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Cognitive trade-offs between episodic autobiographical memory and abstract reasoning

Poster Session F - Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Ryan C. Yeung¹ (), Nicholas B. Diamond¹, Stephanie Simpson¹, Carina L. Fan¹, Daniel Baena², H. Moriah Sokolowski^1,3, Stuart Fogel², Brian Levine^1,4; ¹Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, ²University of Ottawa, ³Toronto Metropolitan University, ⁴University of Toronto

There is widespread variability across individuals in episodic memory and visual imagery, both of which are integral to autobiographical memory. While past work has typically emphasized the benefits of strong memory and imagery abilities, case studies suggest that individuals with congenitally low autobiographical memory can present with no functional impairment. How might these individuals be overcoming these putative deficits? We hypothesize that low memory/imagery can confer advantages on conceptual tasks that rely on abstraction of patterns across episodes, rather than specific details from single instances. We address this hypothesis across three independent studies from our research on episodic memory, all of which included objective cognitive tasks from the Creyos battery assessing abstract reasoning (Grammatical Reasoning), spatial working memory (Rotations), visual deductive reasoning (Odd One Out), and visuospatial memory (Paired Associates). In 4,545 participants, lower memory/imagery was related to attaining more computational STEM professions. In 792 participants exposed to trauma, lower memory/imagery was related to fewer PTSD symptoms. In 93 participants, memory for structural sequences—but not details—of a naturalistic event was enhanced after sleep (vs. wake). Critically, across all three studies, the observed findings were related to objective performance on Grammatical Reasoning (but not other Creyos tasks). These findings suggest that abstract reasoning opposes episodic memory and visual imagery at the level of individual differences, to the extent that reasoning relies on the ability to learn and generalize rules across events. In turn, reasoning abilities can counteract low autobiographical memory and potentially confer resilience against negative outcomes.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic