Abstract
We often prepare for the future by imagining or simulating events that might happen. A growing body of evidence indicates that people simulate these future experiences by retrieving and recombining elements of their episodic memories. In this chapter, we will review the role of the extensively studied default network in this process of episodic simulation, with a specific emphasis on three recent lines of research using (1) repetition suppression, i.e., decreased neural activity for a repeated stimulus; (2) transcranial magnetic stimulation, which can temporarily disrupt activity in specific brain regions; and (3) the episodic specificity induction, an experimental tool to identify and manipulate episodic contributions to subsequent tasks. We discuss how these three lines of work have enhanced our understanding of the role of the default network in episodic simulation. Finally, we integrate studies on episodic simulations with research on empathy and offer suggestions for investigating the role of episodic simulations in mentalizing.
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Notes
- 1.
Because many readers of this volume are likely interested in the temporoparietal junction and its role in theory of mind, and we discuss regions of activation within the inferior parietal cortex close to the TPJ, we provide additional anatomical details and loci of activation for such regions in our footnotes. Even with these additional details, some coordinates remain ambiguous. Due to anatomical variability between participants, the locations for these brain regions may vary across studies, so strong conclusions should be avoided in ambiguous cases (for further discussion on this topic, see the section Neural substrates of theory of mind and episodic simulation).
The Madore, Szpunar, et al. (2016) study reports a peak angular gyrus coordinate at (46, −68, 26). This location is posterior to the peak coordinate for the right TPJ, which is located at (56, −54, 20) according to a search for Theory of Mind in Neurosynth (Yarkoni, Poldrack, Nichols, Van Essen, & Wager, 2011).
- 2.
This study reports a peak angular gyrus coordinate at (46, −68, 26). This location is posterior to the peak coordinate for the right TPJ, which is located at (56, −54, 20) according to a search for Theory of Mind in Neurosynth (Yarkoni et al., 2011).
- 3.
This study reports two peak coordinates for the posterior inferior parietal cortex located at (−40, −64, 34) and (−42, −58, 26). It is unclear which label to apply to this region of activation. The peak coordinate for the left TPJ is located at (−54, −56, 22) according to a search for “Theory of Mind” in NeuroSynth (Yarkoni et al., 2011). The peak coordinate for the left angular gyrus is located at (−46, −66, 28) according to a search for “angular gyrus” in NeuroSynth (Yarkoni et al., 2011).
- 4.
The TMS target in this study was the left angular gyrus, located at (−48, −64, 30). This location is posterior to the peak coordinate for the left TPJ, located at (−54, −56, 22) according to a search for Theory of Mind in Neurosynth (Yarkoni et al., 2011).
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Preparation of this chapter was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH060941) and National Institute on Aging (R01 AG008441) to DLS.
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van Genugten, R.D.I., Schacter, D.L. (2021). Constructive Episodic Simulation: Cognitive and Neural Processes. In: Gilead, M., Ochsner, K.N. (eds) The Neural Basis of Mentalizing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51890-5_22
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