Felipe De Brigard

Most of my research focuses on the way in which memory and imagination interact. So far, I have explored ways in which episodic memory both guides and constrains episodic counterfactual thinking (i.e., thoughts about alternative ways in which past personal events could have occurred), and how this interaction affects the perceived plausibility of imagined counterfactual events. I also explore the differential contribution of episodic and semantic memory in the generation of different kinds of counterfactual simulations, as well as the effect of counterfactual thinking on the memories they derive from. In addition, my research attempts to understand how prior experience helps to constrain the way in which we reconstruct episodic memories. Finally, I am also interested in the role of internal attention during conscious recollection. To address these issues I use behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques, as well as the conceptual rigor of philosophical analysis.