In the human brain, a dedicated unit is entrusted with keeping in the back of one's mind the road not taken

Imagining the future self through thought experiments. Kentaro Miyamoto, Matthew F.S. Rushworth, Nicholas Shea. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, February 17 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.01.005

Highlights

. Performing thought experiments – thinking about what consequences might follow from a course of action that has not yet been pursued – is an important element of mental life in both human and non-human primates.

. Recent studies have found that both frontopolar cortex (FPC) and anterior lateral prefrontal cortex (alPFC) contribute to introspective evaluation of beliefs about events even when they are not directly observed.

. FPC and alPFC are essential for tracking and evaluating counterfactual choices (what one might have done) and possible future choices (what one might do), respectively.

. We propose a theoretical model in which the interplay between FPC and alPFC enables thought experiments.

Abstract: The ability of the mind to conceptualize what is not present is essential. It allows us to reason counterfactually about what might have happened had events unfolded differently or had another course of action been taken. It allows us to think about what might happen – to perform 'Gedankenexperimente' (thought experiments) – before we act. However, the cognitive and neural mechanisms mediating this ability are poorly understood. We suggest that the frontopolar cortex (FPC) keeps track of and evaluates alternative choices (what we might have done), whereas the anterior lateral prefrontal cortex (alPFC) compares simulations of possible future scenarios (what we might do) and evaluates their reward values. Together, these brain regions support the construction of suppositional scenarios.

Keywords: prospective metacognitioncounterfactual simulationsthought experimentsprimates