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Mind

How your whole imagination is conjured up from three brain processes

Understanding the neurological systems that produce the world inside your head can help you to harness its transformative power

By Caroline Williams

28 May 2025

˲Ʊ. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Brett Ryder; AdobeStock

Unlike more specialised kinds of mental processing, there is no dedicated “imagination cortex” that shows up on brain scans. Instead, imagination is the result of inputs from all corners of the brain and throughout the body.

This article is part of a special series exploring the radical potential of the human imagination. Read more here.

We know that imagination doesn’t come in just one variety (see “The four types of imagination and how they create our worlds”) and isn’t experienced the same by all of us (see “The extremes of imagination reveal how our brains perceive reality…

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