Episodic Memory

Abstract

Episodic memory circumscribes the ability to remember events, occurrences, and situations embedded in their temporal and spatial context—in other words, the memory of “what,” “where,” and “when.” Throughout the lifespan, episodic memory functioning continuously undergoes extensive change, with rapid increases during childhood, decreases in adulthood, and accelerated decline in very old age. Given the important role that episodic memory plays in our daily lives, the prospect of potential trainability of episodic memory is a highly attractive idea. This applies to younger adults hoping to optimize their episodic memory ability, but probably even more to older adults, who generally experience a profound decline in episodic memory functioning that can seriously affect their well-being and life quality. In this chapter, we first provide a brief account of the definition and processes that are involved in episodic memory. We then discuss two theoretical frameworks, one concerning the components of episodic memory across the lifespan and the other concerning the conception of plasticity. These theoretical frameworks help to guide us through the large body of memory training literature. We then summarize and integrate the behavioral literature on memory training and aging, followed by the more recent neuroimaging literature on the topic. Building upon some key points extracted from these sets of literature, we finally discuss the utility of multifactorial types of memory training and potential future work in this direction.