Schedule of Events | Symposia

The Role of Relational Reasoning and Schemas in the Simulation of Novel Future Events

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Sabrina Valenzano^1,2 (svalenzano@research.baycrest.org), Isaac Kinley^1,2, Reece P. Roberts³, Daniel L. Schacter⁴, Donna Rose Addis^1,2,3; ¹Baycrest Academy of Research and Education, ²University of Toronto, ³The University of Auckland, ⁴Harvard University

Imagining future events is a cognitively demanding process thought to rely on relational reasoning and schematic knowledge. To examine this hypothesis, 50 participants completed an experimental recombination task where the detail-sets (location-object-object) provided as stimuli for future events comprised a location that was either congruent or incongruent with two objects. Participants rated their imagined events for detail and plausibility. To quantify schema usage in event narratives, we collected general descriptions of the locations in a separate sample (N=21) as a proxy for general location knowledge. These texts were segmented into three sub-schema categories (perceptual, preparation, event) and converted into vectors capturing semantic meaning using Universal Sentence Encoder (USE). We then computed cosine similarity between USE vectors for subschema and future event narratives (1=100% similarity). Results revealed that relational reasoning ability predicted higher detail ratings. Of the three sub-schemas, perceptual schemas were most evident in future event narratives, but this did not differ by congruency condition. Although preparation sub-schemas were used more during congruent trials, their usage was associated with higher detail ratings on incongruent trials. In contrast, the higher usage of event sub-schemas during incongruent trials was associated with lower plausibility. This study quantifies, for the first time, usage of schemas when imagining novel events and relational reasoning in future thinking. High reliance on schemas during incongruent simulations was linked to increased detail but reduced plausibility, suggesting that schemas can provide a scaffold for simulation but may fall short in addressing incongruencies when the chosen schema is not well-suited.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic