Brain science has now discovered what The White Queen in “Alice in Wonderland” always knew: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."

The most recent research in cognitive science, which is a fancy name for the science of “how the brain works,” reveals that remembering the past and visualizing the future use the same neural mechanisms. Memory and prophesy are flip sides of the same mental coin. Human memory works forward, and the very skills that enable you to remember your past enable you to envision your future. Or as one scientist puts it, “Memory constructs, stimulates and predicts possible future events in an ever-changing environment.” (Susan Gaidos, “Thanks,” Science News, 21 June 2008, 27ff.)

To walk down memory lane is, at the same time, to follow the yellow brick …