"What-Where-Which" Episodic Retrieval Requires Conscious Recollection and Is Promoted by Semantic Knowledge

Anne-Lise Saive, Jean-Pierre Royet, Samuel Garcia, Marc Thévenet and Jane Plailly

PLOS ONE, 2015, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Episodic memory is defined as the conscious retrieval of specific past events. Whether accurate episodic retrieval requires a recollective experience or if a feeling of knowing is sufficient remains unresolved. We recently devised an ecological approach to investigate the controlled cued-retrieval of episodes composed of unnamable odors (What) located spatially (Where) within a visual context (Which context). By combining the Remember/Know procedure with our laboratory-ecological approach in an original way, the present study demonstrated that the accurate odor-evoked retrieval of complex and multimodal episodes overwhelmingly required conscious recollection. A feeling of knowing, even when associated with a high level of confidence, was not sufficient to generate accurate episodic retrieval. Interestingly, we demonstrated that the recollection of accurate episodic memories was promoted by odor retrieval-cue familiarity and describability. In conclusion, our study suggested that semantic knowledge about retrieval-cues increased the recollection which is the state of awareness required for the accurate retrieval of complex episodic memories.

Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0143767

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143767

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