Prospection: experiencing the future.
All animals can predict the hedonic consequences of events they've experienced before. But humans can predict the hedonic consequences of events they've never experienced by simulating those events in their minds. Scientists are beginning to understand how the brain simulates future events, how it uses those simulations to predict an event's hedonic consequences, and why these predictions so often go awry.
Gilbert
Daniel T
DT
Department of Psychology, 33 Kirkland Street, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. gilbert@wjh.harvard.edu
Wilson
Timothy D
TD
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D033182:Intention; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology