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Neural substrates of envisioning the future
Open accessAbstract
The ability to envision specific future episodes is a ubiquitous mental phenomenon that has seldom been discussed in the neuroscience literature. In this study, subjects underwent functional MRI while using event cues (e.g., Birthday) as a guide to vividly envision a personal future event, remember a personal memory, or imagine an event involving a familiar individual. Two basic patterns of data emerged. One set of regions (e.g., within left lateral premotor cortex; left precuneus; right posterior cerebellum) was more active while envisioning the future than while recollecting the past (and more active in both of these conditions than in the task involving imagining another person). These regions appear similar to those emerging from the literature on imagined (simulated) bodily movements. A second set of regions (e.g., bilateral posterior cingulate; bilateral parahippocampal gyrus; left occipital cortex) demonstrated indistinguishable activity during the future and past tasks (but greater activity in both tasks than the imagery control task); similar regions have been shown to be important for remembering previously encountered visual-spatial contexts. Hence, differences between the future and past tasks are attributed to differences in the demands placed on regions that underlie motor imagery of bodily movements, and similarities in activity for these two tasks are attributed to the reactivation of previously experienced visual–spatial contexts. That is, subjects appear to place their future scenarios in well known visual–spatial contexts. Our results offer insight into the fundamental and little-studied capacity of vivid mental projection of oneself in the future.
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“Perhaps it is not altogether surprising therefore that recent fMRI studies have found comprehensive overlap in the activation patterns associated with recalling the past and thinking about plausible self-relevant future events (Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007).”
From Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of Episodic Memory (2007) · cites this paper as Szpunar et al., 2007
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“Previous studies that have compared episodic memory and future thinking were unable to make this distinction because these features were present to a similar degree in both autobiographical memories and personal future scenarios (Atance and O'Neill, 2001; Addis et al., 2007; Szpunar et al., 2007).”
From Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of Episodic Memory (2007) · cites this paper as Szpunar et al., 2007
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“Episodic memories are thought to be involved in a variety of important cognitive processes beyond simply recalling past events.”
From Episodic Memory in AI Agents Poses Risks that Should be Studied and Mitigated (2025) · cites this paper as [77]
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“First, brain imaging studies have shown that similar brain regions are recruited during recall of episodic memories and other tasks [77].”
From Episodic Memory in AI Agents Poses Risks that Should be Studied and Mitigated (2025) · cites this paper as [77]
In the citing paper
“Neuroimaging has revealed that memory and imagination engage the same brain networks, including the default mode network (DMN; Addis, Wong, & Schacter, 2007;Okuda et al., 2003;Szpunar, Watson, & McDermott, 2007; see Figure 1).”
From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Szpunar, Watson, & McDermott, 2007
In the citing paper
“When imagining non-personal events (i.e., events that do not feature the self), the involvement of self-schemas decreases linearly with psychological closeness to the protagonist (de Vito, Gamboz, & Brandimonte, 2012) as does the engagement of ventromedial prefrontal regions mediating self-schemas (e.g., D' Argembeau et al., 2010;Szpunar et al., 2007).”
From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Szpunar et al., 2007
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“The overall proportional resolution of non-personal simulations is also likely lower, with a greater proportion of lower-resolution elements such as general semantic knowledge (Szpunar et al., 2007).”
From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Szpunar et al., 2007
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“With lower reliance on self-schema, as well as reductions in complexity, associative strength, elaborateness and proportional resolution, it is not surprising that imagining non-personal events is associated with lower activity levels in many DMN regions relative to imagining personal events (including parahippocampal cortex, posterior cingulate, and cuneus; e.g., D' Argembeau et al., 2010;Szpunar”
From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Szpunar et al., 2007
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Metadata
- Authors
- Szpunar, K. K., Watson, J. M., & McDermott, K. B.
- Affiliations
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2007-01-09
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 642-647
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC1761910
- OpenAlex
- W2098699616
- Cited by
- 784
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 44 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 56 · 2013: 66 · 2012: 58
- FWCI
- 29.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- mental time travel, future events, personal memories, event simulation, motor imagery, premotor cortex, precuneus, posterior cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Female, Forecasting, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Thinking
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