Animals may not be stuck in time

Humans have the ability to mentally travel forward and back in time. They can retrieve vivid memories of past events (episodic memories) and can imagine the future (planning). Although it has been suggested that this is a uniquely human ability, the evidence for subjective time travel in humans is typically based on verbal report and elaboration. Such evidence cannot be obtained from animals. However, we may have indirect evidence for episodic memory and planning. For example, we can show that animals can 'report' about their recent past experience when they are unexpectedly asked to do so performance that is analogous to episodic memory. We can also show that animals use the anticipation of a future event as the basis for a present action-analogous to planning. Thus, we have suggestive evidence that animals may not be stuck in time. 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.