Why the brain believes in new beginnings

Each new year acts as a signal. It invites reflection, projection, and a reconsideration of what once seemed firmly established. Biologically, however, nothing distinguishes the brain from one day to the next. The same neural circuits remain active, the same habits continue to shape behavior, and the same constraints weigh on decision making. Despite this continuity, the idea of starting over retains a singular power, capable of rekindling motivation and altering the way we imagine the future.

This power does not stem from a sudden transformation of the brain, but from how it constructs time. Far from being a mere container of the present moment, the human brain organizes experience into meaningful sequences. It links past and future through internal narratives that give coherence to identity. From this perspective, starting over is not an objective event, but a mental operation, a way of redefining the point from which one’s personal story continues to unfold.

Cognitive neuroscience has shown that this capacity relies on well identified mechanisms. Imagining a possible future recruits the same neural networks as recalling a past experience. Research conducted in particular by Donna Addis and Daniel Schacter has highlighted the central role of episodic memory in future projection. To think about tomorrow, the brain assembles fragments of yesterday and recombines them to sketch plausible scenarios.

Within this framework, starting over does not mean breaking with what has been, but changing how it is integrated. By creating psychological distance from past experiences, the idea of a new beginning opens a space in which alternative choices become conceivable. The brain does not start from scratch, but it gives itself the means to imagine a different continuation.

How the brain constructs the feeling of a new beginning

The appeal of starting over can also be explained by the functioning of motivational systems. Dopamine plays a central role here, not as a simple molecule of pleasure, but as a key signal for learning and anticipation. Research by Wolfram Schultz has shown that dopaminergic activity reflects prediction errors, the gap between an expected reward and the actual outcome. When the future appears open and filled with new possibilities, predictions shift, which can be enough to reignite engagement.

The idea of starting over then acts as an implicit promise of novelty. It suggests that future outcomes might differ from those of the past, activating circuits involved in exploration and learning. This dynamic helps explain why symbolic periods such as the beginning of a year encourage decisions oriented toward change. This mechanism nevertheless has limits. When starting over is associated with unrealistic expectations, early difficulties generate strong negative prediction signals. Motivation can then collapse rapidly. The illusion of a fresh start becomes problematic when it conceals the gradual and often slow reality of behavioral learning.

Dopamine, prediction, and the promise of change

While the idea of starting over can initiate momentum, lasting change depends on other mechanisms. A large portion of daily behavior is governed by habits, whose neurobiological foundations lie primarily in the basal ganglia, particularly the striatum. The work of Ann Graybiel has shown that these circuits enable the automation of repeated actions and operate largely outside conscious control.

Deciding to change mainly engages the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in planning and control. Transforming a habit, however, requires regular repetition in stable contexts in order to gradually modify cortico striatal loops. This explains why grand declarations of change so often fail when they are not accompanied by concrete and repeated adjustments. From this perspective, starting over can serve as a psychological anchor by facilitating initial commitment and reshaping how the brain projects itself into the future. It does not replace the learning mechanisms that underlie genuine change. The illusion becomes functional when it supports a gradual process and counterproductive when it claims to substitute for it.

The brain has no reset button. Nevertheless, the idea of starting over continues to play a central role in our mental lives. As a cognitive construction, it restores a sense of futurity to a system deeply shaped by its past. When its limits are acknowledged, this illusion can become an adaptive tool, not to instantly transform who we are, but to make change conceivable again and sometimes achievable.