The preservation of our environment requires sustainable ways of thinking and living. Here, we aimed to explore the core network of brain regions involved in the prospective thinking about (un)sustainable behaviours. Using a neuroimaging cue-exposure paradigm, we requested participants (n = 86) to report behaviours that were the most feasible for them to implement (sustainable behaviour) or diminish (unsustainable behaviour) in the future. We find that increasing sustainable behaviours was perceived to be more feasible than reducing unsustainable ones. Consistent with the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in providing access to new representations of past behaviours, we observed stronger activation of these regions when picturing an increase in sustainable behaviours. Critically, simulating the reduction of unsustainable behaviours triggered activation within the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a key region for inhibitory-control processes), which was negatively associated with hippocampal activation (a key region for memory). These findings suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex downregulates brain regions that support memory retrieval of unsustainable behaviours. This mechanism could inhibit the access to episodic details associated with unsustainable behaviours and in turn allow for prospective thinking of sustainable behaviours. These findings provide an initial step towards a better understanding of the brain networks that are involved in the adoption of sustainable habits.

保护我们的环境需要可持续的思维和生活方式。在这里，我们旨在探索涉及（非）可持续行为的前瞻性思维所涉及的大脑区域的核心网络。使用神经影像学提示曝光模式，我们要求参加者（ñ = 86），以报告最适合他们将来实施（可持续行为）或减少（不可持续行为）的行为。我们发现，增加可持续行为被认为比减少不可持续行为更可行。与腹侧前额叶皮层和海马在提供对过去行为的新表征的访问中的作用一致，我们在观察可持续行为的增加时观察到了这些区域的更强激活。至关重要的是，模拟不可持续行为的减少会触发右侧背外侧前额叶皮层（抑制控制过程的关键区域）内的激活，而激活与海马区激活（记忆的关键区域）呈负相关。这些发现表明，背外侧前额叶皮层下调了大脑区域，从而支持了对不可持续行为的记忆恢复。这种机制可能会阻止人们获取与不可持续行为相关的情节细节，进而可以对可持续行为进行前瞻性思考。这些发现为更好地了解采用可持续习惯所涉及的大脑网络提供了第一步。