Cortical Gradients Support Mental Time Travel into the Past and Future: Evidence from Activation Likelihood...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) and episodic future thinking (EFT) are crucial for temporal cognition.
• Understanding their shared and distinct neural underpinnings remains a key research question.

Purpose of the Study:

• To delineate overlapping and dissociating brain networks supporting EAM and EFT.
• To investigate functional gradients in neural activity across EAM and EFT domains.
• To test theoretical accounts of memory and future thinking.

Main Methods:

• Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.
• Contrast analyses to identify differential activation between EAM and EFT.
• Examination of spatial gradients in neural activation patterns.

Main Results:

• A common core network supports both EAM and EFT, including midline structures, hippocampus, angular gyrus, anterior middle temporal gyrus (aMTG), and superior frontal gyrus (SFG).
• The right aMTG showed greater activation during EFT compared to EAM.
• Functional gradients were identified in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, left SFG, and bilateral aMTG.

Conclusions:

• Neural differences between EAM and EFT arise partly from the organization of common activation regions along functional gradients.
• Findings support models where distinct features and processes contribute to memory and future thinking.
• This research advances our understanding of the neural basis of temporal cognition.