An fMRI investigation of the relationship between future imagination and cognitive flexibility

Abstract

While future imagination is largely considered to be a cognitive process grounded in default mode network activity, studies have shown that future imagination recruits regions in both default mode and frontoparietal control networks. In addition, it has recently been shown that the ability to imagine the future is associated with cognitive flexibility, and that tasks requiring cognitive flexibility result in increased coupling of the default mode network with frontoparietal control and salience networks. In the current study, we investigated the neural correlates underlying the association between cognitive flexibility and future imagination in two ways. First, we experimentally varied the degree of cognitive flexibility required during future imagination by manipulating the disparateness of episodic details contributing to imagined events. To this end, participants generated episodic details (persons, locations, objects) within three social spheres; during fMRI scanning they were presented with sets of three episodic details all taken from the same social sphere (Congruent condition) or different social spheres (Incongruent condition) and required to imagine a future event involving the three details. We predicted that, relative to the Congruent condition, future simulation in the Incongruent condition would be associated with increased activity in regions of the default mode, frontoparietal and salience networks. Second, we hypothesized that individual differences in cognitive flexibility, as measured by performance on the Alternate Uses Task, would correspond to individual differences in the brain regions recruited during future imagination. A task partial least squares (PLS) analysis showed that the Incongruent condition resulted in an increase in activity in regions in salience networks (e.g. the insula) but, contrary to our prediction, reduced activity in many regions of the default mode network (including the hippocampus). A subsequent functional connectivity (within-subject seed PLS) analysis showed that the insula exhibited increased coupling with default mode regions during the Incongruent condition. Finally, a behavioral PLS analysis showed that individual differences in cognitive flexibility were associated with differences in activity in a number of regions from frontoparietal, salience and default-mode networks during both future imagination conditions, further highlighting that the cognitive flexibility underlying future imagination is grounded in the complex interaction of regions in these networks.

Relational processing demands and the role of spatial context in the construction of episodic simulations.

“…Interestingly, in other studies we have found that when the components comprising novel future events are disparate, construction times and perceived difficulty are higher still-and incorporated detail lower-compared to novel future events including related components (Roberts, Wiebels, et al, 2017;van Mulukom et al, 2016). Our exploratory analyses in Study 1, showing that constructive demands are modulated by plausibility, such that less plausible events are less detailed but take longer to imagine, provide further evidence for this idea.…”

Episodic future thinking: mechanisms and functions

“…Finally, cognitive evidence points toward a role for episodic future thinking in shaping an individual’s sense of self and identity (92–93), both cognitive and neuroimaging evidence indicate a connection between episodic future thinking and divergent creative thinking (94–95), and studies of spatial navigation show that episodic simulation makes an important functional contribution to planning routes and achieving navigational goals (see Box 3). …”

Functional Connectome of the Five-Factor Model of Personality

“…Interestingly, the brain regions that most contributed to these increased functional connectivity patterns included those areas that belong to the default mode network (DMN) (e.g., the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, and temporo-parietal junction). Although the precise role of each region within the DMN is still matter of debate (Leech, Kamourieh, Beckmann, & Sharp, 2011 ), there is robust evidence that the DMN as a whole is involved in several aspects of human cognition and behaviour, including episodic and semantic memory, imagination, decision-making, and theory of mind (Roberts et al, 2017 ; Schacter, 2012 ; Schacter et al, 2012 ; Schacter, Benoit, De Brigard, & Szpunar, 2015 ). It is thus reasonable to expect that enhanced functional connectivity patterns within and across the DMN is linked with FFM personality traits that predict “positive” and favourable behavioural outcomes, although caution is always warranted when making reverse inferences in interpreting neuroimaging findings (Poldrack, 2006 ).…”