title: Wandering tales: evolutionary origins of mental time travel and language.
abstract: A central component of mind wandering is mental time travel, the calling to mind of remembered past events and of imagined future ones. Mental time travel may also be critical to the evolution of language, which enables us to communicate about the non-present, sharing memories, plans, and ideas. Mental time travel is indexed in humans by hippocampal activity, and studies also suggest that the hippocampus in rats is active when the animals replay or pre play activity in a spatial environment, such as a maze. Mental time travel may have ancient origins, contrary to the view that it is unique to humans. Since mental time travel is also thought to underlie language, these findings suggest that language evolved gradually from pre-existing cognitive capacities, contrary to the view of Chomsky and others that language and symbolic thought emerged abruptly, in a single step, within the past 100,000 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Corballis
keywords: Pleistocene; default mode network; evolution; gesture; hippocampus; language; mental time travel; mind wandering
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2007 Mar;11(3):105-10
references.pmid: 17254833
references.citation: Science. 2008 Sep 5;321(5894):1322-7
references.pmid: 18772431
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2006;44(2):178-90
references.pmid: 16005477
references.citation: Psychol Rev. 2004 Apr;111(2):543-52
references.pmid: 15065922
references.citation: Nature. 1976 Dec 23-30;264(5588):746-8
references.pmid: 1012311
references.citation: Nature. 2012 Nov 22;491(7425):547-53
references.pmid: 23172213
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 16;108(33):13858-63
references.pmid: 21810986
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2007 Apr 8;45(7):1363-77
references.pmid: 17126370
references.citation: Science. 1998 May 8;280(5365):921-4
references.pmid: 9572740
references.citation: Am J Phys Anthropol. 2004;Suppl 39:118-64
references.pmid: 15605391
references.citation: Behav Processes. 2011 Feb;86(2):184-95
references.pmid: 21145379
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2008 May;12(5):187-92
references.pmid: 18424224
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Mar;1156:19-43
references.pmid: 19338501
references.citation: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(7):949-60
references.pmid: 16620983
references.citation: Anim Cogn. 2008 Oct;11(4):661-74
references.pmid: 18553113
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1241-2
references.pmid: 17828259
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2008 Apr 23;28(17):4457-69
references.pmid: 18434524
references.citation: J Hum Evol. 2000 Nov;39(5):453-563
references.pmid: 11102266
references.citation: Genet Soc Gen Psychol Monogr. 1997 May;123(2):133-67
references.pmid: 9204544
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2007 May 15;17(10):856-61
references.pmid: 17462894
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Aug 28;104(35):13861-7
references.pmid: 17717081
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1988;71(3):491-507
references.pmid: 3416965
references.citation: Science. 1999 Apr 2;284(5411):65-71
references.pmid: 10102822
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2007 Oct 1;37(4):1091-6; discussion 1097-9
references.pmid: 17368915
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jan 9;104(2):642-7
references.pmid: 17202254
references.citation: Science. 2010 Nov 12;330(6006):932
references.pmid: 21071660
references.citation: Behav Processes. 2013 Feb;93:82-90
references.pmid: 23089384
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jan 30;104(5):1726-31
references.pmid: 17229836
references.citation: Nature. 2013 May 2;497(7447):74-9
references.pmid: 23594744
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2003;41(8):989-94
references.pmid: 12667534
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jan 16;98(2):676-82
references.pmid: 11209064
references.citation: Nature. 2007 May 3;447(7140):83-6
references.pmid: 17476267
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2013 Jan;17(1):5-6
references.pmid: 23153675
references.citation: Science. 1994 Jul 29;265(5172):676-9
references.pmid: 8036517
references.citation: J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1998 Apr;41(2):239-48
references.pmid: 9570579
references.citation: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2003 Aug;4(8):685-91
references.pmid: 12894243
references.citation: Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2004 Nov;82(3):171-7
references.pmid: 15464402
references.citation: Science. 2004 Jun 11;304(5677):1682-3
references.pmid: 15192233
references.citation: Nature. 2013 Mar 21;495(7441):327-32
references.pmid: 23426266
references.citation: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2002 Mar;26(2):235-58
references.pmid: 11856561
references.citation: Neuron. 2010 Mar 11;65(5):695-705
references.pmid: 20223204
references.citation: Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2013 Jan;4(1):63-79
references.pmid: 26304175
references.citation: Neurocase. 2010 Oct;16(5):426-35
references.pmid: 20401802
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008 Mar;1124:1-38
references.pmid: 18400922
references.citation: Behav Brain Sci. 2007 Jun;30(3):299-313; discussion 313-51
references.pmid: 17963565
references.citation: Hippocampus. 2006;16(12):1091-101
references.pmid: 17024677
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2010 Jun;22(6):1112-23
references.pmid: 19580387
references.citation: Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2010 Jan;1(1):99-107
references.pmid: 26272843
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2009 Jul;12(7):913-8
references.pmid: 19525943
references.citation: Behav Brain Sci. 2005 Apr;28(2):105-24; discussion 125-67
references.pmid: 16201457
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2003 Jan 1;15(1):57-70
references.pmid: 12590843
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2009 Mar 10;19(5):R190-1
references.pmid: 19278627
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2011 Dec 20;21(24):2109-14
references.pmid: 22169537
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2007 Dec 26;27(52):14365-74
references.pmid: 18160644
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2011 Jul 13;31(28):10262-9
references.pmid: 21753003
references.citation: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010 Apr;11(4):264-74
references.pmid: 20216547