Cited by 285Memory and Neural MechanismsMemory Processes and InfluencesCognitive Functions and Memory

The Hippocampus and Imagining the Future: Where Do We Stand?

Open access
Addis, Donna Rose, Schacter, Daniel L.·2012·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Abstract

Recent neuroimaging work has demonstrated that the hippocampus is engaged when imagining the future, in some cases more than when remembering the past. It is possible that this hippocampal activation reflects recombining details into coherent scenarios and/or the encoding of these scenarios into memory for later use. However, inconsistent findings have emerged from recent studies of future simulation in patients with memory loss and hippocampal damage. Thus, it remains an open question as to whether the hippocampus is necessary for future simulation. In this review, we consider the findings from patient studies and the neuroimaging literature with respect to a new framework that highlights three component processes of simulation: accessing episodic details, recombining details, and encoding simulations. We attempt to reconcile these discrepancies between neuroimaging and patient studies by suggesting that different component processes of future simulation may be differentially affected by hippocampal damage.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00173

Cites

108 of 115 references verified5 citation errors · 2 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Conjunction errors involve recombinations of details, and there is no reason to suggest this differs from the recombination process underlying future imagination.

    “For instance, conjunction errors (i.e., the integration of erroneous details into a memory) involve recombinations of details, and there is no reason to suggest this would be any different from the recombination process argued to underlie future imagination (Addis & Schacter, 2012;Schacter & Addis, 2007).”

    From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Addis & Schacter, 2012

  • Differential anterior hippocampal activity during future simulation reflects recruitment of additional associative processes, specifically recombination of details rather than reintegration of previously associated details.

    “associative processes during future simulation, specifically the recombination of details, as compared to the reintegration of the previously associated details comprising past events”

    From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Addis & Schacter, 2012

  • Some hippocampal regions are engaged during both remembering and imagining, whereas the anterior hippocampus is more active during imagination than remembering.

    “while some regions of the hippocampus are commonly engaged by remembering and imagining, the anterior hippocampus has been found to be more active when imagining versus remembering (Addis & Schacter, 2012).”

    From Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation. (2020) · cites this paper as Addis & Schacter, 2012

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Fishbein M. Ajzen I. (1980). Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L.
Affiliations
  • University of Auckland (NZ)
  • Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Addis, Donna Rose
Venue
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Published
2012
Volume
5
Pages
173-173
ISSN
1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2144015419
Cited by
285
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 12
FWCI
16.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Royal Society Te Apārangi (UOA0810)
  • Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australian Research Council (CE110001021)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH 060941, R01MH060941)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords
hippocampus, future simulation, future thinking, episodic memory, hippocampal lesions, memory loss, neuroimaging findings

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review