Thus, it is likely that our anticipations and appraisals are closely related to our State operations and deeply invested in our Emotions. “Channel” information certainly provides important cognitive correctives to these Emotion-based anticipations but might not play the primary determining role.
The implications of these findings and speculations are great for those of us engaged in assisting clients with their anticipations. It would seem that Emotions, “gut” feelings (somatic template), and often untested assumptions about our relationships with other people (psychosocial template) are important.
Multiple Memory Systems
I wish to bring into our exploration of anticipation one other finding from the world of neurobiology. We now know that we operate primarily with two memory systems. One of these systems helps us navigate everyday, habitual operations. Often called the Procedural (Implicit) Memory System), this is the cortical function that operates when we are driving a car, hitting a golf ball (if we are a skilled golfer), or simply walking down the stairs (if we are not neuro-damaged). We easily retrieve memories that guide our skillful operations of these procedures. Most of our heuristics (fast thinking solutions) operate out of our procedural brain. Our “knee-jerk” reactions exemplify procedural heuristics.
The second system is usually called the Episodic or Expository (Explicit) Memory System. Specific memories of past events, as well as memories of potential problem-solving and decision-making processes, are brought to the fore when dealing with a new, complex, or elusive issue. While procedural memories are usually engaged without any conscious awareness of their application, episodic memories are engaged in a fully conscious manner. As Solms and Turnbull (2002, p. 163) note, these memories are not just stored and retrieved. They are lived! And, as lived memories, they are intrinsically emotional.
Damasio might enter the conversation at this point, suggesting that episodic memories always come with an attached somatic marker. Furthermore, the challenges being faced are inevitably multi-tiered when anticipating a complex event or working in a complex mid-21st-century environment (Bergquist, 2025). Multiple issues are nested in one another and often even contradict one another (Bergquist and Mura, 2011). This being the case, one’s Emotional state is likely to be equally complex and saturated with contradiction. Under these conditions, a holistic somatic template and broad-based psychosocial template must take the place of a focused somatic marker.
As a coach, we can provide valuable assistance to our clients as they consciously review their psychosocial template (what are you thinking?), and to the extent possible, even their somatic template (what are you feeling?). Most importantly, as Daniel Kahneman (2011) advocates, we must encourage our client to avoid the use of fast-thinking heuristics when addressing multi-tiered issues – as tempting as it is to escape into a rabbit hole of procedural serenity (Bergquist, 2025). As a coach who is focusing on assisting their client to accurately and flexibly anticipate the near-future world they will engage, the advocacy of consistently implemented Slow Thinking (Kahneman, 2011), Reflective Practice (Schön, 1983), and Appreciative Perspectives (Bergquist and Mura, 2011) is critical.
Socio-neurobiology
As a professional coach, we now have the opportunity to avail ourselves of insights from the emerging field of social neurobiology. In this field, a close (even intimate) relationship exists between our brain and our relationships with other people (Rock and Page, 2009). The amygdala becomes not just the emotional center of the brain, but also its social center, “social issues such as status and belonging being the [issues] being the ones we feel strongest about.” (Rock and Page, 2009, p. 426). For those who are working in this field, there is an orientation toward a contextualist perspective on the way our brain and mind operate in a social field (Rock and Page, 2009, p. 426).
Download Article
