In time-based design, anticipation is created when an action occurs that foreshadows a later action or experience.
In animation, before an action, a character might draw back in an exaggerated way that foreshadows the action about to happen. In a horror movie, anticipation might be felt when spooky music plays, or when the lighting shifts suddenly. Anticipation is the feeling that some quite significant happening is imminent.
Anticipation incorporates an understanding of what is coming. The person experiencing anticipation may not be sure why or how the anticipated event will unfold, and the unfolding why or how is the pleasurable aspect of experiencing the culmination of the anticipated event. Anticipation might be subtly distinguished from expectation, where most aspects of the foreshadowed event are known, and only time separates us from the coming experience.
Anticipation occurs on timescales ranging from milliseconds to hours to days. To pick up a piece of seed a bird must open its beak and reclose it exactly at the moment when the beak surrounds the target – an action which must be precisely timed if it is to be successful (Bermejo & Zeigler, 1998). On a much larger scale is the timing controlled by circadian rhythms. These rhythms regulate sleep patterns, metabolic rates, body temperature, and hormone secretion, to name just a few aspects of circadian control. The body anticipates when in a 24-hour cycle of sleep patterns, meal-times and social interactions will occur.Â