Effective functioning rests, in part, on the ability to predict the likely effects of different events and actions and to regulate one's behavior accordingly. Without such anticipatory capabilities, people would be forced to act blindly in ways that often are fruitless, if not injurious. Information about the outcomes likely to flow from different events and actions is conveyed by environmental predictors. One can be informed about what to expect by the distinctive features of places, persons, and things, by social signals in the words, affective expressions, and actions of others, and by functional rules that codify observed regularities.