Switching memory perspective

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition Vol. 56; pp. 50 - 57
• Main Authors: Akhtar, Shazia, Justice, Lucy V., Loveday, Catherine, Conway, Martin A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-11-2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Adult; Cognition & reasoning; Early memories; Female; Field memories; Humans; Long term memory; Male; Memory; Memory perspective; Memory, Episodic; Memory, Long-Term - physiology; Mental Recall - physiology; Observer memories; Recall; Remote memories; Studies; Vantage point; Young Adult; Remote memories; Memory perspective; Early memories; Observer memories; Vantage point; Field memories
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.006

•The perspective in which memories were spontaneously recalled, was examined, and then after a 1-week interval was switched.•Field memories contained reliably more episodic detail than observer memories.•Although observer memories can be re-imagined with a field perspective, this does not make them into field memories.•They retain the observer characteristics of low episodic details.
The perspective in which memories were spontaneously recalled, field (original perspective) or observer (see oneself in the memory), was examined for both recent and remote memories. Recent memories were dominated by field perspective whilst remote memories were dominated by observer perspective. Further, field memories contained reliably more episodic detail than observer memories. After a 1-week interval, the same memories were recalled again but with a switched memory perspective. Switching from an observer to a field perspective did not reliably increase the amount of episodic details in a memory. Switching from field to observer perspective did, however, reliably reduce the number of episodic details. These findings suggest that memories may be represented in long-term memory with a fixed perspective, either field or observer, which can be temporarily altered sometimes changing the nature of a memory, i.e. how much detail remains accessible.