TEMPORALITY

Over the past two decades, the study of the processes of episodic memory involved in the recall of events personally lived and located in time and space has been expanded to encompass the processes involved in the future dimension, to imagine specific events which could happen to us. This capacity appears crucial in adaptative and social behaviors and wellbeing. Given the fact that objectively the perspective of future time reduces as time passes and people get older, this issue is particularly important in aging. However, the role of personal and impersonal semantic representations in future thoughts as well as the respective role of explicit and implicit processes remain dramatically misunderstood. Moreover, in a social psychology perspective, processes determining the link between self or collective projection and behaviors are unknown. Additionally, several studies suggested that there are different mechanisms involved in function of the temporal distance into the future (La Corte & Piolino, 2016). The main objective of the present proposal is to go several steps further by investigating the neurocognitive mechanisms of the individuals’ capacity to travel abroad time taking into account all components and links with personal and social identity. Our main hypothesis is that the semantic representation of future increases with the projection distance and aging that in turn impacts personal and social identity and well-being. This project will use a transdisciplinary approach between social and experimental psycholology, cognitive neurosciences and geriatric neuropsychology based on behavioral, physiological measures, advanced neuroimaging techniques as well as an ecological method using embodied immersion in virtual reality environments. This novel approach will lead us to put light on the interplay between memory, temporality, and personal and social identity. This project is also innovative because it has the potential to establish a new taxonomy of future individual and collective thinkings and to offer new recommendations to improve the anticipation and positive appropriation of their individual and collective future for the elderly, which has the potential to improve older people’s well-being. The consortium involves three French partners who will work in very close collaboration and who present all the expertise required for the project: the Center of Psychiatry and Neurosciences (CPN, UMR-S894, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité & INSERM), which is the coordinating partner and expert in neurocognition, the Laboratory of Adaptations, Works and Individuals (EA 4469) with expertise in social psychology and the Clinical Unit for Dementia at Salpêtrière Hospital (IM2A) with expertise in clinical neurology and geriatry. Two neuroimaging platforms are involved either at Sainte Anne hospital where the CPN is located or at the Salpêtrière Hospital. In addition, the project will benefit from the collaboration of a European partner (Riva’s group) expert in virtual embodiment in young and old adults and patients. The TEMPORALITY project enters in a domain of research – virtual reality and aging - that is supported by University “Sorbonne Paris Cité” (Programme d'Investissements d'Avenir, IDEX Aging Dynamic).