60% of authors say they can hear their characters' voices as they write. Some even say they could enter into a dialogue with their characters, and sometimes their characters 'talk back'. Researchers explore why this phenomenon occurs. Read More
Using artificial intelligence and neuroimaging, researchers have identified a link between mental imagery and vision. The brain uses similar visual areas for mental imagery and vision but uses low-level visual areas less precisely for mental imagery than vision. Read More
Aphantasia, a disorder in which people are lack the ability to mentally visualize imagery, is also associated with a widespread pattern of changes to other important cognitive processes. Many with aphantasia report a reduced ability to recall past events, imagine the future, and dream. Read More
The strength of a person's mental imagery is associated with excitability in the prefrontal cortex and visual cortex. Highly excitable neurons in the visual cortex may reduce a person's ability to imagine mental images. The findings shed light on how aphantasia, a condition where a person can not imaging mental images, may occur. Read More
Study shows how hippocampal cells can represent different hypothetical scenarios consistently and systematically over time. The findings shed new light on how place cells assist in decision making and imagination. Read More
Intuitive sense not only underpins our understanding of the real world but also helps inform us of the fictional worlds we create. Read More
How we recall our memories, either through first-person perspective or as an observer, can affect the vividness and potency of the memory. Remembering an event in first-person perspective can make the memory stronger. Read More
A mathematical model suggests a genetic mutation which extended the critical period by slowing prefrontal cortex development in two or more children 70,000 years ago was one factor for the emergence of recursive language and modern imagination. Read More
Imagination helps us act altruistically, a new study reports. When we see others in trouble, we imagine how we can help before acting. Researchers implicate the medial temporal lobe subsystem in guiding our prosocial behaviors. Read More
A new neuroimaging study reveals imagination may help people with fear or anxiety disorders overcome them. The study reports imagining a threat can alter the way it is represented in the brain. Read More
Adults with ADHD feel empowered performing creative tasks that can help them with a job, researchers report. Read More
Researchers have created a computational model that helps explain how mental images drawn from memory can be explained by the firing of specific neurons. Read More
