The role of working memory in encoding the temporal structure of events in episodic memory: Evidence from a dual-task paradigm.

Naturalistic events are represented in episodic memory as sequences of experience units (i.e., segments of prior experience) that are separated by temporal discontinuities, so that events are temporally compressed during memory replay. In the current study, we aimed to shed light on the interplay be...

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Published in:Memory & Cognition Vol. 54; no. 4; pp. 1102 - 1116
Main Authors: Leroy, Nathan, Majerus, Steve, D'Argembeau, Arnaud
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature May2026
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: May2026
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        10.3758/s13421-025-01798-7
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        atl: The role of working memory in encoding the temporal structure of events in episodic memory: Evidence from a dual-task paradigm.
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        au:
          Leroy, Nathan
          Majerus, Steve
          D'Argembeau, Arnaud
        affil: https://ror.org/00afp2z80 Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Place Des Orateurs 1 (B33), 4000, Liège, Belgium
      su:
        Task performance
        Memory bias
        Episodic memory
        Sensory perception
        Attention
        Psychological tests
        Cognition
        Statistical power analysis
        Descriptive statistics
        Experimental design
        Intraclass correlation
        Short-term memory
        Comparative studies
        Data analysis software
        Video recording
      sug:
        subj:
          Task performance
          Memory bias
          Episodic memory
          Sensory perception
          Attention
          Psychological tests
          Cognition
          Statistical power analysis
          Descriptive statistics
          Experimental design
          Intraclass correlation
          Short-term memory
          Comparative studies
          Data analysis software
          Video recording
      keyword:
        Event
        Memory encoding
        Temporal compression
        Working memory
        Event
        Memory encoding
        Temporal compression
        Working memory
      ab: Naturalistic events are represented in episodic memory as sequences of experience units (i.e., segments of prior experience) that are separated by temporal discontinuities, so that events are temporally compressed during memory replay. In the current study, we aimed to shed light on the interplay between the segmental structure of events and working memory (WM) resources in shaping this temporal structure of episodic memories. Participants watched a series of 1-min videos that contained many or few event boundaries (EBs), while for half of the videos, a concurrent task was simultaneously performed to reduce the availability of WM resources. After each video, the time needed to mentally replay the events was measured, and then the content of memories was verbally described. Results showed that the number of recalled experience units was higher for videos that contained many EBs, leading to a lower temporal compression rate. In addition, the number of recalled experience units was lower when a concurrent task was performed during event perception, particularly for videos that contained many EBs. These results suggest that both the segmental structure of events and WM resources contribute to the formation of experience units that constitute episodic memories, thereby shaping the temporal compression of events.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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