Temporal Construal Effects Are Independent of Episodic Future Thought.

Human thought is prone to biases. Some biases serve as beneficial heuristics to free up limited cognitive resources or improve well-being, but their neurocognitive basis is unclear. One such bias is a tendency to construe events in the distant future in abstract, general terms and events in the near future in concrete, detailed terms. Temporal construal may rely on our capacity to orient toward and/or imagine context-rich future events. We tested 21 individuals with impaired episodic future thinking resulting from lesions to the hippocampus or ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and 57 control participants (aged 45-76 years) from Canada and Italy on measures sensitive to temporal construal. We found that temporal construal persisted in most patients, even those with impaired episodic future thinking, but was abolished in some vmPFC cases, possibly in relation to difficulties forming and maintaining future intentions. The results confirm the fractionation of future thinking and that parts of vmPFC might critically support our ability to flexibly conceive and orient ourselves toward future events.

Central executive system impairment in traumatic brain injury.

The aim of the present study was to identify cognitive functions affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to verify the mechanism underlying cognitive impairment. More precisely, cognitive deficits following TBI can be considered as a consequence of (a) a speed processing deficit, that is a general slowing of perceptual, motor and cognitive subroutines; (b) an impairment of the Central Executive System of working memory (CES).Thirty-seven patients were submitted to a neuropsychological battery, aimed to evaluate different cognitive functions. Results showed severe deficits in speed processing, divided attention,working memory, executive functions and long term memory. Regression analyses, performed to test the two hypotheses, showed that the working memory deficit hypothesis is able to explain divided attention, executive functions and long term memory deficits more than speed processing hypothesis.

A rehabilitative program for central executive deficits after traumatic brain injury.

Deficits affecting Central Executive System (CES) of working memory (WM) are the main neuropsychological outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and can also explain deficits in other domains, like divided attention, executive functions and long-term memory. For this reason we developed a rehabilitative program based on CES functions and we expected to find an improvement in WM as well as in those cognitive functions controlled by the CES. The experimental group was composed by 9 TBIs, selected for WM deficits, whereas the control group was composed by 6 TBIs, without WM deficits, but with speed processing deficits. All patients performed a cognitive training, based on PASAT (Gronwall & Wrightson, 1981)and two new versions of this task. The results showed in the experimental group an improvement in WM and in the cognitive functions controlled by the CES, whereas control patients did not show any improvement after the cognitive training.