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Imagination and Memory Experiment

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Abstract

An expanding body of literature has been showing that imagination, contrary to true experiences,

has a huge effect on memory. Even in the absence of overt social pressure and when hypothetical

events are just momentarily imagined, imagination inflation can happen. In general, research on

imagination inflation demonstrates that thinking about a counterfactual event can increase

individuals' level of certainty that it actually happened. In this paper, we explore empirical

findings determining the effect of imagination on memory.

Introduction

According to Abraham and Bubic (2015), imagination is a collection of visual or other sensory

experiences or analogies. On the other hand, memory is the ability to store and later recall

sensory experiences or analogies, whether they be visual or not. The existence of sensory

experiences or analogies, whether visual or not, is a shared trait between memory and

imagination. Thus, imagination may have an impact on memory. This is due to the fact that

imagination can provide sensory experiences or parallels, whether they be visual or not, which

can drastically alter how something is perceived if it is retained and recovered from memory.

This simply implies that a memory is a re-construct of a particular event or experience. Given

that imagination can influence how a memory is recalled, imagination has a substantial impact

on memories. Therefore, the key theoretical question in this study paper is: What impact does

imagination have on memory?

Literature Review

Studies have shown that imagination may influence behavior in addition to distorting memory;

however, relatively little research has examined the relationship between imagination's impacts

on behavioral estimates and memory. There have been investigations on how one's imagination

may affect the behavior one describes to oneself (Thomas et al., 2006). The immediate

consequences and the memories that emerged as a result of such an event were explored. There

are comparisons between various behavioral estimations. The data collected before and after the

visualization suggested that the recommended behavior estimates changed. The actual behavior

assessments were improperly recalled as a direct consequence of the inspiration. Insinuating that

indulging in creative activities might be detrimental (Holmes & Mathews, 2010).

According to studies on the self, an essential component of self-relevant processing is that people

are more accurate than others in identifying or remembering information associated with

themselves (Hosany et al., 2020). In the case of long-term memory, the participants in this

research were asked to link items with their present self as opposed to others (Thomas et al.,

2006). How might this benefit of frequent self-reference be used while storing information for

several self-concepts? One theory is that the advantage develops as the number of self-concepts

increases. According to this theory, our long-term memory is more accurate if we are required to

retain information connected to several agents, the more self-relevant the agents are (Thomas et

al., 2006). For example, suppose we must recall information pertinent to our younger selves, our

older selves, and a stranger. In that case, we do better than if we are required to recall

information pertinent to our younger selves and two strangers. This will be referred to as the

Numerous Self-Allocation Hypothesis because it posits that several self-representations may be

allocated separately, reflecting each unique self-concept and eliciting appropriate self-reference

effects For each concept.

According to another explanation, the self-reference effect is based on a restricted self-

representation that can only assist one self-concept at a time (Hosany et al., 2020). According to

this idea, a person's self-concept should be as strong with two as it is with one. When people are

required to recall data associated with their self-concepts simultaneously, they only have to deal

with a single self-representation. The self-reference effect can only be shown for a single self-

concept of a person at a time. Alternatively, this single self-representation might rotate between

showing a variety of self-concepts (Thomas et al., 2006). Each concept would get a tiny degree

of self-reference advantage, but not nearly as much as when assigned to a single self-idea. The

Single Self-Allocation hypothesis claims that a single self-representation can only be

simultaneously allocated to a single self-concept. From this fact, the Single Self-Allocation

Hypothesis derives its name. During implicit pattern learning, working memory affects how

people act when they know what's coming. For sequence learning to work, you must predict

what will happen after each step (Medimorec et al., 2021). But the exact nature of the link

between anticipation and memory that happens when you learn to follow a sequence is still

unclear. WM, for example, may be used to learn sequences so that information from long-term

memory can be retrieved. WM is also needed to store new information in long-term memory

(Medimorec et al., 2021). On the other hand, sequence learning is so much more automatic than

other types of learning that working memory (WM) may not affect it at all. To know how

sequential learning works, you must know how different systems work together. So, we looked

into whether or not people's anticipatory behavior changes during implicit sequence learning

based on how much they can remember in their working memory (WM).
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Due to a fundamental cognitive mechanism known as sequence learning, people can construct

mental representations of the external environment. Sequence learning is obtaining abstract

information about the environment's recurring patterns (Medimorec et al., 2021). According to

an earlier study, distributional learning may occur without the individual's knowledge or explicit

instructions (Medimorec et al., 2021). Implicit sequence learning is the foundation for many

human activities, including language and physical talents. The performance on an implicit

learning test is connected to an individual's sensitivity to word predictability in speech. They

accomplished this by comparing individuals’ test results with their perceptions of the

predictability of the term and finding a good match. To improve speech perception, the authors

hypothesized that enhanced implicit learning capabilities would result in more precise word

order probability representations (Medimorec et al., 2021). The link between reaction time (RT),

a standard measure for assessing implicit sequence learning, and working memory capacity has

been investigated. In the past, however, contradictory results have been reached about the

relationship between these two systems (Medimore et al., 2021). This may be the case because

researchers applied several WM capacity tests (such as visual, verbal, and numerical) and

various learning measures while doing the SRT task.

The findings of experimental and behavioral game theory investigations indicate that actual

strategic behavior varies significantly and often from expectations. In addition to a person's

ability to absorb information, determined by their short-term memory capacity, our study

indicates that the observed variability may also be a source of the participants' underlying beliefs

(Devetag & Warglien, 2003). This is true even though most theoretical explanations for observed

variability relate to the underlying beliefs of participants. This is a crucial debate point in our

work. Cognitive psychology findings indicate a correlation between short-term memory capacity
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and proficiency in various problem-solving and thinking tasks. The amount of information stored

in short-term memory is also a significant cognitive bottleneck that may hinder an individual's

ability to absorb new knowledge properly (Devetag & Warglie, 2003).

References

Devetag, G., & Warglien, M. (2003). Games and phone numbers: Do short-term memory bounds

affect strategic behavior? Journal of Economic Psychology, 24(2), 189–202.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-4870(02)00202-7

Hosany, S., Buzova, D., & Sanz-Blas, S. (2020). The influence of place attachment, ad-evoked

positive affect, and motivation on intention to visit: Imagination proclivity as a

moderator. Journal of Travel Research, 59(3), 477-495.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287519830789

Holmes, E. A., & Mathews, A. (2010). Mental imagery in emotion and emotional disorders.

Clinical psychology review, 30(3), 349-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.01.001

Medimorec, S., Milin, P., & Divjak, D. (2021). Working memory affects anticipatory behavior

during implicit pattern learning. Psychological Research, 85(1), 291–301.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01251-w

Thomas, A. K., Hannula, D. E., & Loftus, E. F. (2007). How self‐relevant imagination affects

memory for behavior. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(1), 69-86.

https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1270