A study from the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Kessler Foundation Research Center asked subjects to visualize contracting their elbow flexor muscles. The group using internal or first-person imagery showed a 10.8 percent increase in strength after 12 weeks. This demonstrates how mental rehearsal of a physical action can lead to tangible results, suggesting a priming of the body for a future state.
• Researchers from Ohio University conducted a study where volunteers with wrists in casts practiced mental-imagery exercises of flexing their immobilized wrist muscles. At the end of the month, the muscles of the imagery group were twice as strong as those of the control group. This shows the power of visualization in maintaining and even increasing physical capability, indicating a preparation for a future state of movement.
• Studies on mental rehearsal have shown that repeatedly thinking about doing something without physical involvement can create changes in the brain and modify the body. For instance, a study found that subjects who visualized themselves lifting weights with a finger over time experienced an actual increase in strength in that finger. This illustrates how mental imagery can influence physical outcomes as if the future action had already occurred.
• Experiments on mental rehearsal demonstrate that when you concentrate on a particular region of the body, your thoughts stimulate the corresponding brain region, and with repetition, physical changes in the brain’s sensory area can follow. This highlights how focused visualization can remap the brain in preparation for a different physical reality.
• Research into children’s brain-wave patterns shows that individuals are completely in the realm of the subconscious mind at birth. While not directly a study on the future self, understanding the subconscious is crucial as it is the operating system that can be reprogrammed through visualization and mental rehearsal to align with a desired future.
These studies collectively suggest that mental rehearsal and visualization can lead to changes in both the brain and body, effectively priming an individual neurologically and even physically for a future experience or state of being.met, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

¹ The research is detailed in the preprint “Future You: A Conversation with an AI-Generated Future Self Reduces Anxiety, Negative Emotions, and Increases Future Self-Continuity,” available as arXiv preprint 2405.12514v4. This study involved 344 participants and demonstrated that interacting with an AI-generated future self led to decreased negative affect and increased future self-continuity.
² A pre-registered randomized controlled trial with 188 participants also demonstrated the system’s potential to alleviate anxiety and strengthen future self-connection. The results of this research have been published in IEEE Frontiers in Education 2024 and NeurIPS Creative AI 2024.

Harvard University Study on Near-Future Hypothetical Selves:
◦ Methodology: Participants imagined two distinct activities they could be engaged in just two hours later, labeled “future-you1” and “future-you2.”
◦ Conclusion: Associating items with these two different imagined future selves enhanced the self-reference effect compared to associating with only one. This suggests a cognitive advantage to engaging with multiple potential near-future states.
• Harvard University Research on Memory Performance and Imagined Near-Future Activities:
◦ Methodology: Participants imagined two hypothetical activities (e.g., searching for supermarket items within two hours) and encoded information related to these scenarios. Memory performance was then assessed.
◦ Conclusion: Encoding information for two imagined future selves might lead to better overall performance in a long-term memory task compared to encoding for a single imagined future self.
• Harvard University Experiment on Distinctiveness of Imagined Future Selves:
◦ Methodology: Participants imagined either two similar future activities or two more distinct future selves (a “healthy-minded” self vs. an “unhealthy-minded” self). The impact on memory tasks was examined.
◦ Conclusion: This research aimed to understand how the distinctiveness between imagined future selves affects cognitive processing and memory. The findings contribute to the “Single Serial Self” theory, suggesting that while we might process self-relevant items serially, considering multiple future possibilities can still be advantageous for cognitive processing and retention.
• Markus and Nurius’s Framework of Possible Selves:
◦ Conceptual Framework: Defines “possible selves” as the cognitive representations of one’s potential future states, encompassing hopes, fears, and fantasies about who one might become.
◦ Conclusion: This framework emphasizes the multiplicity of potential future identities and their role in motivating present behavior.
• Narrative Study on Ten-Year Future Selves:
◦ Methodology: Young adults were asked to write a story about how they would like to see themselves in ten years, including details and potential obstacles.
◦ Conclusion: This narrative method allows researchers to explore the content, coherence, and emotional tone of individuals’ imagined future life narratives.
• Narrative Study on Positive Future Selves (Expectations and Dreams):
◦ Methodology: Young adults wrote about positive future selves, differentiating between future expectations (more realistic) and future dreams (often more unrealistic but highly hopeful).
◦ Conclusion: This approach provides rich qualitative data about the diverse ways individuals envision their future and the meaning they ascribe to these potential selves.
• Longitudinal Study on Future College-Graduate Selves:
◦ Methodology: College students created fictional social media profiles for their future selves, focusing on vividness, positivity, and connectedness to their present self.
◦ Conclusion: Students with more vivid, positive, and connected images of their future selves reported higher motivation and better academic progress.
• Harvard Study on Age-Related Changes in Future Simulation using an Adapted Autobiographical Interview:
◦ Methodology: Participants were given cue words and asked to describe both past memories and imagined future scenarios. The level of detail, particularly internal episodic details, was analyzed.
◦ Conclusion: This method provides insights into the cognitive processes underlying the construction of both past and future mental representations and how they relate to each other.