Making decisions with the future in mind: Developmental and comparative identification of mental time travel |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratoire de Psychologie Médicale et d’Addictologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium;2. Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Brugmann, Psychiatry Department, Clinic of Behavioural Addictions, Brussels, Belgium;3. Unité de Recherche en Psychologie et Neuroscience Cognitives, Université de Liège, Belgium;4. Unité de Recherche Clinique Intersectorielle en Psychiatrie à vocation régionale Pierre Deniker, Centre Hospitalier Henri Laborit, Poitiers, France;5. Université de Poitiers - INSERM CIC-P 1402 du CHU de Poitiers - INSERM U 1084, Experimental and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory - Groupement de Recherche CNRS 3557, Poitiers, France;1. Federation University, Ballarat, Australia;2. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;1. Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy;2. Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK;1. Teaching and Research Unit Life Sciences (927), University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France;2. Clinical Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany;3. Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Georg August University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany;4. Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany;5. Department of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Mechanisms that produce behavior which increase future survival chances provide an adaptive advantage. The flexibility of human behavior is at least partly the result of one such mechanism, our ability to travel mentally in time and entertain potential future scenarios. We can study mental time travel in children using language. Current results suggest that key developments occur between the ages of three to five. However, linguistic performance can be misleading as language itself is developing. We therefore advocate the use of methodologies that focus on future-oriented action. Mental time travel required profound changes in humans’ motivational system, so that current behavior could be directed to secure not just present, but individually anticipated future needs. Such behavior should be distinguishable from behavior based on current drives, or on other mechanisms. We propose an experimental paradigm that provides subjects with an opportunity to act now to satisfy a need not currently experienced. This approach may be used to assess mental time travel in nonhuman animals. We conclude by describing a preliminary study employing an adaptation of this paradigm for children. |
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