title: Reconstructing the times of past and future personal events.
abstract: Humans have the remarkable ability to mentally travel through past and future times. However, while memory for the times of past events has been much investigated, little is known about how imagined future events are temporally located. Using a think-aloud protocol, we found that the temporal location of past and future events is rarely directly accessed, but instead mostly relies on reconstructive and inferential strategies. References to lifetime periods and factual knowledge (about the self, others, and the world) were most frequently used to determine the temporal location of both past and future events. Event details (e.g., places, persons, or weather conditions) were also used, but mainly for past events. Finally, the results showed that events whose temporal location was directly accessed were judged more important for personal goals. Together, these findings shed new light on the mechanisms involved in locating personal events in past and future times.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège , Liège , Belgium.|b Department of Psychiatry , Inserm U1114 - Cognitive Neuropsychology and Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia , Strasbourg , France.|c Department of Psychology , University of Strasbourg , Strasbourg , France.
authors.forename: Hédi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben Malek
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , Inserm U1114 - Cognitive Neuropsychology and Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia , Strasbourg , France.|c Department of Psychology , University of Strasbourg , Strasbourg , France.|d Department of Psychiatry , University Hospital of Strasbourg , Strasbourg , France.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berna
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège , Liège , Belgium.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Argembeau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Time; autobiographical memory; episodic future thinking; goals