Chronestesia

 Paul Citroën holding the painted portrait of Nico Jesse
1953

The ability to remember the past and imagine the future can significantly affect a person’s decisions in life. Scientists refer to the brain’s ability to think about the past, present, and future as “chronesthesia,” or mental time travel, although little is known about which parts of the brain are responsible for these conscious experiences. In a new study, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of mental time travel and better understand the nature of the mental time in which the metaphorical “travel” occurs.

Mental time travel consists of two independent sets of processes:

1. those that determine the contents of any act of such ‘travel’: what happens, who are the ‘actors,’ where does the action occur; it is similar to the contents of watching a movie - everything that you see on the screen;

2. those that determine the subjective moment of time in which the action takes place - past, present, or future.

In cognitive neuroscience, we know quite a bit (relatively speaking) about perceived, remembered, known, and imagined space. We know essentially nothing about perceived, remembered, known, and imagined time. When you remember something that you did last night, you are consciously aware not only that the event happened and that you were ‘there,’ as an observer or participant (‘episodic memory’), but also that it happened yesterday, that is, at a time that is no more. The question we are asking is, how do you know that it happened at a time other than ‘now’?

In their study, the researchers asked several well-trained subjects to repeatedly think about taking a short walk in a familiar environment in either the imagined past, the real past, the present, or the imagined future. By keeping the content the same and changing only the mental time in which it occurs, the researchers could identify which areas of the brain are correlated with thinking about the same event at different times.

The results showed that certain regions in the left lateral parietal cortex, left frontal cortex, and cerebellum, as well as the thalamus, were activated differently when the subjects thought about the past and future compared with the present. Notably, brain activity was very similar for thinking about all of the non-present times (the imagined past, real past, and imagined future).

Because mental time is a product of the human brain and differs from the external time that is measured by clocks and calendars, scientists also call this time “subjective time.” Chronesthesia, by definition, is a form of consciousness that allows people to think about this subjective time and to mentally travel in it.

Some previous research has questioned whether the concept of subjective time is actually necessary for understanding similarities in brain activity during past and future thinking compared with thinking about the present. A few past studies have suggested that the brain’s ability for scene construction, and not subjective time, can account for the ability to think about past and future events. However, since scene construction was held constant in this study, the new results suggest that the brain’s ability to conceive of a subjective time is in fact necessary to explain how we think about the past and future.

Until now, the processes that determine contents and the processes that determine time have not been separated in functional neuroimaging studies of chronesthesia; especially, there have been no studies in which brain regions involved in time alone, rather than time together with action, have been identified. 

The concept of ‘chronesthesia’ is essentially brand new. Therefore, the most important result of the study is the novel finding that there seem to exist brain regions that are more active in the (imagined) past and the (imagined) future than they are in the (imagined) present. That is, some evidence for chronesthesia has been found.

At this stage of the game, it is too early to talk about potential implications or applications of understanding how the brain thinks about the past, present, and future.

This study is the first swallow of the spring, and others will follow. The findings are promising, but they have to be replicated, checked for validity and reliability, and, above all, extended to other conditions and situations, before the scientists can even begin thinking about their implications and practical applications.

More information on the subject: Lars Nyberg, et al. “Consciousness of subjective time in the brain.” PNAS Early Edition.

Quote of the Day

The sheer nihilistic irrationality of terrorism strains and tests our own beliefs like nothing else can. Yet the terrorist blows inflicted on New York, London, and Madrid over the past decade have not shaken Western democracies. Our societies are more resilient, open, and diverse than ever. - Radek Sikorski, Foreign Minister of Poland

9/11 - The Day the Earth Stood Still

"Heal, remember and never forget." - Liza Juliette DeCamp, a New Yorker

Ten years ago, on September 11, 2001, nineteen islamic terrorists associated with the terrorist organization al-qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Another one hit the Pentagon building in Arlington, VA. The fourth one,  presumably on its way to Washington, DC, crashed in the field near Shanksville, PA, killing all the passengers and the crew as well as the hijackers.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower, followed by United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.

Nearly three thousand people perished in this barbaric assault on the American way of life  and the Western civilization itself.

For those who witnessed the attacks and the following collapse of the Twin Towers, the earth stood still. The devastation was simply beyond comprehension. The loss of life - inconsolable.

The attacks that were born out of deep seated hatred for America and its values, changed our lives forever. Nothing will ever be the same. Ten years later, this hatred is still prevalent while countless fanatics are still plotting new attacks.

Today, on the tenth anniversary of this despicable act of savagery, commemorative ceremonies will take place at the locations of the attacks: The National 9/11 Memorial in New York City, the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, and the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, VA. 

Once again, people in the United States and around the world will reflect on the events that took place on that fateful day in September. The victims whose lives were tragically interrupted, will be remembered forever.

We will never forget!

By Dominique Allmon ©2011

On September 11, 2001, I was preparing my luggage for a short trip to New York City that was scheduled for the next day. My TV was on and I watched CNN while ironing my shirts.

I saw the shocking news item about the plane that crashed into one of the Towers only moments earlier. At this point everyone speculated what might have gone wrong up there. No one suspected a terrorist attack at this point.

Minutes later I witnessed "live" the other plane crashing into the WTC. I knew right away what that meant.

My flight was canceled, of course, and I spent the next hours completely glued to the TV set.

I will never forget the avalanche of emotions: sadness, anger, helplessness, contempt for the perpetrators, consternation, incomprehension, rage... 

The images of that day will remain etched in my consciousness forever.