Human time perspective and its structural associations with voxel-based morphometry and gyrification

Time perspective refers to humans’ concept of integrating and evaluating temporal position and evaluation of memories, emotions, and experiences. We tested the hypothesis that different aspects of time perspective, as assessed with the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) are related to variation of brain structure in non-clinical subjects. Analysing data from n = 177 psychiatrically healthy subjects using voxel-based morphometry with the CAT12 software package, we identified several significant (p < 0.05 FWE, cluster-level corrected) associations. The factors past negative, reflecting a negative attitude towards past events and present fatalistic, measuring a hopeless and fatalistic attitude towards future life, were both negatively associated with grey matter volumes of the anterior insula. The ZTPI factor future was negatively associated with precuneus grey matter. There was no association of ZTPI scores with gyrification using an absolute mean curvature method, a marker of early brain development. These findings provide a link between a general psychological construct of time perspective and brain structural variations in key areas related to time keeping (anterior insula) and the default mode network (precuneus), both of which overlap with variation in behavioral aspects and psychopathology.