Editing Time (section)

=== Spatial conceptualization ===
Although time is regarded as an abstract concept, there is increasing evidence that time is [[Conceptual metaphor|conceptualized]] in the mind in terms of space.<ref name="Núñez-2012">{{Cite journal |last1=Núñez |first1=Rafael |last2=Cooperrider |first2=Kensy |last3=Doan |first3=D |last4=Wassmann |first4=Jürg |date=1 July 2012 |title=Contours of time: Topographic construals of past, present, and future in the Yupno valley of Papua New Guinea  |journal=Cognition |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=25–35 |doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.007|pmid=22542697 |s2cid=17215084 }}</ref> That is, instead of thinking about time in a general, abstract way, humans think about time in a spatial way and mentally organize it as such. Using space to think about time allows humans to mentally organize temporal events in a specific way. This spatial representation of time is often represented in the mind as a [[mental timeline]] (MTL).<ref name="Bottini-2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Bottini |first1=Roberto |last2=Crepaldi |first2=Davide |last3=Casasanto |first3=Daniel |last4=Crollen |first4=Virgine |last5=Collignon |first5=Olivier |date=1 August 2015 |title=Space and time in the sighted and blind   |journal=Cognition |volume=141 |pages=67–72 |doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2015.04.004|pmid=25935747 |hdl=2078.1/199842 |s2cid=14646964 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> These origins are shaped by many environmental factors.<ref name="Núñez-2012" /> [[Literacy]] appears to play a large role in the different types of MTLs, as reading/[[Writing system|writing direction]] provides an everyday temporal orientation that differs from culture to culture.<ref name="Bottini-2015" /> In Western cultures, the MTL may unfold rightward (with the past on the left and the future on the right) since people mostly read and write from left to right.<ref name="Bottini-2015" /> Western calendars also continue this trend by placing the past on the left with the future progressing toward the right. Conversely, speakers of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and Hebrew read from right to left, and their MTLs unfold leftward (past on the right with future on the left); evidence suggests these speakers organize time events in their minds like this as well.<ref name="Bottini-2015" />

There is also evidence that some cultures use an allocentric spatialization, often based on environmental features.<ref name="Núñez-2012" /> A study of the indigenous Yupno people of [[Papua New Guinea]] found that they may use an allocentric MTL, in which time flows uphill; when speaking of the past, individuals gestured downhill, where the river of the valley flowed into the ocean. When speaking of the future, they gestured uphill, toward the source of the river. This was common regardless of which direction the person faced.<ref name="Núñez-2012" /> A similar study of the Pormpuraawans, an [[Aboriginal groupings of Western Australia|aboriginal group]] in Australia, reported that when they were asked to organize photos of a man aging "in order," individuals consistently placed the youngest photos to the east and the oldest photos to the west, regardless of which direction they faced.<ref name="Boroditsky-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Boroditsky |first1=Lera |author-link=Lera Boroditsky |last2=Gaby |first2=Alice |year=2010 |title=Remembrances of Times East |journal=Psychological Science |volume=21 |issue=11 |pages=1635–1639 |doi=10.1177/0956797610386621 |pmid=20959511 |s2cid=22097776}}</ref> This directly clashed with an American group that consistently organized the photos from left to right. Therefore, this group also appears to have an allocentric MTL, but based on the cardinal directions instead of geographical features.<ref name="Boroditsky-2010" /> The wide array of distinctions in the way different groups think about time leads to the broader question that different groups may also think about other abstract concepts in different ways as well, such as causality and number.<ref name="Núñez-2012" />