Learning from imagined experiences via an endogenous prediction error
Aroma Dabas, Rasmus Bruckner, Heidrun Schultz, Frederik Bergmann, Roland G Benoit · 2025
Read Learning from imagined experiences via an endogenous prediction error by Aroma Dabas, Rasmus Bruckner, Heidrun Schultz, Frederik Bergmann, Roland G Benoit (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12696094.txt.
Description
Dabas, Bruckner, Schultz, Bergmann, and Benoit show that imagined experiences teach the brain much like real ones, through the same surprise signal. People repeatedly chose between acquaintances, then pictured meeting them. When the imagined meeting felt unexpectedly pleasant, their later choices tilted toward that person.
A computer model that learns from prediction errors, the gap between expected and felt reward, fit the behavior best. Brain scans tied that error signal to the striatum, a hub of reward learning. Striatal activity in turn seemed to refresh how the cortex represented each person. The 2025 authors conclude imagination can break its own expectations and drive real learning. The finding extends reinforcement theory into the mind's eye.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Aroma Dabas, Rasmus Bruckner, Heidrun Schultz, Frederik Bergmann, Roland G Benoit |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 56 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |