Ingvar D H
Hum Neurobiol. 1985;4(3):127-36.
The classical tripartite concept of time divided into past/present/future components, has been applied to the analysis of the functional cerebral substrate of conscious awareness. Attempts have been made to localize and to separate the neuronal machineries which are responsible for the experience of a past, a present, and a future. One's experience of a past is obviously related to one's memories. Memory mechanisms (in the conventional sense) have a well known functional relation to superficial and deep parts of the temporal lobe. Some such mechanisms presumably have a more widespread distribution. The experience of a present or a "Now-situation" is mediated by the sensory input. This input also exerts a role for conscious awareness of an inner Now-situation, independent of current afferent impulses, as shown by numerous observations on sensory deprivation. The main discussion is devoted to the experience of a future. Evidence is summarized that the frontal/prefrontal cortex handles the temporal organization of behaviour and cognition, and that the same structures house the action programs or plans for future behaviour and cognition. As these programs can be retained and recalled, they might be termed "memories of the future". It is suggested that they form the basis for anticipation and expectation as well as for the short and long-term planning of a goal-directed behavioural and cognitive repertoire. This repertoire for future use is based upon experiences of past events and the awareness of a Now-situation, and it is continuously rehearsed and optimized. Lesions or dysfunctions of the frontal/prefrontal cortex give rise to states characterized by a "loss of future", with consequent indifference, inactivity, lack of ambition, and inability to foresee the consequences of one's future behaviour. It is concluded that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for the temporal organization of behaviour and cognition due to its seemingly specific capacity to handle serial information and to extract causal relations from such information. Possibly the serial action programs which are stored in the prefrontal cortex are also used by the brain as templates for extracting meaningful (serial) information from the enormous, mainly non-serial, random, sensory noise to which the brain is constantly exposed. Without a "memory of the future" such an extraction cannot take place.
将时间划分为过去/现在/未来三个组成部分的经典三分概念，已被应用于对意识觉知的功能性脑基质的分析。人们试图定位并分离出负责过去、现在和未来体验的神经机制。一个人对过去的体验显然与记忆有关。记忆机制（传统意义上的）与颞叶的浅层和深层有着众所周知的功能关系。一些这样的机制可能分布更为广泛。当下或“现在情境”的体验是由感觉输入介导的。如对感觉剥夺的大量观察所示，这种输入对于独立于当前传入冲动的内在现在情境的意识觉知也发挥着作用。主要讨论集中在对未来的体验上。有证据表明，额叶/前额叶皮层处理行为和认知的时间组织，并且相同的结构包含未来行为和认知的行动程序或计划。由于这些程序可以被保留和回忆，它们可能被称为“未来的记忆”。有人认为，它们构成了预期和期望以及目标导向行为和认知技能的短期和长期规划的基础。这种用于未来的技能基于过去事件的经验和对现在情境的觉知，并且它会不断地被演练和优化。额叶/前额叶皮层的损伤或功能障碍会导致以“未来缺失”为特征的状态，随之而来的是冷漠、不活动、缺乏抱负以及无法预见自己未来行为的后果。得出的结论是，前额叶皮层负责行为和认知的时间组织，因为它似乎具有处理序列信息并从此类信息中提取因果关系的特定能力。可能存储在前额叶皮层中的序列行动程序也被大脑用作模板，以便从大脑不断暴露于其中的大量、主要是非序列的、随机的感觉噪声中提取有意义的（序列）信息。没有“未来的记忆”，这样的提取就无法发生。
