Mentales Zeitreisen – Neurokognitive Grundlagen des Zukunftsdenkens

Zusammenfassung

Das Konzept „episodisches Gedächtnis” beinhaltet die Fähigkeit des mentalen Zeitreisens, i. e. des gedanklichen Wiedererlebens vergangener persönlicher Erlebnisse wie auch die Fähigkeit, potenzielle zukünftige Erlebnisse gedanklich zu simulieren. Hinweise darauf, dass das episodische Gedächtnis und das episodische Zukunftsdenken eine gemeinsame neuronale Grundlage haben, entstammen unterschiedlichen Forschungsrichtungen, zu denen funktionelle Bildgebung, Untersuchungen klinischer Gruppen, Verhaltensstudien zu den phänomenologischen Charakteristika des mentalen Zeitreisens und die Entwicklungsforschung zählen. Dieser Übersichtsartikel stellt die Ergebnisse der unterschiedlichen Forschungsbereiche bezüglich des mentalen Zeitreisens zusammen, die darauf hindeuten, dass ein Netzwerk aus medialen präfrontalen, medialen temporalen, medialen parietalen, lateralen parieto-okzipitalen sowie lateralen temporalen Hirnregionen sowohl episodische Gedächtnisprozesse wie auch das episodische Zukunftsdenken vermittelt. Beide Fähigkeiten scheinen sich im Alter von etwa 4 Jahren zu entwickeln, ähnliche phänomenologische Charakteristika aufzuweisen und durch Läsionen oder Funktionsstörungen in ähnlichem Umfang beeinträchtigt zu werden. Diese Resultate haben zu unterschiedlichen Hypothesen hinsichtlich der Funktion und evolutionären Bedeutung des Netzwerks geführt, die abschließend diskutiert werden.

Abstract

The ability to travel in time mentally, i. e. the re-experiencing of personal past events as well as the ability to mentally simulate potential future events, forms part of the “episodic memory” concept. Evidence for the notion that episodic memory and episodic future thinking share a common neural basis stems from different lines of research, namely functional neuroimaging, assessment of clinical groups, behavioral investigations of the phenomenological characteristics of mental time travel, and developmental research. The present article summarises the evidence from these lines of research which indicate a common neural network underlying episodic memory and episodic future thinking, consisting of medial prefrontal, medial temporal, medial parietal, lateral parieto-occipital, as well as lateral temporal regions. Both abilities, episodic memory and future thinking, seem to develop around the age of four years, feature similar phenomenological characteristics, and are impaired to a similar extent by brain lesions and brain dysfunction. These findings yielded different hypotheses concerning the function and evolutional significance of the mental time travel network, which will also be addressed.

Mentales Zeitreisen - Zukunftsdenken - episodisches Gedächtnis - autonoetisches Bewusstsein

mental time travel - future thinking - episodic memory - autonoetic consciousness

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1 Die remember/know-Methode wurde in der Studie von Piolino u. Mitarb. [31] benutzt, um zwischen episodischem und semantischem autobiografischen Gedächtnis zu unterscheiden. Die Versuchspersonen mussten für jede Erinnerung angeben, ob diese auf episodischem Gedächtnis/autonoetischem Bewusstsein (remember-Antwort) oder semantischem Gedächtnis/noetischem Bewusstsein (know-Antwort) basiert. Remember-Antworten wurden gegeben, wenn neben der eigentlichen Erinnerung zusätzliche Informationen über die Quelle der Erinnerung verfügbar waren (wann und wo das Wissen erworben wurde) und das Ereignis somit mental wiedererlebt werden konnte. Know-Antworten wurden gegeben, wenn die Versuchsperson keine zusätzlichen Informationen über die Erinnerung abrufen konnte.