Current evidence provides support for the idea that time is
mentally represented by spatial means, as a lateral mental time
line. However, available studies have tested only factual events,
i.e., those which have occurred in the past or will occur in the
future. In the present study we tested whether past and future
potential events are also represented along the lateral mental
timeline. In Experiment 1 participants categorized the temporal
reference (past or future) of either factual or potential events and
responded by means of a lateralized (left or right) keypress.
Factual events showed a space-time congruency effect that
replicated prior findings: participants were faster to categorize
past events with the left hand and future events with the right
hand than when using the opposite mapping. More importantly,
this also ocurred for potential events. Experiment 2 replicated
this finding using blocks comprising only potential events. In
order to assess the degree of automaticity of the activation of the
mental timeline in these two kinds of events, Experiment 3 asked
participants to judge whether the expressions referred to factual
or potential events. In this case, there was no space-time
congruency effect, showing that the lateral timeline is active
only when relevant to the task. Moreover, participants were
faster to categorize potential events with the left hand and factual
events with the right hand than when using the opposite
mapping, suggesting for the first time a link between the mental
representations of space and potentiality.