Abstract: Foresight refers to the process of the episodic simulation to the personal future events. The concurrent evidence were collected basically from the following propositions: (a) to portray a phylogenetic map of foresight from the viewpoint of comparative psychology; (b) to track the emergence and developmental trajectory of foresight in terms of developmental psychology; (c) to explore the cognitive and neural mechanisms which could be underlying the process of foresight. Future researchers should make supplement to the current understanding of phylogenetic map in foresight, and reveal how foresight relates to other cognitive abilities in the process of human developments. Furthermore, it is also indispensable to clarify the neural connections between various brain areas that are possibly involved, and therefore advance the application value in society.

Key words: mental time travel, foresight, episodic memory, comparative psychology, cognitive and neural mechanisms