Prospective brain or the power to predict the future

The prospective brain allows us to imagine the future and plan actions that can make that imagination possible. It also facilitates the creation of expectations and predictions. This, which may seem like magic to us, is actually a sophisticated process that both people and animals put into practice.

For example, we are driving on a highway and suddenly it starts to rain heavily. The brain predicts that, as has happened other times, it is most likely that that path that we always use as a detour to get home sooner will end up being closed. Therefore, we opted for another strategy: taking an alternative (longer) known route.

We have another example of prospective thinking in our dogs. It is enough for them to see us with the leash in our hands for them to get in position to go out into the street. What’s more, animals like crows or certain primates keep objects that they know they can use in the future as tools to obtain food.

We all have the ability to predict certain future events. Anticipating and imagining certain situations allows us to plan to better adapt to our complex environments.

The prospective brain, a perfect machine

In 2007, Dr. Daniel L. Schacter of Harvard University explained something very revealing in research. Each one of us We have a neural network in our brain that allows us to remember the past and, in turn, imagine the future. This network would also be connected with multiple brain regions, such as the medial temporal lobe, the medial prefrontal cortex, the lateral temporal cortex and the posterior regions of the medial and lateral parietal cortex.

This interesting process was discovered after performing a positron emission tomography (PET) scan on a large sample of volunteers. It could be seen that when they were asked to talk about the past or the future, exactly the same areas were activated. And the fact that this happens is no coincidence, because to “predict” the future we need to remember yesterday..

Prospective memory: preparing for tomorrow by remembering yesterday

To understand the usefulness and uniqueness of the prospective brain, it is first advisable to differentiate retrospective memory from prospective memory. To begin with, the first involves remembering events, experiences or people from our past. However, Prospective memory allows us to recall plans that we must make in the future, but that we have planned in the past.

Tasks such as sending that report by email or knowing how to act when there is a small fire at home are actions that we have planned in the past in order to be able to act in the future. This is a decisive strategy for our survival and a crucial cognitive function of our brain..

The prospective brain: an “anticipation machine”

Daniel Clement Dennett is a well-known American philosopher specialized in cognitive sciences and author of books such as Consciousness explained (1991). In his work he explains that we are equipped with a perfect anticipation machine. Because if the human brain has a goal, it is to “produce the future.” Now, what does the latter mean?

Let’s think about something very simple: if there is a mental process that we carry out every day, it is creating expectations. Imagining, speculating and even wandering… A part of our internal gaze is always located in the future. And not, Thinking about tomorrow is not something negative or pathological, but natural.

People need to speculate about the future to avoid dangers and take advantage of opportunities.. As a curiosity, one of the first figures who became interested in the power of expectations and the way the mind focuses on tomorrow was Charles Dickens.

There was a time when Dickens constantly focused his attention on dimensions such as illusion, imagination, prophetic desires, future predictions and his disappointments… From all that inspiring substrate, works such as Dombey and Son (1846-1848) and Great Expectations (1860-1861).

Predict to survive and shape a happier “future self”

We spend our lives making predictions, some come true and many others don’t. For example, we predict that our child will be happy if we buy ice cream for dessert. We know how our partner will react when we raise the need to go to therapy. And we even have certain simple strategies at hand to support our best friend when he is in a bad mood.

We use our prospective brain to better relate to others, to deal with possible future difficulties and also to create a more positive image of ourselves. And how do we achieve the latter?

We all have a vision of our “future self” that we would like to achieve and that purpose encourages us to make changes in the present.. Projecting ourselves into tomorrow in a positive way is a boost for the here and now. Because, at the end of the day, happiness is not only in “being”, it is also found in “becoming”. Dreaming, imagining and predicting the future is also another key to well-being.

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