Boyle, Alexandria 
ORCID: 0000-0001-8827-5479
(2024)
Experience replay algorithms and the function of episodic memory.
In: Aronowitz, Sara and Nadel, Lynn, (eds.)
Space, Time, and Memory.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
(In Press)
Abstract
Episodic memory is memory for past events. It’s characteristically associated with an experience of ‘mentally replaying’ one’s experiences in the mind’s eye. This biological phenomenon has inspired the development of several ‘experience replay’ algorithms in AI. In this chapter, I ask whether experience replay algorithms might shed light on a puzzle about episodic memory’s function: what does episodic memory contribute to the cognitive systems in which it is found? I argue that experience replay algorithms can serve as idealized models of episodic memory for the purposes of addressing this question. Taking the DQN algorithm as a case study, I suggest that these algorithms provide some support for mnemonic accounts, on which episodic memory’s function lies in the storage, encoding and retrieval of information. By extending and adapting experience replay algorithms, we might gain further insight into episodic memory’s operations and contributions to cognition.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2024 Oxford University Press |
| Divisions: | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Mar 2024 12:51 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Mar 2024 12:51 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/122348 |
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