The part of the brain we use to predict the immediate future has been identified.
, a cognitive neuroscientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, carried out fMRI brain scans on volunteers watching film clips of everyday scenes, such as a person washing dishes. The participants showed increased activity in the midbrain dopamine system (MDS) just before and after a scene changed, indicating this brain area is involved in both anticipating and responding to events.
Dopamine-producing cells in part of the MDS are impaired in Parkinson’s disease, suggesting the disease impairs people’s ability to recognise transitions in everyday situations. The study could one day lead to an early diagnostic tool for Parkinson’s and other cognitive diseases, says Zacks.
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