An ego-based cognitive model for time. In this cognitive model, there is an ego (the subjective experiencer), who may either be implicit or linguistically coded by expressions such as I. The ego's location represents the experience of 'now'.

In this model, and unlike the moving ego model, the ego is static. Temporal moments and events are conceptualised as objects in motion. These objects move towards the ego from the future and then beyond the ego into the past. It is by virtue of this motion that the passage of time is understood. As with the moving ego model, the central inference to derive from this cognitive model has to do with the 'location' of temporal events as being past or future in nature with respect to the ego. This contrasts with the temporal sequence model which is concerned not with past/future but rather an earlier/ later relation.

Linguistic evidence for this cognitive model comes from examples such as the following:

1. Christmas is getting closer
2. My favourite part of the piece is coming up
3. The deadline has passed