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Our brain is even better than we think.
Symbolic image: Ingo Wagner/dpa
Our brain has the remarkable ability to anticipate upcoming events. A German research team has now discovered which mechanisms play a role in this.
In everyday life, we often experience moments when we anticipate events before they happen. Whether driving a car, when we see a traffic light turn red and brake in time, or when we catch an object that is about to fall off a table.
This ability to predict time is a fundamental function of our nervous system. But how does the brain manage to anticipate the immediate future?
A team of neuroscientists from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, the Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience and Goethe University Frankfurt have dedicated themselves to this question. Their study, which was published in the journal "Nature Communications", is part of the research project "The Anticipation of Events in Time", as "Focus" writes.
The researchers led by Matthias Grabenhorst from the Ernst Strüngmann Institute used magnetoencephalography to identify three central brain regions that play a decisive role in the anticipation of events.
The posterior prietal lobe is responsible for temporal planning and motor preparation, while the posterior middle temporal gyrus is responsible for the temporal processing of events. The sensorimotor cortex is directly involved in the movements that follow anticipated events.
The scientists also discovered that certain brain waves can predict the timing of future events. These currents oscillate in the alpha (seven to twelve hertz) and beta (15 to 30 hertz) frequency ranges and represent the probability of events over time.
The more predictable an event is, the stronger the neural oscillations are, which enables the brain to react faster and more efficiently. The results of the study could have a fundamental impact on the understanding of decision-making, attention and athletic performance, as well as neurological disorders such as ADHD or Parkinson's disease.
"The study opens new doors for research into the fundamental role of brain rhythms in navigating through time and the future," explains Georgios Michalareas from Goethe University. These rhythms could also be used in training the brain to improve reaction speed.
The editor wrote this article with the help of AI.
