Reducing future fears by suppressing the brain mechanisms underlying episodic simulation
Open accessAbstract
Significance: Humans possess the remarkable ability to recombine details of divergent memories into imaginings of future events. Such imaginings are useful, for example, because they foster planning and motivate farsighted decisions. Importantly, recurrently imagining feared situations can also undermine our well-being and may even contribute to the development of anxiety. Here, we demonstrate that fearful imaginings about the future can be inhibited by neural mechanisms that help to suppress the past. Importantly, suppression reduces later apprehensiveness about the feared events, a benefit that was diminished in individuals with greater trait anxiety. This pattern suggests that the observed inhibition mechanism serves to control people’s future fears and its disruption may foster psychological disorders characterized by intrusive prospective thoughts.
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Suppressing simulations of feared future events caused forgetting of details typically associated with the dreaded events, hindered the ability to subsequently imagine the events, and reduced apprehensiveness.
“such suppression caused forgetting of details typically associated with the dreaded events, hindered the ability to subsequently imagine the events and, critically, also reduced apprehensiveness.”
From Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions (2017) · cites this paper as [86]
People particularly efficient at down-regulating their fears of the future by suppression were less trait-anxious, suggesting that suppression constitutes a natural coping mechanism.
“People that were particularly efficient at down-regulating their fears of the future by suppression were also less trait-anxious, suggesting that suppression constitutes a natural coping mechanism.”
From Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions (2017) · cites this paper as [86]
Other studies argue that suppressing the mental simulation of feared future events can help prevent the onset of anxiety.
“In contrast, other studies argue that suppressing the mental simulation of feared future events can help prevent the onset of anxiety [139].”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [139]
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References 89 · Cited by 96
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Borkovec TD, Lyonfields JD, Wiser SL, Diehl L (1993) An examination of image and thought processes in generalized anxiety. Behav Res Ther 31(3):321-324.
- Authors
- Benoit, R. G., Davies, D. J., & Anderson, M. C.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Benoit, Roland G.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2016-12-13
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 52
- Pages
- E8492-E8501
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC5206570
- OpenAlex
- W2563050634
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 89
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6
- FWCI
- 8.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council (MC-A060-5PR00)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- episodic simulation, fear, anxiety, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, memory suppression, trait anxiety, coping strategies
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Bayes Theorem, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Fear, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Imagination, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Thinking, Prefrontal Cortex, Young Adult
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