The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel
Abstract Mental time travel (MTT) refers to the ability to project oneself backward in time, toward past events, and forward in time, toward future events. This study investigates the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in orienting toward past and future events during MTT. Patients w...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-97861-z |
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| author | Angelo Pisani Giulia Franco Ivan Patanè Silvia Gambino Giuliana Vezzadini Mariano D’Angelo Michela Candini Elisa Ciaramelli |
| author_facet | Angelo Pisani Giulia Franco Ivan Patanè Silvia Gambino Giuliana Vezzadini Mariano D’Angelo Michela Candini Elisa Ciaramelli |
| author_sort | Angelo Pisani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Mental time travel (MTT) refers to the ability to project oneself backward in time, toward past events, and forward in time, toward future events. This study investigates the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in orienting toward past and future events during MTT. Patients with lesion to the vmPFC (vmPFC patients), control patients, and healthy participants completed a MTT task requiring to orient in time towards the past and the future to estimate the likelihood of typical life events, and a timeline task requiring to place events coherently on a line representing the lifespan. The results showed that vmPFC—but not control—patients systematically anticipated the timing of events, associating them with earlier than typical ages during both past and future MTT, as well as in the timeline task, possibly due to a shortened time perspective or to the systematic devaluation of events. These findings highlight the critical role of vmPFC in activating temporal schemata and supporting temporal orientation during MTT, enabling the construction of coherent life narratives. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8fa5e081e0534d0eae3f168446380dc6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-8fa5e081e0534d0eae3f168446380dc62025-08-20T03:14:07ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-97861-zThe role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travelAngelo Pisani0Giulia Franco1Ivan Patanè2Silvia Gambino3Giuliana Vezzadini4Mariano D’Angelo5Michela Candini6Elisa Ciaramelli7Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of BolognaDepartment of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of BolognaDepartment of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of TrentoCenter for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of BolognaNeurorehabilitation of the Institute of Castel Goffredo, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCSDepartment of Neuroscience, Karolinska InstitutetDepartment of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of BolognaDepartment of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of BolognaAbstract Mental time travel (MTT) refers to the ability to project oneself backward in time, toward past events, and forward in time, toward future events. This study investigates the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in orienting toward past and future events during MTT. Patients with lesion to the vmPFC (vmPFC patients), control patients, and healthy participants completed a MTT task requiring to orient in time towards the past and the future to estimate the likelihood of typical life events, and a timeline task requiring to place events coherently on a line representing the lifespan. The results showed that vmPFC—but not control—patients systematically anticipated the timing of events, associating them with earlier than typical ages during both past and future MTT, as well as in the timeline task, possibly due to a shortened time perspective or to the systematic devaluation of events. These findings highlight the critical role of vmPFC in activating temporal schemata and supporting temporal orientation during MTT, enabling the construction of coherent life narratives.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-97861-zMental time travelVentromedial prefrontal cortexTemporal projectionSemantic memoryLifetime periods |
| spellingShingle | Angelo Pisani Giulia Franco Ivan Patanè Silvia Gambino Giuliana Vezzadini Mariano D’Angelo Michela Candini Elisa Ciaramelli The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel Scientific Reports Mental time travel Ventromedial prefrontal cortex Temporal projection Semantic memory Lifetime periods |
| title | The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel |
| title_full | The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel |
| title_fullStr | The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel |
| title_full_unstemmed | The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel |
| title_short | The role of vmPFC in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel |
| title_sort | role of vmpfc in accessing the temporality of life events for mental time travel |
| topic | Mental time travel Ventromedial prefrontal cortex Temporal projection Semantic memory Lifetime periods |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-97861-z |
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