The Cube can be tailored to evoke personal memories and encourage reflection on one’s emotional states, directly engaging the DMN’s role in processing autobiographical information and self-referenced emotions. By presenting stimuli that mismatch participants’ predictive models related to their personal experiences or emotional self-awareness, The Cube facilitates a deeper understanding and reevaluation of one’s self-concept and emotional landscape.

Through scenarios that simulate social interactions or require consideration of others perspectives and emotions, The Cube activates the DMN’s capacities for theory of mind, moral reasoning, and empathy. This setup allows participants to navigate complex social judgments and empathetic engagements, while predictive processing helps in adjusting preconceived notions about others’ thoughts and feelings based on new interpersonal dynamics encountered within The Cube.

By utilizing narratives or scenarios that participants engage with—whether through listening, watching, or reading—The Cube leverages the DMN’s involvement in story comprehension and episodic memory formation. Predictive processing aids in the anticipation of narrative outcomes and the integration of story elements with personal experiences, enhancing comprehension and memory. Additionally, The Cube encourages envisioning future scenarios, tapping into the DMN’s role in imagining future events and simulating potential outcomes, thereby refining participants’ ability to predict and plan for future possibilities.

The Cube’s design alternates between tasks requiring external focus and attention (which typically reduce DMN activity) and those promoting internal contemplation or mind-wandering (which activate the DMN). This dynamic interplay allows for the examination of how shifts between predictive processing during goal-oriented tasks and DMN-dominated states of rest and introspection influence cognitive and emotional well-being.

Incorporating elements of beauty and aesthetic appreciation within The Cube, such as exposure to art, nature scenes, or architecture, can activate the DMN in a way that resonates with personal identity and emotional responses to aesthetics. Predictive processing in this context involves anticipating the emotional impact of aesthetic experiences and adjusting internal models based on the pleasure and meaning derived from these encounters.

Click Here for the Lay Person’s Explanation of The Cube.