ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 begins with the clinical implications for imaginative involvement and memory reconsolidation and its relevance to unconscious problem solving. Research on counterfactual thinking (reimagining the past) shows that people will engage in problem solving more effectively as a result. Two methods of “changing the past” are examined: (1) alterations to semantic memories (reframing), and (2) alterations to episodic memory (imagery replacement). These techniques trace back to the pioneering work of Pierre Janet and have evolved into the evidence-based technique of imagery rescripting. Next, there is a discussion of prefactual thinking (experimenting with different versions of the future). Thus, imaginative involvement is described as bidirectional, meaning it goes backwards in time as easily as it goes forward. After examining the role of imagination in external conditioning and the mailability of memories, the point is made that the subjective experience of choice depends greatly on creative imagination. The emerging consensus within the scientific community is that the ability to simulate personal future events relies heavily on the ability to remember a continuous past (integrated memories). Thus, the relationship between these two dimensions of temporal reality is circular rather than linear.
