{"title":"Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events","authors":"Andreas Arslan, Jonathan F. Kominsky","doi":"10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106317","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>“Episodes” in memory are formed by the experience of dynamic events that unfold over time. However, just because a series of events unfold sequentially does not mean that they are related. Sequences can have a high degree of causal coherence, each event connecting to the next through a cause-and-effect relationship, or be a fragmented series of unrelated occurrences. Are causally coherent events remembered better? And if coherence leads to better recall, which attributes of episodic memories are particularly affected by it? Past work has investigated similar questions by manipulating the causal structure of language-based, narrative stimuli. In this study, across three experiments, we used dynamic visual stimuli showing unfamiliar events to test the effect of causal structure on episodic recall in a cued memory task. Experiment 1 found that the order of three-part causally coherent sequences of events is better remembered than that of fragmented events. Experiment 2 extended this finding to longer sequences and further demonstrated that causal structure is not confounded with low-level characteristics of the stimuli: Reversing the order of coherent stimuli led to task performances indistinguishable from those on fragmented stimuli. Experiment 3 replicated the results of improved order recall from the previous experiments and additionally showed that recall of causally relevant details of coherent stimuli is superior to recall for details of focal events in fragmented sequences. In sum, these findings show that the episodic memory system is sensitive to the causal structure of events and suggest coherence usually leads to better recall.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48455,"journal":{"name":"Cognition","volume":"266 ","pages":"Article 106317"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cognition","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027725002586","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
“Episodes” in memory are formed by the experience of dynamic events that unfold over time. However, just because a series of events unfold sequentially does not mean that they are related. Sequences can have a high degree of causal coherence, each event connecting to the next through a cause-and-effect relationship, or be a fragmented series of unrelated occurrences. Are causally coherent events remembered better? And if coherence leads to better recall, which attributes of episodic memories are particularly affected by it? Past work has investigated similar questions by manipulating the causal structure of language-based, narrative stimuli. In this study, across three experiments, we used dynamic visual stimuli showing unfamiliar events to test the effect of causal structure on episodic recall in a cued memory task. Experiment 1 found that the order of three-part causally coherent sequences of events is better remembered than that of fragmented events. Experiment 2 extended this finding to longer sequences and further demonstrated that causal structure is not confounded with low-level characteristics of the stimuli: Reversing the order of coherent stimuli led to task performances indistinguishable from those on fragmented stimuli. Experiment 3 replicated the results of improved order recall from the previous experiments and additionally showed that recall of causally relevant details of coherent stimuli is superior to recall for details of focal events in fragmented sequences. In sum, these findings show that the episodic memory system is sensitive to the causal structure of events and suggest coherence usually leads to better recall.
期刊介绍:
Cognition is an international journal that publishes theoretical and experimental papers on the study of the mind. It covers a wide variety of subjects concerning all the different aspects of cognition, ranging from biological and experimental studies to formal analysis. Contributions from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, mathematics, ethology and philosophy are welcome in this journal provided that they have some bearing on the functioning of the mind. In addition, the journal serves as a forum for discussion of social and political aspects of cognitive science.