Department of Anthropology, Durham University , Durham, UK.
School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews , St Andrews, UK.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2024 Nov 4;379(1913):20230406. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0406. Epub 2024 Sep 16.
Mental time travel is the projection of the mind into the past or future, and relates to experiential aspects of episodic memory, and episodic future thinking. Framing episodic memory and future thinking in this way causes a challenge when studying memory in animals, where demonstration of this mental projection is prevented by the absence of language. However, there is good evidence that non-human animals pass tests of episodic memory that are based on behavioural criteria, meaning a better understanding needs to be had of the relationship between episodic memory and mental time travel. We argue that mental time travel and episodic memory are not synonymous, and that mental time travel is neither a requirement of, nor an irrelevance to, episodic memory. Mental time travel can allow improved behavioural choices based on episodic memory, and work in all species (including humans) should include careful consideration of the behavioural outputs being measured. This article is part of the theme issue 'Elements of episodic memory: lessons from 40 years of research'.
心理时间旅行是思维对过去或未来的投射，与情景记忆的体验方面以及情景未来思维有关。以这种方式构建情景记忆和未来思维，在研究动物的记忆时带来了挑战，因为语言的缺失阻止了这种心理投射的演示。然而，有充分的证据表明，非人类动物通过了基于行为标准的情景记忆测试，这意味着需要更好地理解情景记忆和心理时间旅行之间的关系。我们认为，心理时间旅行和情景记忆不是同义词，心理时间旅行既不是情景记忆的必要条件，也与情景记忆无关。心理时间旅行可以基于情景记忆做出更好的行为选择，并且所有物种（包括人类）的工作都应该仔细考虑正在测量的行为结果。本文是主题为“情景记忆的要素：40 年研究的经验教训”的一部分。
