The Proactive Brain: Memory for Predictions

Overview

Journal Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci

Specialty Biology

Date 2009 Jun 17

PMID 19528004

Citations 202

Authors

Moshe Bar

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

It is proposed that the human brain is proactive in that it continuously generates predictions that anticipate the relevant future. In this proposal, analogies are derived from elementary information that is extracted rapidly from the input, to link that input with the representations that exist in memory. Finding an analogical link results in the generation of focused predictions via associative activation of representations that are relevant to this analogy, in the given context. Predictions in complex circumstances, such as social interactions, combine multiple analogies. Such predictions need not be created afresh in new situations, but rather rely on existing scripts in memory, which are the result of real as well as of previously imagined experiences. This cognitive neuroscience framework provides a new hypothesis with which to consider the purpose of memory, and can help explain a variety of phenomena, ranging from recognition to first impressions, and from the brain's 'default mode' to a host of mental disorders.

Citing Articles

Altered Oscillatory Neural Dynamics Related to Word Prediction in Older Adult Readers.

Hubbard R, Federmeier K Lang Cogn Neurosci. 2025; 39(7):891-908.

PMID: 39845721 PMC: 11753799. DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2024.2375248.

Distinct mechanisms and functions of episodic memory.

Cheng S Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2024; 379(1913):20230411.

PMID: 39278239 PMC: 11482257. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0411.

Operatic voices engage the default mode network in professional opera singers.

Bihari A, Narai A, Kleber B, Zsuga J, Hermann P, Vidnyanszky Z Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):21313.

PMID: 39266561 PMC: 11393415. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-71458-4.

Visual contrast sensitivity is associated with community structure integrity in cognitively unimpaired older adults: the Brain Networks and Mobility (B-NET) Study.

Tanase A, Chen H, Miller M, Hugenschmidt C, Williamson J, Kritchevsky S Aging Brain. 2024; 6:100122.

PMID: 39148934 PMC: 11325069. DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2024.100122.

Effects of expectation on face perception and its association with expertise.

Mares I, Smith F, Goddard E, Keighery L, Pappasava M, Ewing L Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):9402.

PMID: 38658575 PMC: 11043383. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59284-0.

References

Moulton S, Kosslyn S . Imagining predictions: mental imagery as mental emulation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009; 364(1521):1273-80. PMC: 2666712. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0314. View

Iacoboni M, Lieberman M, Knowlton B, Molnar-Szakacs I, Moritz M, Throop C . Watching social interactions produces dorsomedial prefrontal and medial parietal BOLD fMRI signal increases compared to a resting baseline. Neuroimage. 2004; 21(3):1167-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.013. View

INGVAR D . "Memory of the future": an essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness. Hum Neurobiol. 1985; 4(3):127-36. View

Brooks L, Norman G, Allen S . Role of specific similarity in a medical diagnostic task. J Exp Psychol Gen. 1991; 120(3):278-87. DOI: 10.1037//0096-3445.120.3.278. View

Suzuki W, Eichenbaum H . The neurophysiology of memory. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2000; 911:175-91. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06726.x. View

Wagner A, Shannon B, Kahn I, Buckner R . Parietal lobe contributions to episodic memory retrieval. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005; 9(9):445-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.07.001. View

Cohen J, Aston-Jones G . Cognitive neuroscience: decision amid uncertainty. Nature. 2005; 436(7050):471-2. DOI: 10.1038/436471a. View

Jenkins R, Burton A . 100% accuracy in automatic face recognition. Science. 2008; 319(5862):435. DOI: 10.1126/science.1149656. View

Buckner R, Carroll D . Self-projection and the brain. Trends Cogn Sci. 2006; 11(2):49-57. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.004. View

10.

Barbey A, Krueger F, Grafman J . Structured event complexes in the medial prefrontal cortex support counterfactual representations for future planning. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009; 364(1521):1291-300. PMC: 2666713. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0315. View

11.

Maguire E . The retrosplenial contribution to human navigation: a review of lesion and neuroimaging findings. Scand J Psychol. 2001; 42(3):225-38. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9450.00233. View

12.

Bar M . The proactive brain: using analogies and associations to generate predictions. Trends Cogn Sci. 2007; 11(7):280-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2007.05.005. View

13.

Bargh J, Chen M, Burrows L . Automaticity of social behavior: direct effects of trait construct and stereotype-activation on action. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1996; 71(2):230-44. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.71.2.230. View

14.

Wang K, Jiang T, Yu C, Tian L, Li J, Liu Y . Spontaneous activity associated with primary visual cortex: a resting-state FMRI study. Cereb Cortex. 2007; 18(3):697-704. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhm105. View

15.

Petrides M . Deficits on conditional associative-learning tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in man. Neuropsychologia. 1985; 23(5):601-14. DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(85)90062-4. View

16.

Pasupathy A, Miller E . Different time courses of learning-related activity in the prefrontal cortex and striatum. Nature. 2005; 433(7028):873-6. DOI: 10.1038/nature03287. View

17.

Schultz W, Dickinson A . Neuronal coding of prediction errors. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2000; 23:473-500. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.473. View

18.

Weissman D, Roberts K, Visscher K, Woldorff M . The neural bases of momentary lapses in attention. Nat Neurosci. 2006; 9(7):971-8. DOI: 10.1038/nn1727. View

19.

Daw N, ODoherty J, Dayan P, Seymour B, Dolan R . Cortical substrates for exploratory decisions in humans. Nature. 2006; 441(7095):876-9. PMC: 2635947. DOI: 10.1038/nature04766. View

20.

Bar M, Ullman S . Spatial context in recognition. Perception. 1996; 25(3):343-52. DOI: 10.1068/p250343. View