Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

EPISODIC MEMORY

Time is just a memory

Experience unfolds continuously in time, but we remember discrete sequences of events. In this issue of Nature Neuroscience, Montchal et al. describe brain activity patterns that predict how well people remember precisely when recent events occurred. Converging evidence suggests that homologous neural machinery structures temporal representations in rats and people.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Memory time structured by behavioral episodes.

References

  1. Tulving, E. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 53, 1–25 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Eichenbaum, H., Dudchenko, P., Wood, E., Shapiro, M. & Tanila, H. Neuron 23, 209–226 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Eichenbaum, H. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 1, 41–50 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Gallagher, M. & Koh, M. T. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 21, 929–934 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Chao, O. Y., Huston, J. P., Li, J. S., Wang, A. L. & de Souza Silva, M. A. Hippocampus 26, 633–645 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Moser, E. I., Moser, M. B. & McNaughton, B. L. Nat. Neurosci. 20, 1448–1464 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. O’Keefe, J. & Nadel, L. The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. (Oxford Press, Oxford, UK, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Berger, T. W., Alger, B. & Thompson, R. F. Science 192, 483–485 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Tsao, A. et al. Nature 561, 57–62 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Kraus, B. J. et al. Neuron 88, 578–589 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Montchal, M.E., Reagh, Z.M. & Yassa, M.A. Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0303-1 (2018).

  12. Wang, C. et al. Science 362, 945–949 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Rovelli, C. The Order of Time. (Riverhead Books, New York, 2017).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Clewett, D. & Davachi, L. Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 17, 186–193 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Pastalkova, E., Itskov, V., Amarasingham, A. & Buzsáki, G. Science 321, 1322–1327 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew L. Shapiro.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shapiro, M.L. Time is just a memory. Nat Neurosci 22, 151–153 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0331-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0331-x

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing