Event perception and event memory in real-world experience

Abstract

People remember events as a series of interconnected actions organized in time. The ability to perceive, represent and remember events is essential to understanding the world, adapting to changing circumstances and surviving. Extensive research has been conducted to understand memory representations of simple, static ‘events’ that often lack real-world contextual meaning. Although this work lays the foundation of current theories of cognition, it is disconnected from how memory functions in the real world. In this Review, we discuss how events are perceived from a continuous stream of experience, and how perceived events organize memory for real-world experiences. Further, we discuss how cognitive ageing, mental health conditions and neurodegenerative diseases impact event memory. We provide a cohesive overview of event memory for naturalistic stimuli and suggest future directions for the field. Memories often consist of interconnected events from daily life. In this Review, Bailey and Smith discuss how events are perceived, represented, and remembered and how these processes are impacted by ageing and certain clinical conditions.