Quote by: Michio Kaku

Recent brain scans have shed light on how the brain simulates the future. These simulation are done mainly in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the CEO of the brain, using memories of the past. On one hand, simulations of the future may produce outcomes that are desirable and pleasurable, in which case the pleasure centers of the brain light up (in the nucleus accumbens and the hypothalamus). On the other hand, these outcomes may also have a downside to them, so the orbitofrontal cortex kicks in to warn us of possible dancers. There is a struggle, then, between different parts of the brain concerning the future, which may have desirable and undesirable outcomes. Ultimately it is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that mediates between these and makes the final decisions. (Some neurologists have pointed out that this struggle resembles, in a crude way, the dynamics between Freud's .)


Share this:  

Author Bio


  • NameMichio Kaku
  • DescriptionAmerican theoretical physicist, futurist and author
  • BornJanuary 24, 1947
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionTheoretical Physicist; Science Writer; Popularizer Of Science; Futurist