Converging evidence suggests that autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking share a common neurocognitive basis. Although previous research has shown that traumatic brain injury (TBI) can impair the ability to remember the personal past, episodic future thinking has not previously been systematically examined within this population. In this study, we examined the ability to remember events in the personal past and the ability to imagine possible events in the personal future in a sample of moderate‐to‐severe TBI patients. We present data on nine patients and nine healthy controls, who were asked to report a series of events that had happened to them in the past and a series of events that might happen to them in the future. Transcriptions were scored according to a reliable system for categorizing internal (episodic) and external (semantic) information. For each event described, participants also completed two modified Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire items to assess self‐reported phenomenal qualities associated with remembering and imagining. In addition, TBI patients underwent neuropsychological assessment. Results revealed that TBI patients recalled/imagined proportionally fewer episodic event‐specific details for both past and future events compared to healthy controls (η2p = 0.78). In contrast, there were no group differences in ratings of phenomenal characteristics. These results are discussed in relation to theories suggesting that remembering and imagining the future are the expression of the same underlying neurocognitive system.

Mental time travel (MTT) is the ability to mentally project oneself backwards or forward in time in order to remember an event from one's personal past or to imagine a possible event in one´s personal future. Recent work suggests that while past and future MTT may rely on shared neurocognitive substrates, the two temporal directions may interact differently with components of this underlying system. Here, we asked 151 participants to recall or imagine past and future autobiographical events in response to high and low imageable cue words. Results showed that high and low imageable cued events differed markedly on almost all measures, suggesting that imagery acts as a facilitator when constructing both past and possible future events. In line with previous work, future events less often referred to specific events, contained fewer details and were more positive and idyllic, than past events. However, these main effects were qualified by a number of interactions. In particular, we found an increased effect of cue imageability for past as compared to future events, suggesting that the generation of past events is more sensitive to the ability of the cues to invoke the sensory components of the encoding context, whereas the construction of future events is more driven by context-independent schemata.3 This is the accepted version of the following article: ."I can see clearly now": The effect of cue imageability on mental time travel. Memory & Cognition, 42, 1063-1075 . The final publication is availableat Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0414-1 "I can see clearly now": The effect of Cue Imageability on Mental Time TravelWhen we recollect events that belong to our personal past, we often do so with considerable detail, by "seeing with our mind's eye" the setting in which the event took place and the people and objects that were present. Mental imagery is considered a crucial component of vivid remembering (Brewer, 1996; Huijbers, Pennartz, Rubin & Daselaar, 2011;Moulton & Kosslyn, 2009;Rubin, Schrauf & Greenberg, 2003), and a defining characteristic of episodic memory (Tulving, 2002;Wheeler, Stuss & Tulving, 1997). Visual imagery can be used to invoke more details about an event Robinson, 1992), and the presence of visual imagery also makes memories feel more vivid . Theories of autobiographical or episodic memory hold that recollection relies not only on the activation of previously formed memory traces of past events, but also on reconstructive processes (Bartlett, 1932;Brewer, 1996;Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000;Rubin et al., 2003). In the present article, we examine the role of imagery in the reconstruction of memories of past events and in imagining possible events in the future -an ability termed mental time travel (MTT) (Wheeler et al., 1997).Converging evidence supports the idea that past and future MTT share common neural and cognitive underpinnings (for reviews, see Berntsen & Bohn, 2010;D'Argembeau, 2012;Schacter & Addis, 2007;Szpunar, 2010). Notably, previous studies have foun...

We examined the effects of a new Immersive Reminiscence Therapy (IRT) programme on cognitive function, including autobiographical memory, in a sample Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. A total of 43 AD patients with mild to moderate disease severity were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 22, MMMSE = 20.77), or a control group (n = 21, MMMSE = 19.24). The intervention group received one weekly group-based session of IRT for five weeks in an authentic 1950s style museum environment, matching the time of the participants' youth. IRT included semi-structured conversations about the past. The control group received standard care. We assessed performance on cognitive function and autobiographical memory at baseline and post-intervention. Five weeks of IRT enhanced subsequent autobiographical memory performance, when participants were cued by concrete objects dated to their youth. Object-cued memories reported post intervention included a significantly higher degree of episodic details and higher word counts. The intervention showed no effect on the Autobiographical Memory Interview or word-cued recall. Global cognitive function and semantic autobiographical memory performance increased across time for both groups. Our findings demonstrate that immersion into a setting, rich on concrete cues dated to the participants' youth can improve autobiographical remembering.

Autobiographical memory is severely impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, previous research has focused primarily on voluntary memories-that is, memories retrieved deliberately following a request. Here we investigated the extent to which people with AD experience involuntary (spontaneous) autobiographical memories (IAMs), using a novel method to simulate involuntary retrieval in naturalistic settings. Twenty-one AD patients and 22 healthy controls viewed nostalgia films designed to elicit IAMs under two conditions: with or without prior reminiscence. AD patients expressed more IAMs and emotional reactions overall and showed higher physiological reactivity in response to the films than controls. Both groups verbalized more IAMs after having engaged in reminiscence prior to watching the film. The results provide novel evidence that AD patients frequently engage in involuntary remembering when viewing media content dated to their youth, suggesting that involuntary retrieval may act as an alternative route for accessing the personal past in AD.

Our findings suggest that damage to prefrontal structures adversely affects the retrieval of past and the construction of future events. In particular, prefrontal structures are critical for the production of episodic event-specific details when engaging in past and future mental time travel.