Dataset Information

Self-related processing and future thinking: Distinct contributions of ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobes.

ABSTRACT: Episodic future thinking depends on a core network of regions that involves, in addition to the medial temporal lobes (MTL), the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Neuroimaging studies suggest that vmPFC is particularly involved when future thinking requires consideration of self-relevant information, but lesion evidence for a special role of vmPFC in constructing self-relevant scenarios is limited. To clarify the involvement of vmPFC in future thinking, eight patients with vmPFC lesions were asked to imagine future events pertaining to the self or to another person, and their performance was contrasted with that of eight patients with MTL lesions. Patients with vmPFC lesions were no more detailed in their description of future events pertaining to the self than of events pertaining to another person. In contrast, like controls, patients with MTL lesions showed a self-benefit, despite impoverished performance overall. These findings accord with evidence from neuroimaging studies and elucidate the distinct contributions of vmPFC and MTL to future thinking.

SUBMITTER: Verfaellie M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6513722 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Self-related processing and future thinking: Distinct contributions of ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobes.

Verfaellie Mieke M Wank Aubrey A AA Reid Allison G AG Race Elizabeth E Keane Margaret M MM

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 20190208

Episodic future thinking depends on a core network of regions that involves, in addition to the medial temporal lobes (MTL), the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Neuroimaging studies suggest that vmPFC is particularly involved when future thinking requires consideration of self-relevant information, but lesion evidence for a special role of vmPFC in constructing self-relevant scenarios is limited. To clarify the involvement of vmPFC in future thinking, eight patients with vmPFC lesions we ...[more]

PMID: 30826623

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Project description:The capacity to envision the future plays an important role in many aspects of cognition, including our ability to make optimal, adaptive choices. Past work has shown that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) is necessary for decisions that draw on episodic future thinking. By contrast, little is known about the role of the MTL in decisions that draw on semantic future thinking. Accordingly, the present study investigated whether the MTL contributes to one form of decision making, namely intertemporal choice, when such decisions depend on semantic consideration of the future. In an intertemporal choice task, participants must select either a smaller amount of money that is available in the present or a larger amount of money that would be available at a future date. Amnesic individuals with MTL damage and healthy control participants performed such a task in which, prior to making a choice, they engaged in a semantic generation exercise, wherein they generated items that they would purchase with the future reward. In experiment 1, we found that, relative to a baseline condition involving standard intertemporal choice, healthy individuals were more inclined to select a larger, later reward over a smaller, present reward after engaging in semantic future thinking. By contrast, amnesic participants were paradoxically less inclined to wait for a future reward following semantic future thinking. This finding suggests that amnesics may have had difficulty "tagging" the generated item(s) as belonging to the future. Critically, experiment 2 showed that when the generated items were presented alongside the intertemporal choices, both controls and amnesic participants shifted to more patient choices. These findings suggest that the MTL is not needed for making optimal decisions that draw on semantic future thinking as long as scaffolding is provided to support accurate time tagging. Together, these findings stand to better clarify the role of the MTL in decision making.

Dataset Information

Self-related processing and future thinking: Distinct contributions of ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobes.

Publications

Self-related processing and future thinking: Distinct contributions of ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobes.

Similar Datasets

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