Cited by 52Cognitive Functions and MemoryMemory Processes and InfluencesNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Autobiographical planning and the brain: activation and its modulation by qualitative features

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Spreng, R. Nathan, Gerlach, Kathy D., Turner, Gary R., Schacter, Daniel L.·2015·Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Abstract

To engage in purposeful behavior, it is important to make plans, which organize subsequent actions. Most studies of planning involve “look-ahead” puzzle tasks that are unrelated to personal goals. We developed a task to assess autobiographical planning, which involves the formulation of personal plans in response to real-world goals, and examined autobiographical planning in 63 adults during fMRI scanning. Autobiographical planning was found to engage the default network, including medial-temporal lobe and midline structures, and executive control regions in lateral pFC and parietal cortex and caudate. To examine how specific qualitative features of autobiographical plans modulate neural activity, we performed parametric modulation analyses. Ratings of plan detail, novelty, temporal distance, ease of plan formulation, difficulty in goal completion, and confidence in goal accomplishment were used as covariates in six hierarchical linear regression models. This modeling procedure removed shared variance among the ratings, allowing us to determine the independent relationship between ratings of interest and trial-wise BOLD signal. We found that specific autobiographical planning, describing a detailed, achievable, and actionable planning process for attaining a clearly envisioned future, recruited both default and frontoparietal brain regions. In contrast, abstract autobiographical planning, plans that were constructed from more generalized semantic or affective representations of a less tangible and distant future, involved interactions among default, sensory perceptual, and limbic brain structures. Specific qualities of autobiographical plans are important predictors of default and frontoparietal control network engagement during plan formation and reflect the contribution of mnemonic and executive control processes to autobiographical planning.

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  • The control network may modify and direct self-generated thoughts to meet the demands of task-specific goals.

    “In this context, the control network may modify and direct self-generated thoughts to meet the demands of task-specific goals [10–11, 20].”

    From Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics (2016) · cites this paper as [11]

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Authors
Spreng, R. N., Gerlach, K. D., Turner, G. R., & Schacter, D. L.
Affiliations
  • Cornell University (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • York University (CA)
Venue
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Publisher
MIT Press
Published
2015-11-01
Volume
27
Issue
11
Pages
2147-2157
ISSN
  • 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
  • 1530-8898
OpenAlex
W1935817511
Cited by
52
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 2
FWCI
12.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • eScholarship@McGill (McGill) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (MH 060941, R01MH060941)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
goal-directed behavior, default mode network, executive function, frontoparietal cortex, medial temporal lobe, temporal distance, abstract planning
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Problem Solving, Statistics as Topic, Young Adult, Memory, Episodic

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