Fig. 9: How much information about the past and future can be inferred by observing the present?
From: Temporal asymmetries in inferring unobserved past and future events
By definition, let us say that the present moment (lag 0) contains all information about itself (dark gray). Given learned statistical regularities, one might extrapolate from the present moment into the past or future (light gray). As illustrated in this schematic, the information contained in the present about other moments in time falls off with absolute lag. This falloff is approximately time-symmetric. References in the present to past events (dark orange) or future events (dark blue) provide additional information about those referenced moments in time, beyond what could be inferred solely from statistical regularities. This additional information about those referenced moments can also be extrapolated to other moments that are temporally nearby to them (light orange and blue). The data in this schematic are hypothetical.
