visual Perspective Predict the Consistency of Real-World Memories?

et al. 2023

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show abstract

“…Certain event characteristics may predict perspective changes, as some types of events seem to encourage a given perspective over another-events involving self evaluation versus evaluation of others elicit more observer than own perspective, and vice versa (D'Argembeau & Van der Linden, 2008; also see Rice & Rubin, 2011). Alternatively, degree and direction of perspective shifts may reflect individual differences (Rubin, 2021;Berg et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fade in, fade out: Do shifts in visual perspective predict the consistency of real-world memories?

Wardell¹,

Jameson²,

Bontkes³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Memories of our personal past are not exact accounts of what occurred. Instead, memory reconstructs the past in adaptive–though not always faithful–ways. Using a naturalistic design, here we asked how the visual perspective adopted in the mind’s eye when recalling the past–namely an “own” eyes versus “observer” perspective–relates to the stability of autobiographical memories. We hypothesized that changes in visual perspective over time would predict poorer consistency of memories. Human participants (N=178) rated the phenomenology of and freely recalled self-selected memories of everyday events at two time points (10 weeks apart). Multilevel linear modeling revealed, as expected, that greater shifts in visual perspective over time predicted lower memory consistency, particularly for emotional details. Our results offer insight into the factors that predict the fidelity of memories for everyday events. Moreover, our results may elucidate new metrics that are useful in interpreting eye-witness testimony or experiences relayed in clinical contexts.

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“…Although group-level analyses paint a certain picture about the objective basis of vividness ratings, it is important to account for and explain individual differences in how people judge their experience of remembering. Reported memory vividness is thought to be stable within individuals and has been referred to as more of a trait rather than state-based phenomenon (Berg et al, 2021). Yet it is unclear if people tend to base their vividness judgments on the same memory attributes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of episodic content and specificity predicting subjective memory vividness

Cooper

Ritchey

2022

Mem Cogn

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The ability to remember and internally represent events is often accompanied by a subjective sense of "vividness". Vividness measures are frequently used to evaluate the experience of remembering and imagining events, yet little research has considered the objective attributes of event memories that underlie this subjective judgment, and individual differences in this mapping.Here, we tested how the content and specificity of event memories support subjectively vivid recollection. Over three experiments, participants encoded events containing a theme word and three distinct elements -a person, a place, and an object. In a memory test, memory for event elements was assessed at two levels of specificity -semantic gist (names) and perceptual details (lure discrimination). We found a strong correspondence between memory vividness and memory for gist information that did not vary by which elements were contained in memory. There was a smaller, additive benefit of remembering specific perceptual details on vividness, which, in one study, was driven by memory for place details. Moreover, we found individual differences in the relationship between memory vividness and objective memory attributes primarily along the specificity dimension, such that one cluster of participants used perceptual detail to inform memory vividness whereas another cluster were more driven by gist information. Therefore, while gist memory appears to drive vividness on average, there were idiosyncrasies in this pattern across participants. When assessing subjective ratings of memory and imagination, research should consider how these ratings map onto objective memory attributes in the context of their study design and population.

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The stability of visual perspective and vividness during mental time travel

Cited by 13 publications

References 140 publications

Fade In, Fade Out: Do Shifts in Visual Perspective Predict the Consistency of Real-World Memories?

Fade In, Fade Out: Do Shifts in Visual Perspective Predict the Consistency of Real-World Memories?

Fade in, fade out: Do shifts in visual perspective predict the consistency of real-world memories?

Patterns of episodic content and specificity predicting subjective memory vividness

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