Sabrina Benzina – “When we talk about memory, we tend to see it only as a system that allows us to use, in the present, memories and knowledge accumulated in our past. However, there is a memory of the future that is not studied enough when it is essential to us on a daily basis. Today we have decided to talk about this memory of the future called “prospective memory” and to explain its usefulness through a situation that we all have experienced, which is the lockdown due to the coronavirus. To this end, we welcome our guest of the day, a neuropsychologist specialized in the study of memory, Cynthia Couroux.
Cynthia Couroux – I’m glad to be here Sabrina
Sabrina Benzina – Cynthia, tell us, what is the prospective memory ?
Cynthia Couroux – As you probably know, a distinction has been made by Tulving between two principal types of memory, the first one : the semantic memory and the second one : episodic memory. This later one is located in the frontal lobe of our brain and we have recently found that it is connected to another type of memory : the prospective memory. Indeed, the same Cerebral areas (temporal and parietal) are activated when you imagine future events or either you remember something from your past. Moreover, in addition to being part of the autobiographical memory construction, these two types of memory are also very important to what we call the autonoétic consciousness which is the ability to place ourselves in different temporalities like the past or the future to adapt our behaviors.
Sabrina Benzina – Wait a minute, so you are saying that we have been able to time travel for all this time and we didn’t even know it ?
Cynthia Couroux – Yeah, in a way, we can say that we are able to mentally travel across time. But above science fiction, this ability is very essential in our daily life. In fact the future thinking allows us to project ourselves into the future to pre-experience an event. It is a real capacity to imagine, or simulate experiences that might occur like “what could I do during my next weekend in both hypothetical situations : if it rains, or if the weather is good ?”
Sabrina Benzina – So it seems to be a real tool when it comes to managing our schedule, but does it have other functions, like anticipating problems or this kind of thing ?
Cynthia Couroux – Of course, episodic future thinking has implications in many domains like decision making, emotion regulation, prospective memory, and spatial navigation. So above this “memory of the agenda” it is possible to imagine our future, to plan our actions, or to simulate an event or a problem and its solutions. In fact, there are different kinds of future thoughts, as we can imagine things that are going to happen in the near future such as our next walk in the week-end, or in a more distant future like a trip next year, or even an entire career plan. Furthermore, prospective memory is a specific ability of the human kind. It allows us to have long-term projects for the future and so plan and work for years, achieving many tasks for one particular purpose. It is also part of the construction of our sense of identity. Indeed having projects and prospects for the future allows us to keep actively involved in our lives. As Arnaud D’argembeau, professor of psychology at Liège, says, “setting goals and planning their actions to achieve them gives meaning to our lives and nourishes our sense of autonomy and identity”.
Sabrina Benzina – Well, Cynthia, thank you for your explanations, everything is a lot more clear now.
Cynthia Couroux – Thank you Sabrina for inviting me, it has been a pleasure to share with you today.
Sabrina Benzina – So, as Cynthia explained to us, our actions are not only guided by our present but also by our ability to anticipate and to project ourselves into the future. In the functioning of prospective memory, motivation and context are paramount. This is the reason why we decided to speak of a specific context ; the context of lockdown. During the lockdown, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, daily life was turned upside down. This situation created a radical change in our professional, family and social life. Our movements were limited, our activities reduced and a lot of constraints were imposed on us. The fact is that this whole situation appears to be beyond us and the consequences of our actions have become difficult to predict. We can say that this period of lockdown, finally, allowed us to see the limits of our ability to project ourselves into the future. This feeling of loss of control over our lives causes many emotional responses such as depression or anxiety. Negative future thoughts increase in our minds and create tension and influence our physical and mental health. One of the effects of lockdown on the ability to project into the future is immediate temptation. With lockdown, our ability to resist immediate temptations to promote long-term goals is reduced as our long-term outlook diminishes. We live in uncertainty. This can represent a real risk for the human being. The loss of control and the inability to project is a real psychological trouble. In such circumstances, it is important to refocus on the present. Meditations like mindfulness help reduce anxiety and depression due to our negative future thoughts. It is true that Prospective memory is limited in situations like lockdown, but it remains essential to prepare us for the challenges of life.
Alright, that will be all for today, thank you for listening to me and see you next week for a new podcast.”