Separating Patterns of Space and Time: Differences in Memory for Event Duration and Sequential Order

Our memories are temporally organized. However, little is known about how the duration of individual events is encoded in episodic memory. We used a virtual reality navigation paradigm where periods of navigation were interspersed with pauses of different durations. In Experiment 1, we show that the active experience of the passage of time selectively enhanced memory for duration, with no effect on memory for the temporal sequence of events. In Experiment 2, we show that active navigation interspersed with passive waiting did not result in a similar enhancement of temporal memory. Crucially, in both studies participants were able to reliably distinguish the durations of subjectively re-experienced events, but not familiar ones. This effect was unique to duration. We posit that time is represented in episodic memory in a manner akin to space, and that the hippocampally-supported ability to recollect an event enables the reinstantiation of its temporal and spatial context.M.A