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Science 7 September 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5843, pp. 1351 - 1354
DOI: 10.1126/science.1144161
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Review

Prospection: Experiencing the Future

Daniel T. Gilbert1* and Timothy D. Wilson2

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.

1 Department of Psychology, 33 Kirkland Street, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
2 Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gilbert{at}wjh.harvard.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Brain's Default Network: Anatomy, Function, and Relevance to Disease.
R. L. BUCKNER, J. R. ANDREWS-HANNA, and D. L. SCHACTER (2008)
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1124, 1-38
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Episodic Simulation of Future Events: Concepts, Data, and Applications.
D. L. SCHACTER, D. R. ADDIS, and R. L. BUCKNER (2008)
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1124, 39-60
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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