Feb. 19th, 2000, WASHINGTON, DC -- Episodic memory may have played a crucial role in the evolution of human culture and civilization.
Presenting today at the American Association for the Advancement of Science 2000 Annual Meeting, Dr. Endel Tulving says the part of memory concerned with remembering past experiences has helped human culture to evolve.
A pioneer in memory research who has laid the groundwork for important discoveries, Dr. Tulving says episodic memory gives rise to the unique human ability to be aware of the future.
"We remember our past experiences, but do not realize that remembering also has enabled us to think about the future. This ability may be more important than thinking about the past," says Dr. Tulving, a scientist at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto, Canada.
"We know of people who, because of head injury, have lost their episodic memory. They can function in the present, but they do nothing about the future because 'future' does not exist for them. Culture emerged when humans, in the course of evolution, began changing the natural world in which they lived. They needed awareness of the future before they could do so."
Dr. Tulving, who holds an Anne and Max Tanenbaum Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, added that recent functional neuroimaging research done at the Institute has identified regions of the frontal lobes that seem to be critically involved in awareness of the past, and probably of the future.