The DOI matches its Crossref record; 22 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The proactive brain: memory for predictions
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.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“This article will be included because it offers a holistic perspective on memory in general and it also offers a potential link to predictive coding theory not covered as closely by the previous included articles.”
From The Ergonomics of Learning: A Proposed Update to Bloom’s Taxonomy (2025) · cites this paper as Bar, M. (2009)
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
A default mode of brain function
Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.98.2.676 · Cited by 12,190
REMEMBERING: A STUDY IN EXPERIMENTAL AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Bartlett, F. C., & Burt, C. (1933) · British Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1933.tb02913.x · Cited by 7,475
Buckner, R. L., & Carroll, D. C. (2007) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.004 · Cited by 2,691
Mayberg, H. S., Liotti, M., Brannan, S. K., McGinnis, S., Mahurin, R. K., Jerabek, P. A., Silva, J. A., Tekell, J. L., Martin, C. C., Lancaster, J. L., et al. (1999) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.156.5.675 · Cited by 2,416
People thinking about thinking peopleThe role of the temporo-parietal junction in “theory of mind”
Saxe, R., & Kanwisher, N. (2003) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00230-1 · Cited by 2,316 · cited 1×
“…Shannon 2005 ); decision-making (Fleck et al. 2006); emotional processing (Maddock 1999); self-referential processing (Kelley et al. 2002; Macrae & Moran 2004); social interactions (Iacoboni et al. 2004); and mental state attribution (i.e. theory of mind; Saxe & Kanwisher 2003; Frith & Frith 2006).”
BackgroundAddis, D. R., Wong, A. T., & Schacter, D. L. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.10.016 · Cited by 1,949
The Neural Basis of Mentalizing
Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2006) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.001 · Cited by 1,855
Bar, M. (2004) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1476 · Cited by 1,613
Self-citationFinding the self? An event-related fMRI study
Kelley, W. M., Macrae, C. N., Wyland, C. L., Caglar, S., Inati, S., & Heatherton, T. F. (2002) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/08989290260138672 · Cited by 1,606 · cited 2×
“…et al. 2004; Wagner & Shannon 2005 ); decision-making (Fleck et al. 2006); emotional processing (Maddock 1999); self-referential processing (Kelley et al. 2002; Macrae & Moran 2004); social interactions (Iacoboni et al. 2004); and mental state attribution (i.e. theory of mind; Saxe &…”
BackgroundThe neural bases of momentary lapses in attention
Weissman, D. H., Roberts, K. C., Visscher, K. M., & Woldorff, M. G. (2006) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1727 · Cited by 1,566
Research works printed but not linked: 56
- 10.1037/0096-3445.120.1.3 · DOI
- 10.1093/cercor/bhl078 · DOI
- 10.1162/jocn.2008.20156 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.02.021 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/j.tics.2007.05.005 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00167-3 · DOI
- 10.1068/p250343 · DOI
- 10.1073/pnas.0507062103 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1002/hipo.20287 · DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2008.0315 · DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.230 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1098/rstb.2003.1319 · DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2008.0319 · DOI · Paper page
- Brewer W.F., 1984, Handbook of social cognition, 119
- 10.1006/nimg.2001.0806 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1038/436471a · DOI
- 10.1038/nature04766 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1006/jesp.2000.1427 · DOI
- 10.1016/S0079-6123(00)26027-5 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.12-09-03628.1992 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1111/1467-8721.ep10770954 · DOI
- 10.1093/cercor/bhj097 · DOI
- 10.1207/s15516709cog0702_3 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1037/0003-066X.52.1.35 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.013 · DOI · Paper page
- Ingvar D.H., 1985, ‘Memory of the future’: an essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness, Hum. Neurobiol, 4, 127
- 10.1126/science.1149656 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.017 · DOI
- 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3481-07.2007 · DOI
- 10.1016/S0166-2236(98)01374-5 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1111/1467-9450.00233 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/S0361-9230(00)00437-8 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1146/annurev.ne.16.030193.001333 · DOI
- 10.1038/nn996 · DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2008.0314 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01163.x · DOI
- Noe A. Action in perception (Representation and mind). 2005 Cambridge MA:The MIT Press.
- 10.1162/08989290051137549 · DOI
- 10.1023/A:1011139631724 · DOI
- Petrides M., 1985, Deficits on conditional associative-learning tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in man, Hum. Neurobiol, 4, 137
- 10.1073/pnas.0503657102 · DOI
- 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5053-03.2004 · DOI
- Schacter D.L., 1987, Memory, amnesia, and frontal lobe dysfunction, Psychobiology, 15, 21, 10.3758/BF03327261 · DOI
- Schank R.C., 1975, Theoretical issues in natural language processing
- 10.1006/nimg.2001.1043 · DOI
- 10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.473 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1038/368633a0 · DOI
- 10.1016/S0006-3223(96)00006-6 · DOI
- 10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00391-4 · DOI
- 10.1101/lm.40701 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.01.021 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06726.x · DOI
- 10.1088/0954-898X_14_3_302 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.tics.2005.07.001 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1093/cercor/bhm105 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x · DOI · Paper page
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The brain basis of emotion: a meta-analytic review
Lindquist, K. A., Wager, T. D., Kober, H., Bliss-Moreau, E., & Barrett, L. F. (2012) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x11000446 · Cited by 2,320
“As a result, affect can be considered a source of attention in the brain (Barrett & Bar 2009; Duncan & Barrett 2007; Pessoa 2008; 2010b; Vuilleumier 2005; Vuilleumier & Driver 2007).”
InfluentialAndrews‐Hanna, J. R., Smallwood, J., & Spreng, R. N. (2014) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/nyas.12360 · Cited by 2,102
An integrated theory of language production and comprehension
Pickering, M. J., & Garrod, S. (2013) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x12001495 · Cited by 1,569
The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization
Barrett, L. F. (2016) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsw154 · Cited by 1,426
“(see Bar, 2009a,b).”
The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization
Barrett, L. F. (2017) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsx060 · Cited by 1,009
“(see Bar, 2009a,b).”
Precise minds in uncertain worlds: Predictive coding in autism.
Van de Cruys, S., Evers, K., Van der Hallen, R., Van Eylen, L., Boets, B., de-Wit, L., & Wagemans, J. (2014) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0037665 · Cited by 885
How schema and novelty augment memory formation
van Kesteren, M. T. R., Ruiter, D. J., Fernández, G., & Henson, R. N. (2012) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2012.02.001 · Cited by 860
Peters, J., & Büchel, C. (2010) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.026 · Cited by 871
Hashmi, J. A., Baliki, M. N., Huang, L., Baria, A. T., Torbey, S., Hermann, K. M., Schnitzer, T. J., & Apkarian, A. V. (2013) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awt211 · Cited by 762
The neural mechanisms of inter-temporal decision-making: understanding variability
Peters, J., & Büchel, C. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.03.002 · Cited by 693
See it with feeling: affective predictions during object perception
Barrett, L. F., & Bar, M. (2009) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0312 · Cited by 632
Self-citationAn active inference theory of allostasis and interoception in depression
Barrett, L. F., Quigley, K. S., & Hamilton, P. (2016) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0011 · Cited by 554
A taxonomy of prospection: Introducing an organizational framework for future-oriented cognition
Szpunar, K. K., Spreng, R. N., & Schacter, D. L. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1417144111 · Cited by 539
Stimulus Predictability Reduces Responses in Primary Visual Cortex
Alink, A., Schwiedrzik, C. M., Kohler, A., Singer, W., & Muckli, L. (2010) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3730-10.2010 · Cited by 435
Fear is only as deep as the mind allows
Diekhof, E. K., Geier, K., Falkai, P., & Gruber, O. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.073 · Cited by 413
Four central questions about prediction in language processing
Huettig, F. (2015) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2015.02.014 · Cited by 405
Atzil, S., Gao, W., Fradkin, I., & Barrett, L. F. (2018) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0384-6 · Cited by 415
Emotion words, emotion concepts, and emotional development in children: A constructionist hypothesis
Hoemann, K., Xu, F., & Barrett, L. F. (2019) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/dev0000686 · Cited by 354
Race, E., Keane, M. M., & Verfaellie, M. (2011) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1145-11.2011 · Cited by 328
How the hippocampus preserves order: the role of prediction and context
Davachi, L., & DuBrow, S. (2015) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2014.12.004 · Cited by 328
Distributed Representations in Memory: Insights from Functional Brain Imaging
Rissman, J., & Wagner, A. D. (2012) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100344 · Cited by 299
Stawarczyk, D., Majerus, S., Maquet, P., & D'Argembeau, A. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016997 · Cited by 305
The default mode network and recurrent depression: A neurobiological model of cognitive risk factors
Marchetti, I., Koster, E. H. W., Sonuga-Barke, E. J., & De Raedt, R. (2012) · Neuropsychology Review · doi:10.1007/s11065-012-9199-9 · Cited by 287
fMRI reveals reciprocal inhibition between social and physical cognitive domains
Jack, A. I., Dawson, A. J., Begany, K. L., Leckie, R. L., Barry, K. P., Ciccia, A. H., & Snyder, A. Z. (2013) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.10.061 · Cited by 280
Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation.
Addis, D. R. (2020) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-020-00470-0 · Cited by 225
The representation of self and person knowledge in the medial prefrontal cortex
Wagner, D. D., Haxby, J. V., & Heatherton, T. F. (2012) · WIREs Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1183 · Cited by 201
Prediction error associated with the perceptual segmentation of naturalistic events
Zacks, J. M., Kurby, C. A., Eisenberg, M. L., & Haroutunian, N. (2011) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00078 · Cited by 202
Self-reflection and the temporal focus of the wandering mind
Smallwood, J., Schooler, J. W., Turk, D. J., Cunningham, S. J., Burns, P., & Macrae, C. N. (2011) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.12.017 · Cited by 202
Synchronous brain activity across individuals underlies shared psychological perspectives
Lahnakoski, J. M., Glerean, E., Jääskeläinen, I. P., Hyönä, J., Hari, R., Sams, M., & Nummenmaa, L. (2014) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.06.022 · Cited by 180
The role of prediction in social neuroscience
Brown, E. C., & Brüne, M. (2012) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00147 · Cited by 190
Forms of prediction in the nervous system
Teufel, C., & Fletcher, P. C. (2020) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-020-0275-5 · Cited by 155
Dark control: The default mode network as a reinforcement learning agent
Dohmatob, E., Dumas, G., & Bzdok, D. (2020) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.25019 · Cited by 121
N400 ERPs for actions: building meaning in context
Amoruso, L., Gelormini, C., Aboitiz, F., Alvarez González, M., Manes, F., Cardona, J. F., & Ibanez, A. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00057 · Cited by 125
A critical role for the hippocampus in the valuation of imagined outcomes
Lebreton, M., Bertoux, M., Boutet, C., Lehericy, S., Dubois, B., Fossati, P., & Pessiglione, M. (2013) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001684 · Cited by 114
Conversation Electrified: ERP Correlates of Speech Act Recognition in Underspecified Utterances
Gisladottir, R. S., Chwilla, D. J., & Levinson, S. C. (2015) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120068 · Cited by 108
Bonner, M. F., & Epstein, R. A. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24368-2 · Cited by 96
The effects of the framing of time on delay discounting
DeHart, W. B., & Odum, A. L. (2015) · Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior · doi:10.1002/jeab.125 · Cited by 90
Episodic future thinking is related to impulsive decision making in healthy adolescents
Bromberg, U., Wiehler, A., & Peters, J. (2015) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12390 · Cited by 79
Common and distinct brain networks underlying panic and social anxiety disorders
Kim, Y.-K., & Yoon, H.-K. (2018) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.06.017 · Cited by 78
What makes the dorsomedial frontal cortex active during reading the mental states of others?
Isoda, M., & Noritake, A. (2013) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2013.00232 · Cited by 64
Manu, B. D., Ying, F., Oduro, D., & Boateng, S. A. (2021) · Social Sciences & Humanities Open · doi:10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100100 · Cited by 61
The generative grammar of the brain: a critique of internally generated representations
Dragoi, G. (2024) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-023-00763-0 · Cited by 28
A structured distributional model of sentence meaning and processing
Chersoni, E., Santus, E., Pannitto, L., Lenci, A., Blache, P., & Huang, C.-R. (2019) · Natural Language Engineering · doi:10.1017/s1351324919000214 · Cited by 19
Speakers advance-project turn completion by slowing down: A multifactorial corpus analysis
Rühlemann, C., & Gries, S. T. (2020) · Journal of Phonetics · doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2020.100976 · Cited by 17
The Ergonomics of Learning: A Proposed Update to Bloom’s Taxonomy
Curtis, A., & Johansson, A. (2025) · Intersection: A Journal at the Intersection of Assessment and Learning · doi:10.61669/001c.142595
Metadata
- Authors
- Bar, M.
- Affiliations
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at MGH, Harvard Medical SchoolCharlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2009-05-12
- Volume
- 364
- Issue
- 1521
- Pages
- 1235-1243
- ISSN
- 0962-8436
- 1471-2970
- Cited by
- 498
- References
- 22
- Language
- en
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
