Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T10:09:14.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thinking about thinking about time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

Jonathan Redshaw Open the ORCID record for Jonathan Redshaw [Opens in a new window] ,
Adam Bulley  and
Thomas Suddendorf
Jonathan Redshaw
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, QLD, [email protected]@psy.uq.edu.auhttps://psychology.uq.edu.au/profile/3271/jonathan-redshaw https://psychology.uq.edu.au/profile/2356/thomas-suddendorf
Adam Bulley
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, [email protected]://www.adambulley.org/ The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, NSW2050, Australia.
Thomas Suddendorf
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, QLD, [email protected]@psy.uq.edu.auhttps://psychology.uq.edu.au/profile/3271/jonathan-redshaw https://psychology.uq.edu.au/profile/2356/thomas-suddendorf
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hoerl & McCormack (H&M) discuss the possible function of meta-representations in temporal cognition but ultimately take an agnostic stance. Here we outline the fundamental role that we believe meta-representations play. Because humans know that their representations of future events are just representations, they are in a position to compensate for the shortcomings of their own foresight and to prepare for multiple contingencies.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e273
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1.

There was a misspelling in Adam Bulley's second affiliation in the original online version of this commentary. This has been corrected here and an erratum has been published.

References

Alloway, T. P., Gathercole, S. E. & Pickering, S. J. (2006) Verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory in children: Are they separable? Child Development 77(6):1698–1716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, S. R., Robinson, E. J., Carroll, D. J. & Apperly, I. A. (2006) Children's thinking about counterfactuals and future hypotheticals as possibilities. Child Development 77(2):413–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bulley, A., Redshaw, J. & Suddendorf, T. (in press). The future-directed functions of the imagination: From prediction to metaforesight. In: The Cambridge handbook of the imagination, ed. Abraham, A.. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carruthers, P. (2014) Two concepts of metacognition. Journal of Comparative Psychology 128(2):138–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hampton, R. (2018) Parallel overinterpretation of behavior of apes and corvids. Learning & Behavior 47(2):105–106. doi:10.3758/s13420-018-0330-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoerl, C. & McCormack, T. (2016) Making decisions about the future: Regret and the cognitive function of episodic memory. In: Seeing the future: Theoretical perspectives on future-oriented mental time travel, ed. Michaelian, K., Klein, S., & Szpunar, K., pp. 241–66. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190241537.001.0001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kabadayi, C. & Osvath, M. (2017) Ravens parallel great apes in flexible planning for tool-use and bartering. Science 357(6347):202–204. doi:10.1126/science.aam8138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, M. L. & Osvath, M. (2018) Comparing chimpanzees' preparatory responses to known and unknown future outcomes. Biology Letters 14(9):20180499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lind, J. (2018) What can associative learning do for planning? Royal Society Open Science 5(11):180778.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCormack, T. & Feeney, A. (2015) The development of the experience and anticipation of regret. Cognition and Emotion 29(2):266–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mulcahy, N. J. & Call, J. (2006) Apes save tools for future use. Science 312(5776):1038–40. doi:10.1126/science.1125456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Connor, E., McCormack, T. & Feeney, A. (2012) The development of regret. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 111(1):120–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perner, J. (1991) Understanding the representational mind. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1978) When is attribution of beliefs justified? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1(4):592–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redshaw, J. (2014) Does metarepresentation make human mental time travel unique? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science 5(5):519–31. doi:10.1002/wcs.1308.Google ScholarPubMed
Redshaw, J. & Suddendorf, T. (2016) Children's and apes’ preparatory responses to two mutually exclusive possibilities. Current Biology 26(13):1758–62. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.062.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Redshaw, J., Suddendorf, T., Neldner, K., Wilks, M., Tomaselli, K., Mushin, I. & Nielsen, M. (2019) Young children from three diverse cultures spontaneously and consistently prepare for alternative future possibilities. Child Development. doi:10.1111/cdev.13084.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Redshaw, J., Taylor, A. H. & Suddendorf, T. (2017) Flexible planning in ravens? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 21(11):821–22. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2017.09.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suddendorf, T. (1999) The rise of the metamind. In: The descent of mind: Psychological perspectives on hominid evolution, ed. Corballis, M. C. & Lea, S. E. G., pp. 218–60. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Suddendorf, T. (2013) The gap: The science of what separates us form other animals. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Suddendorf, T., Bulley, A. & Miloyan, B. (2018) Prospection and natural selection. Current Opinion in Behavioral Science 24:26–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suddendorf, T. & Corballis, M. C. (1997) Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs 123(2):133–67.Google ScholarPubMed
Suddendorf, T. & Corballis, M. C. (2007b). Mental time travel across the disciplines: The future looks bright. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 30:335–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suddendorf, T. & Corballis, M. C. (2008) New evidence for animal foresight? Animal Behaviour 75:e1–e3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suddendorf, T., Crimston, J. & Redshaw, J. (2017) Preparatory responses to socially determined, mutually exclusive possibilities in chimpanzees and children. Biology Letters 13(6):20170170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suddendorf, T. & Redshaw, J. (in press). Anticipation of future events. In: Encyclopedia of animal cognition and behavior, ed. Vonk, J. & Shackleford, T. K.. Springer.Google Scholar
Wells, A. (2005) The metacognitive model of GAD: Assessment of meta-worry and relationship with DSM-IV generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research 29(1):107–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar