Journal
EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 236, Issue 9, Pages 2469-2481Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-016-4729-y
Keywords
Mind-wandering; Goals; Future thought; Hippocampus
Categories
Funding
- John Templeton Foundation
- US Office of Education [R305A110277]
- BBSRC [BB/J006963/1]
- European Research Council [SEMBIND 283530]
- Wellcome Trust [103817/Z/14/Z]
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research [MOP-57840, MOP-123520]
- CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Wellcome Trust [103817/Z/14/Z] Funding Source: Wellcome Trust
- BBSRC [BB/J006963/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/J006963/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Human cognition is not limited to the available environmental input but can consider realities that are different to the here and now. We describe the cognitive states and neural processes linked to the refinement of descriptions of personal goals. When personal goals became concrete, participants reported greater thoughts about the self and the future during mind-wandering. This pattern was not observed for descriptions of TV programmes. Connectivity analysis of participants who underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed neural traits associated with this pattern. Strong hippocampal connectivity with ventromedial pre-frontal cortex was common to better-specified descriptions of goals and TV programmes, while connectivity between hippocampus and the pre-supplementary motor area was associated with individuals whose goals were initially abstract but became more concrete over the course of the experiment. We conclude that self-generated cognition that arises during the mind-wandering state can allow goals to be refined, and this depends on neural systems anchored in the hippocampus.
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