Bilateral hippocampal lesion and a selective impairment of the ability for mental time travel

Abstract

Mental time travel allows individuals to mentally project themselves backwards and forwards in subjective time. This case report describes a young woman suddenly rendered amnesic as a result of bilateral hippocampal damage following an epileptic seizure and brain anoxia. Her neuropsychological profile was characterized by a high-average general level of cognitive functioning, selective deficit in episodic memory of past events and a significant difficulty to envisage her personal future. This case provides clinical support for the concept of mental time travel with its retrospective and prospective components and for the hippocampus being its critical neural substrate.