title: Adaptive constructive processes and memory accuracy: consequences of counterfactual simulations in young and older adults.
abstract: People frequently engage in counterfactual thinking: mental simulations of alternative outcomes to past events. Like simulations of future events, counterfactual simulations serve adaptive functions. However, future simulation can also result in various kinds of distortions and has thus been characterised as an adaptive constructive process. Here we approach counterfactual thinking as such and examine whether it can distort memory for actual events. In Experiments 1a/b young and older adults imagined themselves experiencing different scenarios. Participants then imagined the same scenario again, engaged in no further simulation of a scenario, or imagined a counterfactual outcome. On a subsequent recognition test participants were more likely to make false alarms to counterfactual lures than novel scenarios. Older adults were more prone to these memory errors than younger adults. In Experiment 2 younger and older participants selected and performed different actions, then recalled performing some of those actions, imagined performing alternative actions to some of the selected actions, and did not imagine others. Participants, especially older adults, were more likely to falsely remember counterfactual actions than novel actions as previously performed. The findings suggest that counterfactual thinking can cause source confusion based on internally generated misinformation, consistent with its characterisation as an adaptive constructive process.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Harvard University , Cambridge , MA , USA.
authors.forename: Kathy D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Gerlach
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Dornblaser
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Schacter
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
references.citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 May 29;362(1481):773-86
references.pmid: 17395575
references.citation: J Exp Soc Psychol. 2008 May;44(3):664-671
references.pmid: 19412326
references.citation: Perspect Psychol Sci. 2010 Mar;5(2):142-62
references.pmid: 26162121
references.citation: Memory. 2011 Feb;19(2):121-39
references.pmid: 21229456
references.citation: Exp Aging Res. 2008 Jul-Sep;34(3):220-31
references.pmid: 18568980
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Oct;15(10):467-74
references.pmid: 21908231
references.citation: Behav Brain Sci. 2007 Jun;30(3):299-313; discussion 313-51
references.pmid: 17963565
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2013 May;142(2):323-7
references.pmid: 22686637
references.citation: Neuron. 2010 Apr 15;66(1):138-48
references.pmid: 20399735
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2013 Oct;51(12):2401-14
references.pmid: 23376052
references.citation: Am Psychol. 2006 Nov;61(8):760-771
references.pmid: 17115808
references.citation: J Psychiatr Res. 1975 Nov;12(3):189-98
references.pmid: 1202204
references.citation: Neuron. 2012 Nov 21;76(4):677-94
references.pmid: 23177955
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2001 Dec 1;5(12):533-539
references.pmid: 11728911
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 1997 Jan;121(1):133-48
references.pmid: 9000895
references.citation: Psychon Bull Rev. 1996 Jun;3(2):208-14
references.pmid: 24213869
references.citation: Memory. 2011 May;19(4):317-30
references.pmid: 21678151
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2002 Oct 1;6(10):426-431
references.pmid: 12413576
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 2008 Sep;23(3):646-56
references.pmid: 18808253
references.citation: Am Psychol. 2003 Nov;58(11):867-873
references.pmid: 14609374
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 1998 Jan;26(1):20-33
references.pmid: 9519694
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2011 Jul;49(9):2439-47
references.pmid: 21550352
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Oct;9(10):496-502
references.pmid: 16154382
references.citation: J Abnorm Psychol. 2000 Aug;109(3):504-11
references.pmid: 11016119
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2010 Oct 15;53(1):303-17
references.pmid: 20600998
references.citation: Am J Psychol. 2012 Winter;125(4):449-67
references.pmid: 23350303
references.citation: Am Psychol. 1998 Apr;53(4):429-39
references.pmid: 9572006
references.citation: Am J Psychol. 2006 Fall;119(3):433-62
references.pmid: 17061694
references.citation: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2007 Sep;8(9):657-61
references.pmid: 17700624
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2011 Apr 15;55(4):1816-24
references.pmid: 21256228
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 16;108(33):13858-63
references.pmid: 21810986
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 1990 Mar;5(1):119-26
references.pmid: 2317290
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 2010 Jan;38(1):13-22
references.pmid: 19966234
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2012 Jan 1;23(1):24-9
references.pmid: 22138157
references.citation: Pers Soc Psychol Rev. 2008 May;12(2):168-92
references.pmid: 18453477
references.citation: J Exp Soc Psychol. 2009 Jul;45(4):845-852
references.pmid: 20161221
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 2005 Dec;20(4):657-70
references.pmid: 16420140
references.citation: Learn Mem. 2005 Jul-Aug;12(4):361-6
references.pmid: 16027179
references.citation: Anxiety Stress Coping. 2007 Dec;20(4):383-92
references.pmid: 17999238
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008 Mar;1124:39-60
references.pmid: 18400923
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Jul;20(7):1161-73
references.pmid: 18284340
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 1991 Nov;110(3):499-519
references.pmid: 1758920
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 2009 Oct;37(7):962-75
references.pmid: 19744936
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 1997 Jun;12(2):203-15
references.pmid: 9189980
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 2005 Dec;20(4):579-88
references.pmid: 16420133
references.citation: Conscious Cogn. 2012 Sep;21(3):1085-96
references.pmid: 22818200
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2003 Mar;14(2):186-8
references.pmid: 12661683
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2005 May;134(2):131-48
references.pmid: 15869342
references.citation: J Pers Soc Psychol. 2001 Nov;81(5):946-60
references.pmid: 11708569
references.citation: Nature. 2007 Nov 1;450(7166):102-5
references.pmid: 17960136
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1994 Jul;20(4):934-45
references.pmid: 8064252
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2011 May 4;31(18):6771-9
references.pmid: 21543607
references.citation: Am Psychol. 2012 Nov;67(8):603-13
references.pmid: 23163437
references.citation: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2007 Jul;62(4):P208-15
references.pmid: 17673530
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2007 Mar;33(2):321-34
references.pmid: 17352614
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2013 Jul 1;24(7):1329-34
references.pmid: 23673994
references.citation: Science. 2007 Sep 7;317(5843):1351-4
references.pmid: 17823345