Provider: Ingenta Connect Database: Ingenta Connect Content: application/x-research-info-systems TY - ABST AU - Boyle, A. TI - Learning from the Past: Epistemic Generativity and the Function of Episodic Memory JO - Journal of Consciousness Studies PY - 2019-01-01T00:00:00/// VL - 26 IS - 5-6 SP - 242 EP - 251 N2 - I argue that the function of episodic memory is to store information about the past, against the orthodox view that it is to support imagining the future. I show that episodic memory is epistemically generative, allowing organisms to learn from past events retroactively. This confers adaptive benefits in three domains: reasoning about the world, skill, and social interaction. Given the role of evolutionary perspectives in comparative research, this argument necessitates a radical shift in the study of episodic memory in nonhumans. UR - ER -