How the brain predicts events across different time scales
Hierarchies of spatiotemporal anticipation in the human brain
Using brain scans, patient tests, natural videos, and computer models, researchers are learning how people’s visual systems predict things from moments ahead to longer goals.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California Berkeley NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Berkeley, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11374979 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You might watch natural scenes or do simple planning tasks while researchers record brain activity with fMRI and compare performance in people with and without memory or brain differences. The team will pair those measurements with computer models and advanced analyses to see how anticipatory signals form, what they represent, and how they change. They will study predictions that operate over seconds, minutes, and longer, and link those signals to real-world behaviors like navigation and planning. The work combines healthy volunteer experiments, neuropsychological studies, naturalistic stimuli, and computational modeling to build a detailed picture of hierarchical anticipation in the visual system.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults who can safely undergo MRI and complete computer- or video-based tasks, and the study may include people with memory or other brain-related conditions.
Not a fit: People seeking immediate clinical treatment or direct therapeutic benefit should not expect to receive a medical benefit from participating.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could improve understanding of planning and attention in the brain and guide better diagnosis or treatments for memory, navigation, or attention disorders.
How similar studies have performed: Related brain-imaging and computational studies have previously found anticipatory brain signals, but this project’s combination of naturalistic stimuli, neuropsychology, and multiscale modeling is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Berkeley, United States
- University of California Berkeley — Berkeley, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Aly, Mariam — University of California Berkeley
- Study coordinator: Aly, Mariam
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.