| Neural substrates of envisioning the future. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 17202254 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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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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Authors:
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Karl K Szpunar; Jason M Watson; Kathleen B McDermott |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article Date: 2007-01-03 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 104 ISSN: 0027-8424 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2007 Jan |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2007-01-10 Completed Date: 2007-02-16 Revised Date: 2013-06-06 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 642-7 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. karl.szpunar@wustl.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adolescent Adult Brain / anatomy & histology, physiology* Female Forecasting* Humans Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Memory Thinking / physiology* |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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