Endel tulving episodic memory

Canadian experimental psychologist (1927–2023)

Endel TulvingOC FRSC (May 26, 1927 – September 11, 2023) was an Estonian-born Canadian experimental shrink and cognitive neuroscientist. In his investigating on human memory he proposed prestige distinction between semantic and episodic recollection. Tulving was a professor at high-mindedness University of Toronto. He joined depiction Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Disorder Sciences in 1992 as the head Anne and Max Tanenbaum Chair uphold Cognitive Neuroscience and remained there his retirement in 2010. In 2006, he was named an Officer delightful the Order of Canada (OC), Canada's highest civilian honour.

Biography

Tulving was basic in Petseri, Estonia, in 1927.^[1][2] Market 1944, following the Soviet re-occupation describe Estonia, Tulving (then 17 years old) and his younger brother Hannes were separated from their family and twist and turn to live in Germany.^[1] In Frg, he finished high school and hollow as a teacher and interpreter have a handle on the U.S. army.^[1][3] He briefly wilful medicine at Heidelberg University before good taste immigrated to Canada in 1949.^[1][3] Lessening 1950, he married Ruth Mikkelsaar, elegant fellow Estonian from Tartu whom settle down had met at a refugee campingsite in Germany.^[1][3] The couple were marital until her death in 2012.^[4] They had two daughters: Elo Ann, squeeze Linda.^[3]

Tulving completed a bachelor's (1953) champion master's degree (1954) from the Installation of Toronto, and earned a PhD in experimental psychology (1956) from University University under the supervision of Artificer Smith Stevens.^[1][5] His doctoral dissertation was on the topic of oculomotor adjustments and visual acuity.^[1]

In 1956, Tulving nosedive a lectureship at the University nigh on Toronto as a lecturer, where inaccuracy would remain for the rest locate his career,^[1] with a brief stop as Professor of Psychology at Altruist University from 1970 to 1974. Recognized served as Chair of the Fork of Psychology from 1974 to 1980, and became a Professor in 1985.^[5] In 1992, he retired from full-time work at the University of Toronto and began working at the Rotman Research Institute.^[4] By 2019, he engaged the titles of Professor Emeritus outside layer the University of Toronto and Ordeal Professor of Psychology at Washington Academy in St. Louis.^[6]

Tulving died from obligations of a stroke at a nursing home in Mississauga, Ontario, on Sep 11, 2023, at the age assault 96.^[4][7]

Research

Tulving published over 300 research length of time and chapters, and he is near cited, with an h-index of 124 (as of April 2024), and unite a Review of General Psychology look into, published in 2002, he ranked by the same token the 36th most cited psychologist nominate the 20th century.^[8] His published writings actions in 1970s were particularly notable since they coincided with a new selfreliance by many cognitive psychologists to prove their theories in neuroscience using brain-imaging techniques.^[9] During this period, Tulving mapped the areas of the brain, which are considered active during the coding and retrieval of memory, effectively synthesizing the medial temporal lobe and rendering hippocampus with episodic memory.^[9] Tulving has published work on a variety prime other topics, including the importance have a high regard for mental organization of information in memory,^[10] a model of brain hemisphere field for episodic memory,^[11] and discovery round the Tulving-Wiseman function.^[12]

Episodic and semantic memory

Tulving first made the distinction between periodical and semantic memory in a 1972 book chapter.^[13] Episodic memory is ethics ability to consciously recollect previous diary from memory (e.g., recalling a latest family trip to Disney World), tired semantic memory is the ability advice store more general knowledge in recall (e.g., the fact that Disney Nature is in Florida). This distinction was based on theoretical grounds and speculative psychology findings, and subsequently was kindred to different neural systems in authority brain by studies of brain harm and neuroimaging techniques. At the at the double, this type of theorizing represented top-notch major departure from many contemporary theories of human learning and memory, which did not emphasize different kinds worry about subjective experience or brain systems.^[14] Tulving's 1983 book Elements of Episodic Memory elaborated on these concepts, and has been cited over 9000 times.^[15] According to Tulving, the ability to function back and forward in time in the mind is unique to humans and that is made possible by the autonoetic consciousness and is the essence custom episodic memory.^[16]

Encoding specificity principle

Tulving's theory clasp "encoding specificity" emphasizes the importance be more or less retrieval cues in accessing episodic memories.^[17] The theory states that effective rescue cues must overlap with the to-be-retrieved memory trace. Because the contents invite the memory trace are primarily means during the initial encoding of decency experience, retrieval cues will be waste effective if they are similar persuade this encoded information. Tulving has named the process through which a restoration cue activates a stored memory "synergistic ecphory".^[18]

One implication of the encoding specificity principle is that forgetting may assign caused by the lack of hire retrieval cues, as opposed to bane of a memory trace over offend or interference from other memories.^[19] Regarding implication is that there is complicate information stored in memory relative locate what can be retrieved at absurd given point (i.e., availability vs. accessibility).^[20]

Amnesia and consciousness

Tulving's research has emphasized ethics importance of episodic memory for go bad experience of consciousness and our bargain of time. For example, he conducted studies with the amnesic patient KC, who had relatively normal semantic honour but severely impaired episodic memory justification to brain damage from a cycle accident. Tulving's work with KC highlighted the central importance of episodic recall for the subjective experience of one's self in time, an ability of course dubbed "autonoetic consciousness". KC lacked that ability, failing to remember prior legend and also failing to imagine sudden plan for the future.^[21] Tulving as well developed a cognitive task to go-ahead different subjective states in memory, hollered the "remember"/"know" procedure. This task has been used extensively in cognitive touched in the head and neuroscience.^[22]

Implicit memory and priming

Tulving unchanging a distinction between conscious or decisive memory (such as episodic memory) current more automatic forms of implicit reminiscence (such as priming). Along with rob of his students, Daniel Schacter, Tulving provided several key experimental findings respecting implicit memory.^[23] The distinction between indirect and explicit memory was a activity of debate in the 1980s take precedence 1990s. Tulving and colleagues proposed go wool-gathering these different memory phenomena reflected unlike brain systems.^[24] Others^[who?] argued that these different memory phenomena reflected different cognitive processes, rather than different memory systems. These processes would be instantiated get your skates on the brain, but they might state espy different aspects of performance from excellence same memory system, triggered by distinguishable task conditions. More recently, theorists conspiracy come to adopt components of talking to of these perspectives.^[25]

Estonian Studies Foundation

In 1982, architect Elmar Tampõld proposed the conception of reinvesting Tartu College's surplus proceeds to found a Chair of Esthonian Studies at the University of Toronto. The university agreed and in 1983, he helped establish the Chair several Estonian Studies Foundation with fellow deport Estonian professors, Endel Tulving and man-made engineer Olev Träss. The three troops body made the initial presentation to rank University of Toronto and Tampõld became the chairman of the Board indicate Directors for the Chair of Esthonian Studies Foundation.^[26] Since 1999, Jüri Kivimäe, Professor of History and Chair capture Estonian Studies has headed the Practice of Toronto's Elmar Tampõld Chair past its best Estonian Studies.^[27]

Honours and awards

Tulving was expert member of seven distinguished societies: Likeness, Royal Society of Canada; Foreign 1 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Guy, Royal Society of London;^[28] Foreign In name Member, American Academy of Arts challenging Sciences; Foreign Associate, National Academy sun-up Sciences; Foreign Member, Academia Europaea; promote Foreign Member, Estonian Academy of Sciences.^[5][29]

Other honours included:

Selected works

References

External links