Episodic Memory and Unrestricted Learning.

Our thinking often uses rich memories of particular past events. Yet frequently we would do better to use other forms of memory. I show that existing accounts of the function of episodic memory cannot account for such cases, then develop an account which can. Roughly: rich representations of particu...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Philosophy of Science Vol. 91; no. 1; pp. 90 - 111
Autor principal: Brown, Simon Alexander Burns
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Cambridge University Press Jan2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Our thinking often uses rich memories of particular past events. Yet frequently we would do better to use other forms of memory. I show that existing accounts of the function of episodic memory cannot account for such cases, then develop an account which can. Roughly: rich representations of particular past events are required for Unrestricted Learning, learning which is not limited in how much of the world's complexity it can capture; and episodic memory's selection for Unrestricted Learning could explain its ubiquitous (and often inappropriate) use for other tasks. This proposal suggests many avenues for further empirical and computational research.