Multiple approach to the function of nostalgia from the perspective of human memory research

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26540062
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Kawaguchi Jun 名古屋大学, 情報学研究科, 教授 (70152931)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: エピソード記憶 / 自伝的記憶 / ノスタルジア / なつかしさ / 感情 / 幸福感 / 時間割引 / 道徳判断

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project tried to elucidate the processes and functions of episodic memory and its relation to nostalgia. Nostalgia refers to a sentimental longing for one’s past. Recent studies suggest that nostalgia influences varieties of psychological aspects. It is also known that people recollect episodic details when they feel nostalgia. On the other hand, episodic memory research showed that mental time travel, feeling of reliving, is considered as the key to episodic memory. Therefore, remembering a nostalgic memory can be a typical situation of mental time travel. In this study, participants were asked to recall a nostalgic or recent memory, followed by a different kind of tasks. It was shown that remembering nostalgic memories influenced moral dilemma task, delay discounting task, and evaluating subjective well-being. These results suggest that remembering episodic memory with nostalgia has an influence on other psychological processes than cognitive ones.

Free Research Field

認知心理学，記憶心理学