Most people, when asked to think of themselves in the future, really struggle. And by struggle, I mean they are mentally incapable of doing so in a positive way. We know this through studies which have been replicated hundreds of times, whereby people are asked about people while sitting in an fMRI machine. First, they are asked to think about friends, acquaintances, co-workers, neighbors, etc. There is an “upturn” in how the prefrontal cortex begins to fire. Scientists can see the electrical impulses flow from bottom to top when people think of these friendly or at least known people. However, when shown or asked to consider strangers, the fMRI shows a different pattern to the impulses. The electrical surge is a downturn, moving from top to bottom of the prefrontal cortex. When shown an enemy, the impulse is sharper, but definitely follows this top to bottom pattern. So here’s the kicker. Guess which direction the electrical impulses flow when a person is told to think of themselves, ten years out? You guessed it. Downward. It seems we think of our ten-year-away self as a stranger or worse, as an enemy.
