Toward a Theory of Episodic Memory: The Frontal Lobes and Autonoetic Consciousness

Adult humans are capable of remembering prior events by mentally traveling back in time to re-experience those events. In this review, the authors discuss this and other related capabilities, considering evidence from such diverse sources as brain imaging, neuropsychological experiments, clinical ob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological bulletin 1997-05, Vol.121 (3), p.331-354
Main Authors: Wheeler, Mark A, Stuss, Donald T, Tulving, Endel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adults
Attention - physiology
Awareness - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain Mapping
Consciousness
Consciousness - physiology
Consciousness States
Episodic Memory
Frontal Lobe
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Learning. Memory
Memory
Mental Recall - physiology
Neurology
Past experiences
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Recall
Retention (Psychology) - physiology
Role
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Summary:Adult humans are capable of remembering prior events by mentally traveling back in time to re-experience those events. In this review, the authors discuss this and other related capabilities, considering evidence from such diverse sources as brain imaging, neuropsychological experiments, clinical observations, and developmental psychology. The evidence supports a preliminary theory of episodic remembering, which holds that the prefrontal cortex plays a critical, supervisory role in empowering healthy adults with autonoetic consciousness-the capacity to mentally represent and become aware of subjective experiences in the past, present, and future. When a rememberer mentally travels back in subjective time to re-experience his or her personal past, the result is an act of retrieval from episodic memory.
ISSN:0033-2909
1939-1455
DOI:10.1037/0033-2909.121.3.331