Open AccessNeural correlates of personal goal processing during episodic future thinking and mind‐wandering: An ALE meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Stawarczyk David,
D'Argembeau Arnaud
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.22818
Subject(s) - psychology , mind wandering , prefrontal cortex , neural correlates of consciousness , cognitive psychology , cognition , set (abstract data type) , brain activity and meditation , consumer neuroscience , dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , neuroimaging , chronesthesia , neuroscience , default mode network , functional neuroimaging , episodic memory , electroencephalography , computer science , programming language
The ability to imagine the future is a complex mental faculty that depends on an ensemble of cognitive processes supported by an extended set of brain regions. Our aim here was to shed light on one key component of future thinking—personal goal processing—and to determine its neural correlates during both directed and spontaneous forms of thoughts. To address this question, we performed separate ALE meta‐analyses of neuroimaging studies of episodic future thinking (EFT), mind‐wandering, and personal goal processing, and then investigated the commonalities and differences in brain activity between these three domains. The results showed that the three domains activated a common set of brain regions within the default network and, most notably, the medial prefrontal cortex. This finding suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex mediates the processing of personal goals during both EFT and mind‐wandering. Differences in activation were also observed, and notably regions supporting cognitive control processes (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) were recruited to a lesser extent during mind‐wandering than experimentally directed future thinking, suggesting that different kinds of self‐generated thoughts may recruit varying levels of attentional control abilities. Hum Brain Mapp 36:2928–2947, 2015 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .