Context differentiation and remindings in episodic memory updating

Navigating an ever-changing environment requires memory updating to distinguish past events from more recent experiences. Memory updating is important for adapting to everyday changes such as a collaborators' new work routine or for correcting misinformation. An enduring puzzle in the study of episodic memory is that two apparently conflicting updating mechanisms can support memory for changes. One mechanism involves differentiating the contexts associated with representations of the past and the present to keep them separate and prevent them from interfering with each other. Another mechanism involves integrating representations of the past and present to encode the relationship between events and facilitate recent memories. In the present chapter, we selectively review key studies showing how these apparently conflicting updating mechanisms can both support memory for new information. Studies from the classic interference literature suggest that updating is supported by context differentiation occurring when more time passes between study episodes, learning occurs in separate locations, and thoughts between events shift to new contexts. In contrast, studies from the temporal memory literature suggest that new events can trigger remindings of previous events, allowing them both to be encoded as part of an integrated representation. To reconcile these conflicting findings, we advance the perspective that reinstating past contexts during study can impair or improve memory for changed information, depending on whether remindings enabled integrative encoding and later retrieval was recollection-based. Our work shows that this view accounts for remembering in several updating paradigms varying in their likeness to everyday situations.