?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Mental+time+travel+and+the+evolution+of+the+human+mind&rft.creator=Suddendorf%2C+Thomas&rft.creator=Corballis%2C+Michael+C.&rft.subject=Comparative+Psychology&rft.subject=Developmental+Psychology&rft.subject=Evolutionary+Psychology&rft.description=This+article+contains+the+argument+that+the+human+ability+to+travel+mentally+in+time+constitutes+a+discontinuity+between+ourselves+and+other+animals.+Mental+time+travel+comprises+the+mental+reconstruction+of+personal+events+from+the+past+(episodic+memory)+and+the+mental+construction+of+possible+events+in+the+future.+It+is+not+an+isolated+module%2C+but+depends+on+the+sophistication+of+other+cognitive+capacities%2C+including+self-awareness%2C+meta-representation%2C+mental+attribution%2C+understanding+the+perception-+knowledge+relationship%2C+and+dissociation+of+imagined+mental+states+from+one's+present+mental+state.+These+capacities+are+also+important+aspects+of+so-called+%22theory+of+mind%22%2C+and+they+appear+to+mature+in+children+at+around+age+four.+Furthermore%2C+mental+time+travel+is+generative%2C+involving+the+combination+and+recombination+of+familiar+elements%2C+and+in+this+respect+may+have+been+a+precursor+to+language.+Current+evidence%2C+although+indirect+or+based+on+anecdote+rather+than+on+systematic+study%2C+suggests+that+nonhuman+animals%2C+including+the+great+apes%2C+are+confined+to+a+%22present%22+that+is+limited+by+their+current+drive+states.+In+contrast%2C+mental+time+travel+by+humans+is+relatively+unconstrained%2C+and+allows+a+more+rapid+and+flexible+adaptation+to+complex%2C+changing+environments+than+is+afforded+by+instincts+or+conventional+learning.+Past+and+future+events+loom+large+in+much+of+human+thinking%2C+giving+rise+to+cultural%2C+religious%2C+and+scientific+concepts+about+origins%2C+destiny%2C+and+time+itself.&rft.date=1997-05&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fplain&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F725%2F1%2FMentalTimeTravel.txt&rft.identifier=++Suddendorf%2C+Thomas+and+Corballis%2C+Michael+C.++(1997)+Mental+time+travel+and+the+evolution+of+the+human+mind.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F725%2F