Why might animals remember? A functional framework for episodic memory research in comparative psychology

Boyle, Alexandria ORCID: 0000-0001-8827-5479 and Brown, Simon ORCID: 0000-0002-5606-6979 (2024) Why might animals remember? A functional framework for episodic memory research in comparative psychology. Learning and Behavior. ISSN 1543-4494 (In Press)

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Abstract

One of Clayton’s major contributions to our understanding of animal minds has been her work on episodic-like memory. A central reason for the success of this work was its focus on ecological validity: rather than looking for episodic memory for arbitrary stimuli in artificial contexts, focussing on contexts in which episodic memory would serve a biological function such as food caching. This review aims to deepen this insight by surveying the numerous functions that have been proposed for episodic memory, articulating a philosophically grounded framework for understanding what exactly functions are, and drawing on these to make suggestions for future directions in the comparative cognitive psychology of episodic memory. Our review suggests four key insights. First, episodic memory may have more than one function and may have different functions in different species. Second, cross-disciplinary work is key to developing a functional account of episodic memory. Third, there is scope for further theoretical elaboration of proposals relating episodic memory to food caching and, in particular, future-oriented cognition. Finally, learning-related functions suggested by AI-based models are a fruitful avenue for future behavioural research.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method CPNSS
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion S Agriculture > SF Animal culture B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date Deposited:	27 Aug 2024 11:57
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2024 11:19
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124674

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