Skip to main content

Felipe De Brigard

Associate Professor of Philosophy
Philosophy

Overview


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.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Associate Professor of Philosophy · 2019 - Present Philosophy, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience · 2021 - Present Psychology & Neuroscience, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience · 2013 - Present Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society · 2017 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

In the News


Published May 2, 2025
When I Was Wrong: Faculty Lessons From Their Mistakes
Published January 27, 2023
How Did Political Polarization Begin, and Where Does it End?
Published August 8, 2019
How Do Our Sins Shape Who We Become Afterwards?

View All News

Recent Publications


What makes a theory of consciousness unscientific?

Journal Article Nature neuroscience · April 2025 Full text Cite

Episodic details are better remembered in plausible relative to implausible counterfactual simulations.

Journal Article Psychonomic bulletin & review · March 2025 People often engage in episodic counterfactual thinking, or mentally simulating how the experienced past might have been different from how it was. A commonly held view is that mentally simulating alternative event outcomes aids in managing future uncertai ... Full text Cite

A network correspondence toolbox for quantitative evaluation of novel neuroimaging results.

Journal Article Nature communications · March 2025 The brain can be decomposed into large-scale functional networks, but the specific spatial topographies of these networks and the names used to describe them vary across studies. Such discordance has hampered interpretation and convergence of research find ... Full text Cite
View All Publications

Recent Grants


Forgetting and Forgiving: Exploring the Connections Between Memory, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by John Templeton Foundation · 2021 - 2025

Summer Seminars in Neuroscience and Philosophy

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by Templeton World Charity Foundation · 2020 - 2025

Effects of Aging on Episodic Memory-Dependent Decision Making

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2018 - 2025

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications


University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 2011 Ph.D.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 2007 M.A.
Tufts University · 2005 M.A.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia) · 2002 A.B.

External Links


IMC Lab