How they did it - The researchers asked a group of 24 participants to imagine 16 different scenarios while awake in a brain scanner called an fMRI machine. This study moves the needle forward by drilling down into the functions of two subnetworks within this imagination highway: the ventral and dorsal default mode network. Previous research indicated that this network activates when we imagine something, and it is involved in daydreaming, planning, and imagining the future. The study, published Monday in The Journal of Neuroscience, reveals that two distinct processes occur in the brain’s default mode network when someone imagines the future. What’s new - Using a combination of brain imaging and a detailed scale system that allowed study participants to evaluate different aspects of imagined scenarios, a team of researchers was able to monitor which areas of the brain were active during different kinds of imagined scenarios - specifically, of the future. A new study offers some clues as to two biological processes that underlie different aspects of our imagination - specifically, our ability to imagine our own futures. Yet the neurobiology of human imagination is a notoriously difficult thing to study, in part because the experience is so subjective. Whether it is a daydream on the commute, a fantasy that helps you get through your workday, or “what if.” style planning we use to guide our life choices, our brains it seems are hardwired to lead our thoughts astray. The imagination is often held up as a totem of our species’ uniqueness, a thing that makes us truly separate from other creatures on Earth. Human minds evolved to accomplish incredible feats of cognition and computation - but they also evolved to wander.
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