Predictions in the Brain: Using Our Past to Generate a Future

When one is immersed in the fascinating world of neuroscience findings, the brain might start to seem like a collection of "modules," each specializes in a specific mental feat. But just like in other domains of Nature, it is possible that much of the brain and mind's operation can be explained with a small set of universal principles. Given exciting recent developments in theory, empirical findings and computational studies, it seems that the generation of predictions might be one strong candidate for such a universal principle. This is the focus of Predictions in the brain. From the predictions required when a rat navigates a maze to food-caching in scrub-jays; from predictions essential in decision-making to social interactions; from predictions in the retina to the prefrontal cortex; and from predictions in early development to foresight in non-humans. The perspectives represented in this collection span a spectrum from the cellular underpinnings to the computational principles underlying future-related mental processes, and from systems neuroscience to cognition and emotion. In spite of this diversity, they share some core elements. Memory, for instance, is critical in any framework that explains predictions. In asking "what is next?" our brains have to refer to memory and experience on the way to simulating our mental future. But as much as this collection offers answers to important questions, it raises and emphasizes outstanding ones. How are experiences coded optimally to afford using them for predictions? How do we construct a new simulation from separate memories? How specific in detail are future-oriented thoughts, and when do they rely on imagery, concepts or language? Therefore, in addition to presenting the state-of-the-art of research and ideas about predictions as a universal principle in mind and brain, it is hoped that this collection will stimulate important new research into the foundations of our mental lives.

Table of Contents:
(Preface) Predictions: A universal principle in the operation of the human brain Moshe Bar 1. Varieties of Future Experience Karl K. Szpunar , and Endel Tulving 2. The proactive brain Moshe Bar 3. Simulation, Situated Conceptualization, and Predictions Lawrence W. Barsalou 4. The Prefrontal Cortex and the Construction of Mental Models for Future Thinking Aron K. Barbey, Frank Krueger, and Jordan Grafman . 5. On the nature of medial temporal lobe contributions to the constructive simulation of future events Daniel Schacter and Donna Rose Addis 6. The construction system of the brain Demis Hassabis and Eleanor A. Maguire 7. Similarities in Episodic Future Thought and Remembering: The Importance of Contextual Setting Kathleen McDermott, Karl K. Szpunar , and Kathleen M. Arnold 8. Imagining Predictions: Mental Imagery as Mental Emulation Samuel T. Moulton and Stephen M. Kosslyn 9. See It with Feeling: Affective Predictions During Object Perceptionsp Lisa Feldman Barrett and Moshe Bar 10. The somatic marker hypothesis and its neural basis: Using past experiences to forecast the future in decision-making Antoine Bechara 11. Envisioning the Future and Self-Regulation Shelley E. Taylor 12. Prediction: A Construal Level Theory Perspective Nira Liberman, Yaacov Trope, and So Yon Rim 13. Previews, Premotions, and Predictions Daniel Gilbert and Timothy D. Wilson 14. On look-ahead in language: navigating a multitude of familiar paths Shimon Edelman 15. A look around at what's ahead: Prediction and predictability in language processing Marta Kutas, Katherine A. DeLong, and Nathaniel J. Smith 16. Cortical and Subcortical Predictive Dynamics and Learning during Perception, Cognition, Emotion, and Action Stephen Grossberg 17. Predictive coding: A free-energy formulation Karl Friston and Stefan Kiebel 18. Sequence Memory for Prediction, Inference, and Behavior Jeff Hawkins, Dileep George, and Jamie Niemasik 19. Prediction, sequences and the hippocampus John Lisman and A. David Redish 20. The neurobiology of memory based predictions Howard Eichenbaum and Norbert J. Fortin 21. Predicting not to predict too much: How the cellular machinery of memory anticipates the uncertain future Yadin Dudai 22. The Retina As Embodying Predictions About the Visual World Michael J. Berry II and Gregory Schwartz 23. Making Predictions: A Developmental Perspective Cristina Atance and Laura K. Hanson 24. Prospective Decision Making in Animals: A Potential Role for Intertemporal Choice in the study of Prospective Cognition Lucy G Cheke, James M Thom and Nicola S Clayton 25. Mental Time Travel and the Shaping of the Human Mind Thomas Suddendorf

About the Author :
Moshe Bar, Ph.D, is the Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has been using methods from cognitive psychology, psychophysics, computational neuroscience, psychiatry and human brain imaging to explore issues concerning human vision, context and predictions.

Review :
"Predictions in the Brain reviews experimental evidence for substatial overlap between memory recall and future simulation." -- Linnaea Ostroff, Center for Neural Science, New York University "The final product is stimulating, providing cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists with a comprehensive and updated review of scientific advancements towards the understanding of prediction and its relation to memory... it is a brilliantly compiled collection of essays on how the brain and our cognitive systems attempt to anticipate the future." -- Memory Studies