Certain and uncertain futures in the brain

Abstract

A variety of brain imaging and single-cell results on anticipation in neural systems is reviewed. The broad categories of neural processes under consideration include (1) anticipation of intended movements, both what movements to perform and when to perform them; (2) anticipation of rewards and punishments; (3) certainty or uncertainty of anticipated outcomes. These literatures are mostly separate from each other and so a general network theory of anticipation and prediction in the brain has not yet emerged. Yet there are now many sophisticated neural network models available that unify perceptual, behavioral, and valuation data, and in the next generation these models can integrate the neural data on anticipation.