Comparative Investigations of Future-Oriented Cognitive Processes

Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc., Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

People spend a lot of time thinking about the past and the future (what is sometimes called mental time travel). Being able to remember the past, including what, how, and when things happened, can be very helpful in new situations when one is not sure how to behave. Planning for the future, and remembering to carry out those plans (called "prospective memory"), helps people prepare for things that are not immediately important but could be important hours, days, or even years from now (a simple example would be deciding what to pick up at the store on your way home from work and then remembering to do it). This ability to flexibly plan for the future has long been thought to be a uniquely human ability. In fact, it has been argued that animals are "stuck in time," and they cannot think about the past or future because their behavior is affected only by their current needs and surroundings. However, animals may show capacities for mental time travel, and such evidence would provide a better understanding of the evolutionary foundations of human memory and behavior. The NSF-funded research project conducted by Michael Beran, Emily Klein, and Theodore Evans at Georgia State University and Gilles Einstein at Furman University includes new tests of future-oriented thought and behavior in humans and three primate species (chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys, and capuchin monkeys). This project will test each species' ability to anticipate future situations and plan future actions so as to determine the relationship between the prospective memory and planning abilities of humans and other primates. Each species will perform computer tasks in which prospective memory is needed and future actions must be planned at the beginning of the task. One experiment will assess whether primates can learn to hoard food rewards that they have earned by working on a computer task, so that they can eat them later when they have fewer chances to earn rewards. Another experiment will test whether primates will use prospective memory to remember something that they need to do in the future. In some cases, primates may show that they can plan for future situations that are different from present ones, and this performance will be directly compared to human performance. This research will determine similarities and differences between primates and humans in their planning behavior and prospective memory and will help determine whether any of these abilities are unique to humans. Failures of prospective memory and failures to plan for the future can have profound consequences for humans. Understanding the causes of such failures is important and can benefit from a broad scientific approach. This project will provide a better understanding of the evolutionary emergence, as well as the limits, of planning and future-oriented thought and memory in humans and primates. These studies offer new ideas about the nature of primate memory, the origins of planned behavior, and the nature of prospective memory.