Summary: Why do we spend so much mental energy imagining scenarios that haven’t happened yet? According to a new theory, “mental time travel” is a self-reinforcing habit driven by the brain’s reward system.
The study suggests that when we envision a successful future solution to a problem, our brain releases dopamine, effectively “paying” us for the cognitive effort. This doesn’t just help us plan; it turns future-oriented thinking into a learned behavior through operant conditioning. However, this same system can be “hijacked” by mental disorders, turning helpful planning into chronic catastrophizing.
Key Facts
- The Self-Reinforcement Hypothesis: Predicting the future is hard work. Dere argues we only do it because the act of finding a “promising solution” in our minds triggers an immediate internal reward.
- Operant Conditioning: Just like a lab rat pressing a lever for food, our brain “presses” the mental time travel lever because it anticipates the relief or success of a good plan.
- The Dopamine Connection: The theory predicts that frequent “mental time travelers” have a more reactive mesolimbic dopamine system—the brain’s primary reward circuit.
- The Dark Side (Catastrophizing): In depression or anxiety, this system can be co-opted. Instead of constructive planning, the brain project’s negative past experiences into the future, creating a cycle of avoidance and “safety behaviors.”
- Therapeutic Potential: Dere suggests that psychotherapy should focus on “re-training” the brain to engage in constructive future-thinking while halting the “reward” loop of negative projections.
Source: RUB
In order to predict the potential consequences of actions, it helps to envision yourself in the future and imagine the coming scenario. Some people do this more often than others.
Professor Ekrem Dere of Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and Sorbonne Université in Paris has developed a theory for why. He believes that mental time travel activates the reward system in the brain, thereby reinforcing one’s behavior.
Dere describes his approach in the journal Psychological Review, published online on April 6, 2026.
“The benefit of future-oriented mental time travel is clear,” says Dere, from the Research and Treatment Center for Mental Health at Ruhr University Bochum.
“It allows us to be more successful and less stressed in our day-to-day, as the future becomes more predictable and thus easier to plan.”
However, he adds, one may ask why people invest time in this challenging cognitive task that does not provide any immediate rewards and has no guarantee of success.
Mental time travel follows a universal learning principle
In response to this, Dere formulated the self-reinforcement hypothesis of future-oriented mental time travel. He postulates that this process follows a universal learning principle known as operant conditioning, which states that behavior that is rewarded or punished will occur in the future either more or less frequently, respectively.
Dere theorizes that if future-oriented mental time travel seems like a promising solution to a social or professional problem, the reward system in the brain is activated. This makes it easier to remember the plan of action until it is realized, and it reinforces the behavior, causing it to occur more frequently in the future.
According to Dere, this theory can be tested with functional magnetic resonance imaging: People who mentally travel to the future more frequently should have a more reactive reward system, i.e., a more responsive mesolimbic dopamine system.
Mental time travel can have a disease-preserving effect
“In a pathopsychological context, the cognitive function of mental time travel can also be hijacked by disease-preserving processes,” says Dere.
This can cause one to ruminate on negative past experiences and project them into the future. Such catastrophizing projections bring forth negative emotions, foster a bad self-image, and trigger maladaptive safety and avoidance behavior. A mental disorder can then become chronic.
“For this reason, it would be important to psychotherapeutically train constructive and adaptive future-oriented mental time travel, and to recognize and halt catastrophizing future projections.”
Key Questions Answered:
A: There’s a difference between planning and worrying. When you find a solution to a problem in your head, your brain gives you a “hit” of dopamine. But when you catastrophize (imaging only bad outcomes), you aren’t finding a solution—you’re hijacking that system to reinforce fear, which leads to the chronic stress seen in anxiety disorders.
A: Yes! Dere’s theory suggests that because this follows the laws of learning, we can use psychotherapy to reinforce “constructive” time travel. By consciously focusing on adaptive solutions rather than “what-if” disasters, you can effectively re-wire your reward system to favor helpful planning.
A: Likely so. According to the theory, people with a more responsive dopamine system may find the “aha!” moment of a good plan more rewarding, leading them to mentally travel to the future more often. “Living in the moment” might simply mean your brain finds less immediate reward in the cognitive “work” of simulation.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this neuroscience research news
Author: Julia Weiler
Source: RUB
Contact: Julia Weiler – RUB
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Future-oriented Mental Time Travel and Self-reinforcement” by Dere, E. Psychological Review
DOI:10.1037/rev0000624
Abstract
Future-oriented Mental Time Travel and Self-reinforcement
Future-oriented mental time travel is a highly adaptive cognitive behavior that makes everyday life much more predictable, rewarding, and successful. It can protect people from potential harm and facilitate coping with social and professional challenges.
However, it is not yet fully understood in which respect people who act proactively or with foresight differ from those who tend not to plan ahead and obviously prefer rather spontaneous solutions.
In an attempt to explain such interindividual differences, the self-reinforcement hypothesis of future-oriented mental time travel, which is based on behaviorist learning theory, is presented.
Possible neurophysiological substrates underlying this mechanism are discussed, and experimental proof of concept approaches are proposed.
