Thinking about possibilities: mechanisms, ontogeny, functions and phylogeny

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Humans possess a unique ability to conceptualize and reason about possibilities, counterfactuals, and alternative realities.
• This capacity underpins complex cognitive functions like planning, decision-making, and social cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the mechanisms, development, adaptive functions, and evolutionary history of thinking about possibilities.
• To integrate insights from life sciences on how humans mentally simulate possible realities.

Main Methods:

• Review and synthesis of current research from leading experts across the life sciences.
• Delineation of neurophysiological, cognitive, and social mechanisms involved in possibility reasoning.
• Examination of developmental changes in understanding possibilities and comparative analyses with non-human animals.

Main Results:

• Identification of key neurophysiological, cognitive, and social mechanisms underlying mental simulation of possibilities.
• Characterization of developmental trajectories in the understanding of singular and multiple possibilities.
• Evidence for the role of possibility reasoning in augmenting learning, decision-making, and judgment.

Conclusions:

• Reasoning about possibilities is fundamental to human cognitive development, learning, and decision-making.
• This capacity has significant evolutionary and cultural implications, with some aspects shared with animals and others uniquely human.
• Understanding possibility thinking is essential for comprehending developmental milestones and human species' triumphs.