Abstract

A long-standing question refers to the mechanisms underlying the reconstructive nature of human memory. Several principles can explain such a capacity of human memory. One of these goes under the rubric of «constructive episodic simulation» and refers to the individual's ability to imagine novel plausible scenarios in the future. In the present review, we propose a theoretical analysis of the most recent conceptual developments and empirical results in the field, with the aims of clarifying similarities and differences between remembering the past and imagining the future and, hopefully, stimulating future research.