SynthesisHuman brain mapping2015
Neural correlates of personal goal processing during episodic future thinking and mind-wandering: An ALE meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Human brain mapping, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Cortical Gradients Support Mental Time Travel into the Past and Future: Evidence from Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2026Pooled it
- A Meta-analysis of Mental Time Travel in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2023Pooled it
- Unveiling the neural underpinnings of optimism: a systematic review.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Shaky scaffolding: Age differences in cerebellar activation revealed through activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis.Human brain mapping · 2020Pooled it
- Patients with schizophrenia show aberrant patterns of basal ganglia activation: Evidence from ALE meta-analysis.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2017Pooled it
- Specifying the core network supporting episodic simulation and episodic memory by activation likelihood estimation.Neuropsychologia · 2015Pooled it
- Activation and Connectivity within the Default Mode Network Contribute Independently to Future-Oriented Thought.Scientific reports · 2016Trial
- Article
- The cortical and subcortical brain regions influence multitasking skills using immersive virtual reality simulation in experienced nurses.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Personalized Virtual Reality Future Selves Elicit Introspective Brain Activation in Early Substance Use Disorder Recovery.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Personalized Virtual Reality Future Selves Elicit Introspective Brain Activation in Early Substance Use Disorder Recovery.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Functional differentiation and interactions among inferior, medial frontal and posterior temporal cortex in semantic control.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Spontaneous activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex supporting self-control mediates the relationship between future time perspective and procrastination.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Salience network resting-state functional connectivity predicts self-controlled decision-making.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The role of frontal pole cortex and personalized feedback in sustaining future-oriented healthy dietary behaviors.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Personal Goal-Related Mental Time Travel and Its Association With Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Individuals With High Schizotypal Traits.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2025Article
- Framing as a mechanism to overcome the temptation of bad habits.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Review
- The 7 Muses of Neuro-Creative Cycle: How some patients with Parkinson's disease can unleash latent creativity.AIMS neuroscience · 2025Article
- Investigating the neural substrate variations between easy and challenging creative association tasks during product design within an fMRI scanner.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2024Article
- In the Eyes of the Future: Eye Movement during Near and Distant Future Thinking.Vision (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ability to imagine the future is a complex mental faculty that depends on an ensemble of cognitive processes supported by an extended set of brain regions. Our aim here was to shed light on one key component of future thinking--personal goal processing--and to determine its neural correlates during both directed and spontaneous forms of thoughts. To address this question, we performed separate ALE meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies of episodic future thinking (EFT), mind-wandering, and personal goal processing, and then investigated the commonalities and differences in brain activity between these three domains. The results showed that the three domains activated a common set of brain regions within the default network and, most notably, the medial prefrontal cortex. This finding suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex mediates the processing of personal goals during both EFT and mind-wandering. Differences in activation were also observed, and notably regions supporting cognitive control processes (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) were recruited to a lesser extent during mind-wandering than experimentally directed future thinking, suggesting that different kinds of self-generated thoughts may recruit varying levels of attentional control abilities.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.