Lack of imagination related to memory impairment

Most children can imagine the future of themselves becoming astronauts, politicians, or even superheroes; however, many older people find it very difficult to recall past events to think of new events. A new study from Harvard University shows that the ability of older people to form imaginary perspectives is tied to the ability to recall detailed memories.

According to the study, segmented memory is present in separate memories of past events 'allowing each individual to direct their minds both in the past and in the present during the subjective period'.

Therefore, to create future fantasy events, the individual must remember the details of past events, extract different details and rearrange them to create for imagining events, this process is known as deductive segment simulation.

Harvard psychologists Donna Rose Addis, Alana Wong and Daniel Schacter supported the hypothesis of using the Autobiographical Interview model, the elderly and young people participating in the This interview will answer randomly selected suggested words with passages describing the future and the past.

When compared to young adults, the researchers found that older people exhibited a marked decline in the use of introspective fragments to describe the past memories. Future and imaginary events in the future .

The results of the study entitled ' Age-related changes in the simulation of future events ' have been published in the Psychological Science of the Psychological Science Association in January 2008.

THANH TAM