Abstract
Dr. Signy Sheldon
Department of Psychology
McGill University
Understanding Flexible Episodic Memory Construction: Insights and Applications
Although it is accepted that episodic memories – recollections of past events – can be flexibly retrieved, the mechanisms underlying this flexibility are not clear. In this talk, I will present a neurocognitive framework to explain how the flexible construction of episodic memories occurs, both behaviourally and in the brain. I will use this framework to explain changes in memory in response to varying task demands, cognitive aging, and in clinical conditions, such as anxiety. I will finish by discussing the adaptive functions of a flexible episodic memory system.
