Memory as Prediction
From Looking Back to Looking Forward
Published on 24. November 2020
176 pages
978-0-262-36122-4 (ISBN)
Description
Theoretical reflections and analytical observations on memory and prediction, linking these concepts to the role of the cerebellum in higher cognition.
What is memory? What is memory for? Where is memory in the brain? Although memory is probably the most studied function in cognition, these fundamental questions remain challenging. We can try to answer the question of memory's purpose by defining the function of memory as remembering the past. And yet this definition is not consistent with the many errors that characterize our memory, or with the phylogenetic and ontogenetic origin of memory. In this book, Tomaso Vecchi and Daniele Gatti argue that the purpose of memory is not to remember the past but to predict the future.
What is memory? What is memory for? Where is memory in the brain? Although memory is probably the most studied function in cognition, these fundamental questions remain challenging. We can try to answer the question of memory's purpose by defining the function of memory as remembering the past. And yet this definition is not consistent with the many errors that characterize our memory, or with the phylogenetic and ontogenetic origin of memory. In this book, Tomaso Vecchi and Daniele Gatti argue that the purpose of memory is not to remember the past but to predict the future.
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11/2020
MIT Press
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Persons
Tomaso Vecchi is Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Head of the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, and Vice-Rector at the University of Pavia, Italy. He also is Head of the Neurostimulation Lab at the National Neurological Institute (IRCCS) Mondino, Italy. Daniele Gatti is a Research Fellow at the University of Pavia.
Content
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Is Memory a memory system? xi
Part I - Memory: accuracy and transformation 1
1. How does memory work? 11
2. Memory accuracy 23
3. Why do we remember? 39
Part II - Prediction: from the past towards the future 45
4. How does prediction work? 47
5. The prediction system 55
6. Cognition and Prediction 61
7. Prediction in episodic memory 67
8. Grounded Cognition 73
Part III - Neurophysiology and behavior: from cerebrum to cerebellum 87
9. Cerebellar connectivity 93
10. Cerebellar functions 103
Conclusion: Is there a cerebellar predictive memory system? 117
References 133
Index 193
Introduction: Is Memory a memory system? xi
Part I - Memory: accuracy and transformation 1
1. How does memory work? 11
2. Memory accuracy 23
3. Why do we remember? 39
Part II - Prediction: from the past towards the future 45
4. How does prediction work? 47
5. The prediction system 55
6. Cognition and Prediction 61
7. Prediction in episodic memory 67
8. Grounded Cognition 73
Part III - Neurophysiology and behavior: from cerebrum to cerebellum 87
9. Cerebellar connectivity 93
10. Cerebellar functions 103
Conclusion: Is there a cerebellar predictive memory system? 117
References 133
Index 193
