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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Learn Motiv. 2012 Aug 16;43(4):181–191. doi: 10.1016/j.lmot.2012.05.006

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

Roberts and Feeney’s (2009) proposed conceptualization of mental time travel. Memories of the past and planned events for the future are shown at varying temporal distances into the past or future. Temporal remoteness determines disparateness of detail. The size of the cones and balloons represent the clarity of the memories or plans. Because remoteness plays a critical role according to this proposal, Roberts and Feeney further propose that tests for mental time travel in animals must show that animals remember when a specific event occurred in the past and that they are planning for a specific time in the future. Reproduced from Roberts, W. A., & Feeney, M. C. (2009). The comparative study of mental time travel. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 271-277. © 2009 Elsevier.