:Imagination

The English word "imagination" originates from the Latin term "imaginatio," which is the standard Latin translation of the Greek term "phantasia." The Latin term also translates to "mental image" or "fancy." The use of the word "imagination" in English can be traced back to the mid-14th century, referring to a faculty of the mind that forms and manipulates images.{{Cite web |title=imagination {{!}} Etymology of imagination by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/imagination |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}}

In modern philosophical understanding, imagination is commonly seen as a faculty for creating mental images and for making non-rational, associative transitions among these images.{{Citation |last=Cottrell |first=Jonathan |title=Imagination, in modern philosophy |date=2016 |encyclopedia=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy |url=https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/imagination-in-modern-philosophy/v-1 |access-date=2024-07-31 |edition=1 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780415249126-da083-1 |isbn=978-0-415-25069-6}}

One view of imagination links it to cognition, suggesting that imagination is a cognitive process in mental functioning.{{multiref2|{{cite book

|last1 = Dierckxsens

|first1 = Geoffrey

|editor-last1 = Davidson

|editor-first1 = Scott

|date = 2019-10-10

|chapter = 'Making Sense of (Moral) Things': Fallible Man in Relation to Enactivism

|title = A Companion to Ricoeur's Fallible Man

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pfqwDwAAQBAJ

|series = Studies in the Thought of Paul Ricoeur

|publisher = Rowman & Littlefield

|page = 104

|isbn = 9781498587129

|access-date = 6 October 2022

|quote = Kant's notion of imagination [...] designates a cognitive capacity that is purely mental.

}}|{{cite book

|last1 = Perlovsky

|first1 = Leonid

|author-link1 = Leonid Perlovsky

|last2 = Deming

|first2 = Ross

|last3 = Ilin

|first3 = Roman

|date = 2011-08-28

|title = Emotional Cognitive Neural Algorithms with Engineering Applications: Dynamic Logic: From Vague to Crisp

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_74PBwAAQBAJ

|series = Volume 371 of Studies in Computational Intelligence

|location = Berlin

|publisher = Springer

|page = 86

|isbn = 9783642228308

|access-date = 6 October 2022

|quote = Imagination was long considered a part of thinking processes; Kant [...] emphasized the role of imagination in the thought process, he called thinking 'a play of cognitive functions of imagination and understanding,' [...].

}}|Compare: {{cite book

|last1 = Efland

|first1 = Arthur

|date = 2002-06-14

|chapter = Imagination in Cognition

|title = Art and Cognition: Integrating the Visual Arts in the Curriculum

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DhUuYYd4O4AC

|series = Language and Literacy Series

|location = New York

|publisher = Teachers College Press

|page = 133

|isbn = 9780807742181

|access-date = 6 October 2022

|quote = Like feelings and emotions, imagination is a prickly topic with a history of exclusion from the realm of the cognitive.}}

}} It is also associated with rational thinking in a way that both imaginative and rational thoughts involve the cognitive process that "underpins thinking about possibilities".{{cite book |last1=Byrne |first1=Ruth M. J. |author-link1=Ruth M. J. Byrne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHDCzU6UzgEC |title=The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality |publisher=MIT Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780262261845 |series=A Bradford Book |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=38 |quote=Rational thought and imaginative thought may be based on the same kinds of cognitive processes, processes that underpin thinking about possibilities. |access-date=29 September 2022 |orig-year=2005}} However, imagination is not considered to be purely a cognitive activity because it is also linked to the body and place. It involves setting up relationships with materials and people, precluding the notion that imagination is confined to the mind.{{Cite book |last=Vergunst |first=Jo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awRR9dWdF9MC |title=Imagining Landscapes: Past, Present and Future |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |year=2012 |isbn=9781409461449 |editor-last1=Janowski |editor-first1=Monica |chapter=Seeing Ruins: Imagined and Visible Lands in North-East Scotland |editor-last2=Ingold |editor-first2=Tim}}

The psychological view of imagination relates this concept to a cognate term, "mental imagery," which denotes the process of reviving in the mind recollections of objects previously given in sense perception. Since this use of the term conflicts with that of ordinary language, some psychologists prefer to describe this process as "imaging" or "imagery" or to speak of it as "reproductive" as opposed to "productive" or "constructive" imagination. Constructive imagination is further divided into voluntary imagination driven by the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), such as mental rotation, and involuntary imagination (LPFC-independent), such as REM sleep dreaming, daydreaming, hallucinations, and spontaneous insight.{{cite journal |last1=Vyshedskiy |first1=Andrey |year=2020 |title=Voluntary and Involuntary Imagination: Neurological Mechanisms, Developmental Path, Clinical Implications, and Evolutionary Trajectory |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.4.2.186/html |journal=Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.26613/esic.4.2.186 |issn=2472-9884 |jstor=10.26613/esic.4.2.186 |s2cid=231912956}} In clinical settings, clinicians nowadays increasingly make use of visual imagery for psychological treatment of anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.{{cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Joel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3o7fDwAAQBAJ |title=The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination |date=2020-06-18 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108429245 |editor-last1=Abraham |editor-first1=Anna |series=Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology |location=Cambridge |page=175 |chapter=The Visual Imagination |quote=Visual imagery typically refers to the voluntary creation of the conscious visual experience of an object or scene in its absence (e.g. solely in the mind). [...] imagery can play a core role in many anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, and is increasingly harnessed as a uniquely powerful tool for psychological treatment [...]. |access-date=12 October 2022}}

Ancient Greek philosophers conceived imagination, or "phantasia," as working with "pictures" in the sense of mental images.{{Cite book |last=Pätzold |first=Deltev |title=Imagination in the later Middle Ages and Early Modern times |date=2004 |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-90-429-1535-0 |editor-last=Nauta |editor-first=Lodi |series=Groningen studies in cultural change |location=Leuven, Dudley, MA |pages=153–159, 172–173 |chapter=Imagination in Descartes' Meditations |editor-last2=Pätzold |editor-first2=Detlev}} Aristotle, in his work De Anima, identified imagination as a faculty that enables an image to occur within us,{{Cite web |title=The Internet Classics Archive {{!}} On the Soul by Aristotle |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/soul.3.iii.html |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=classics.mit.edu}}{{Cite web |title=Aristotle's Psychology > Imagination (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-psychology/suppl4.html |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=plato.stanford.edu |language=en}} a definition associating imagination with a broad range of activities involved in thoughts, dreams, and memories.

In Philebus, Plato discusses daydreaming and considers imagination about the future as the work of a painter within the soul.{{Cite web |title=The Internet Classics Archive {{!}} Philebus by Plato |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/philebus.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=classics.mit.edu}} However, Plato portrayed this painter as an illustrator rather than a creator, reflecting his view of imagination as a representational rather than an inventive faculty.{{Cite book |last=Cocking |first=John |editor-first1=Penelope |editor-last1=Murray |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203980811/imagination-john-cocking-penelope-murray-penelope-murray |title=Imagination: A Study in the History of Ideas |date=1991-12-12 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-98081-1 |location=London |pages=1, 8, 105–106 |doi=10.4324/9780203980811}}

Greek philosophers typically distinguished imagination from perception and rational thinking: "For imagination is different from either perceiving or discursive thinking, though it is not found without sensation, or judgement without it" (De Anima, iii 3).Aristotle viewed imagination as a faculty that mediates between the senses and intellect. The mental images it manipulates, whether arising from visions, dreams or sensory perception, were thought to be transmitted through the lower parts of the soul, suggesting that these images could be influenced by emotions and primal desires, thereby confusing the judgement of the intellect.

In the Middle Ages, the concept of imagination encompassed domains such as religion, literature, artwork, and notably, poetry.{{Cite book |last=Le Goff |first=Jacques |title=The medieval imagination |date=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-47084-9 |location=Chicago}} Men of science often recognized poets as "imaginative," viewing imagination as the mental faculty that specifically permitted poetry writing.{{Cite journal |last=Sumillera |first=Rocío G. |date=2016 |title=From Inspiration to Imagination: The Physiology of Poetry in Early Modernity |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pgn.2016.0129 |journal=Parergon |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=17–42 |doi=10.1353/pgn.2016.0129 |issn=1832-8334}} This association, they suggested, lies in the capacity of imagination for image-making and image-forming, which results in a sense of "visualizing" with "the inner eye."Castor, G. (1964). Pléiade poetics a study in sixteenth-century thought and terminology [Dissertation]. At the University Press.

An epitome of this concept is Chaucer's idea of the "mind's eye" in The Man of Law's Tale from The Canterbury Tales (ca. 1390). He described a man who, although blind, was able to "see" with an "eye of his mind":

"That oon of hem was blynd and myghte not see, / But it were with thilke eyen of his mynde / With whiche men seen, after that they ben blynde."{{Cite web |title=Man of Lawes Tale |url=http://metaphors.lib.virginia.edu/metaphors/8723 |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=metaphors.lib.virginia.edu}}{{cite book |last=Chaucer |first=Geoffrey |title=The Canterbury Tales |publisher=University Correspondence College Press |editor-last=Wyatt |editor-first=A.J. |location=London |at=Lines 550–553 |chapter=The Man of Laws Tale |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/canterburyprol00chauuoft#page/78/mode/1up |orig-year={{circa|1387}}}}

The Renaissance saw the revival of classical texts and the celebration for men's dignity, yet scholars of the time did not significantly contribute to the conceptual understanding of "imagination." Marsilio Ficino, for example, did not regard artistic creations such as painting, sculpture and poetry as privileged forms of human creativity, nor did he attribute creativity to the faculty of imagination. Instead, Ficino posited that imagination could be the vehicle through which divine intervention transmits insights in the form of images, which ultimately facilitates the creation of art.{{Cite thesis |last=Frisvold |first=Nicholaj de Mattos |date=2013-01-01 |title=Marsilio Ficino and His Platonic Psychology |type=Dissertation |publisher=Norwegian University of Science and Technology |url=https://www.academia.edu/43906757}}File:Gustave Doré - Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote - Part 1 - Chapter 1 - Plate 1 "A world of disorderly notions, picked out of his books, crowded into his imagination".jpg, engrossed in reading books of chivalry.]]Nevertheless, the groundwork laid by humanists made it easier for later thinkers to develop the connection between imagination and creativity. Early modern philosophers began to consider imagination as a trait or ability that an individual could possess. Miguel de Cervantes, influenced by Spanish physician and philosopher Juan Huarte de San Juan, crafted the iconic character Don Quixote, who epitomized Huarte's idea of "wits full of invention."{{Cite journal |last=de Iriarte |first=Mauricio |title=El Ingenioso hidalgo y el Examen de ingenios : (qué debe Cervantes al Dr. Huarte de San Juan) |journal=Revista internacional de los estudios vascos |language=Spanish |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=499–522}}{{Cite book |last=Green |first=Otis H. |title=The literary mind of medieval & Renaissance Spain: essays |date=1970 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-1204-6 |series=Studies in Romance languages |location=Lexington}} This type of wit was thought to be typically found in individuals for whom imagination was the most prominent component of their "ingenium" ({{langx|es|ingenio}}; term meaning close to "intellect").{{Cite book |last=Huarte de San Juan |first=Juan |title=The examination of mens wits. |year=1594 |location=London |pages=69–70, 103 |translator-last=Carew |translator-first=Richard}}{{Cite journal |last=Orobitg |first=Christine |date=2014-07-01 |title=Del Examen de ingenios de Huarte a la ficción cervantina, o cómo se forja una revolución literaria |url=https://journals.openedition.org/criticon/700 |journal=Criticón |language=es |issue=120–121 |pages=23–39 |doi=10.4000/criticon.700 |issn=0247-381X}}{{Cite journal |last=Mestre Zaragozá |first=Marina |date=2018-08-29 |title=Les métiers de l'imagination dans l'Examen de ingenios para las ciencias de Huarte de San Juan |url=https://journals.openedition.org/crmh/15497 |journal=Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes. Journal of medieval and humanistic studies |language=fr |issue=35 |pages=339–364 |doi=10.4000/crm.15497 |issn=2115-6360}}

Early modern philosophers also started to acknowledge imagination as an active, cognitive faculty, although it was principally seen as a mediator between sense perception ({{langx|la|sensus}}) and pure understanding ({{langx|la|intellectio pura}}). René Descartes, in Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), interpreted imagination as a faculty actively focusing on bodies (corporeal entities) while being passively dependent on stimuli from different senses.{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=Desmond M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm52878350 |title=Descartes's theory of mind |date=2003 |publisher=Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-926123-9 |location=Oxford : Oxford; New York |oclc=ocm52878350}}{{Citation |last=Newman |first=Lex |title=Descartes' Epistemology |date=2023 |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/descartes-epistemology/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |edition=Winter 2023 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |editor2-last=Nodelman |editor2-first=Uri}} In the writing of Thomas Hobbes, imagination became a key element of human cognition.{{cite book |author-last1=Runco |author-first1=Mark A. |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity |author-last2=Albert |author-first2=Robert S. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-73025-9 |editor-last1=Kaufman |editor-first1=James C. |editor-link1=James C. Kaufman |chapter=Creativity Research |editor-last2=Sternberg |editor-first2=Robert J. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehandboo0000unse_x7r7 |chapter-url-access=registration}}

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the connotations of imagination" extended to many areas of early modern civic life.{{Cite book |last=Crane |first=William G. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7312/cran94640 |title=Wit and Rhetoric in the Renaissance |date=1937-12-31 |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/cran94640}}{{Cite book |last1=Marr |first1=Alexander |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvcb5c95 |title=Logodaedalus |last2=Garrod |first2=Raphaële |last3=Marcaida |first3=José Ramón |last4=Oosterhoff |first4=Richard J. |date=2018-10-02 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvcb5c95 |isbn=978-0-8229-8630-0}} Juan Luis Vives noted the connection between imagination and rhetoric skills.{{Cite book |last=Mack |first=Peter |title=Imagination in the later Middle Ages and Early Modern times |date=2004 |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-90-429-1535-0 |editor-last=Nauta |editor-first=Lodi |series=Groningen studies in cultural change |location=Leuven, Dudley, MA |pages=59–60 |chapter=Early Modern Ideas of Imagination: The Rhetoric Tradition |editor-last2=Pätzold |editor-first2=Detlev}} Huarte extended this idea, linking imagination to any disciplines that necessitates "figures, correspondence, harmony, and proportion," such as medical practice and the art of warfare.{{Cite journal |last=Arrizabalaga |first=Jon |date=2018-08-29 |title=La medicina en Huarte de San Juan. Práctica clínica versus filosofía natural1 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/crm.15521 |journal=Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes |issue=35 |pages=405–426 |doi=10.4000/crm.15521 |issn=2115-6360}}{{Cite journal |last1=Arrizabalaga |first1=Jon |last2=Giordano |first2=Maria Laura |date=2020-12-30 |title=Cristianismo paulino en Huarte de San Juan: meritocracia y linaje en el Examen de ingenios para las ciencias (Baeza 1575, 1594) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/hs.2020.025 |journal=Hispania Sacra |volume=72 |issue=146 |pages=363–375 |doi=10.3989/hs.2020.025 |issn=1988-4265|hdl=10261/235630 |hdl-access=free }} Additionally, Galileo used the concept of imagination to conduct thought experiments, such as asking readers to imagine the direction a stone released from a sling would fly.{{cite book |last=Franklin |first=James |author-link=James Franklin (philosopher) |title=1543 and All That: Image and Word, Change and Continuity in the Proto-Scientific Revolution |publisher=Kluwer |year=2000 |isbn=9780792359135 |editor1-last=Freeland |editor1-first=Guy |location=Dordrecht |pages=53–115 |chapter=Diagrammatic reasoning and modelling in the imagination: the secret weapons of the Scientific Revolution |editor2-last=Corones |editor2-first=Anthony |chapter-url=https://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/imagin.pdf}}

By the Age of Enlightenment, philosophical discussions frequently linked the power of imagination with creativity, particularly in aesthetics.{{Cite journal |last1=Kristeller |first1=Paul Oskar |last2=Tatarkiewicz |first2=Wladyslaw |last3=Kasparek |first3=Christopher |date=January 1981 |title=A History of Six Ideas: An Essay in Aesthetics. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2025397 |journal=The Journal of Philosophy |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=56 |doi=10.2307/2025397 |jstor=2025397 |issn=0022-362X}} William Duff was among the first to identify imagination as a quality of genius, distinguishing it from talent by emphasizing that only genius is characterized by creative innovation.{{cite book |last=Dacey |first=John |title=Encyclopedia of Creativity |publisher=Elsevier |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-12-227076-5 |editor-last1=Runco |editor-first1=Mark A. |volume=1 |chapter=Concepts of Creativity: A history |editor-last2=Pritzer |editor-first2=Steven R.}} Samuel Taylor Coleridge distinguished between imagination expressing realities of an imaginal realm above our mundane personal existence, and "fancy", or fantasy, which represents the creativity of the artistic soul.Gregory, A. P. R. (2003). Coleridge and the conservative imagination. Mercer University Press. p. 59 In Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot ({{langx|fr|Discours Préliminaire des Éditeurs}}), d'Alembert referred to imagination as the creative force for Fine Arts.{{Cite book |last1=Alembert |first1=Jean Le Rond d' |url=http://archive.org/details/preliminarydisco00jean |title=Preliminary discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot |last2=Schwab |first2=Richard N. |last3=Rex |first3=Walter E. |date=1995 |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-226-13476-5}}

Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason ({{langx|de|Kritik der reinen Vernunft}}), viewed imagination ({{langx|de|Einbildungskraft}}) as a faculty of intuition, capable of making "presentations," i.e., sensible representations of objects that are not directly present.{{Cite book |last=Matherne |first=Samantha |title=The Routledge handbook of philosophy of skill and expertise |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-74477-6 |editor-last=Fridland |editor-first=Ellen |series=Routledge handbooks in philosophy |location=Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY |chapter=Kant's theory of the imagination |editor-last2=Pavese |editor-first2=Carlotta}} Kant distinguished two forms of imagination: productive and reproductive. Productive imagination functions as the original source of the presentation of an object, thus preceding experience; while reproductive imagination generates presentations derived from past experiences, recalling empirical intuitions it previously had.{{Cite book |last=Kuehn |first=Manfred |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/kant-anthropology-from-a-pragmatic-point-of-view/69EBBC53F8C020D0F28735E62FB62817 |title=Immanuel Kant: Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-80956-9 |editor-last=Louden |editor-first=Robert B. |location=Cambridge |pages=Anthro 7:167 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511809569}} Kant's treatise linked imagination to cognition, perception, aesthetic judgement, artistic creation, and morality.{{Cite book |last=Kneller |first=Jane |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511487248 |title=Kant and the Power of Imagination |date=2007-02-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511487248 |isbn=978-0-521-85143-5}}

The Kantian idea prepared the way for Fichte, Schelling and the Romantics to transform the philosophical understanding of it into an authentic creative force, associated with genius, inventive activity, and freedom.{{Cite journal |last=López-Domínguez |first=Virginia |date=2018-12-22 |title=The Imagination in Kant and Fichte |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ref/952 |journal=Revista de Estud(i)os sobre Fichte |language=en |issue=17 |doi=10.4000/ref.952 |issn=2258-014X}} In the work of Hegel, imagination, though not given as much importance as by his predecessors, served as a starting point for the defense of Hegelian phenomenology. Hegel distinguished between a phenomenological account of imagination, which focuses on the lived experience and consciousness, and a scientific, speculative account, which seeks to understand the nature and function of imagination in a systematic and theoretical manner.{{Cite book |last=Bates |first=Jennifer |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book4857 |title=Hegel's Theory of Imagination |date=2004 |publisher=State University of New York Press |doi=10.1353/book4857 |isbn=978-0-7914-8445-6}}

Between 1913 and 1916, Carl Jung developed the concept of "active imagination" and introduced it into psychotherapy.{{cite book |title=The Art of C.G. Jung |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-393-25487-7 |editor1-last=Hoerni |editor1-first=Ulrich |page=260 |editor2-last=Fischer |editor2-first=Thomas |editor3-last=Kaufmann |editor3-first=Bettina}} For Jung, active imagination often includes working with dreams and the creative self via imagination or fantasy. It is a meditation technique wherein the contents of one's unconscious are translated into images, narratives, or personified as separate entities, thus serving as a bridge between the conscious "ego" and the unconscious.{{Cite book |last=Jung |first=C. G.Hg |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400866854/html |title=Jung on Active Imagination |date=1997-12-31 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6685-4 |doi=10.1515/9781400866854}}

{{see also|active imagination}}

Albert Einstein famously said: "Imagination... is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."{{Cite book |last=The Saturday Evening Post |url=http://archive.org/details/WhatLifeMeansToEinstein |title=What Life Means to Einstein An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck |date=1929-10-26}}

Nikola Tesla described imagination as: "When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference whatever, the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything."{{Cite book |last=Tesla |first=Nikola |url=http://archive.org/details/myinventionsauto0000tesl |title=My inventions : the autobiography of Nikola Tesla |date=1982 |publisher=Williston, Vt. : Hart Bros. |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-910077-00-2}}

The phenomenology of imagination is discussed in The Imaginary: A Phenomenological Psychology of the Imagination ({{langx|fr|L'Imaginaire: Psychologie phénoménologique de l'imagination}}), also published under the title The Psychology of the Imagination, a 1940 book by Jean-Paul Sartre. In this book, Sartre propounded his concept of imagination, with imaginary objects being "melanges of past impressions and recent knowledge," and discussed what the existence of imagination shows about the nature of human consciousness.{{Cite book |last=Sartre |first=Jean-Paul |title=The Psychology of the Imagination |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1972 |isbn=9780415119542 |location=London |oclc=34102867 |orig-year=1940}} Based on Sartre's work, subsequent thinkers extended this idea into the realm of sociology, proposing ideas such as imaginary and the ontology of imagination.John B. Thompson, Studies in the Theory of Ideology (1984) p. 6John R. Searle, The Construction of Social Reality (Penguin 1996) p. 4

Imagination has been, and continues to be a well-acknowledged concept in many cultures, particularly within religious contexts, as an image-forming faculty of the mind.{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350050167 |title=Imagination : Cross-Cultural Philosophical Analyses |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-350-05013-6 |pages=13–15|doi=10.5040/9781350050167 }} In Buddhist aesthetics, imagination plays a crucial role in religious practice, especially in visualization practices, which include the recollection of the Buddha's body, visualization of celestial Buddhas and Buddha-fields (Pure Lands and mandalas), and devotion to images.{{Cite book |last=Copp |first=Paul |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/copp16270/html |title=The Body Incantatory: Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism |date=2014-12-31 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-16270-8 |doi=10.7312/copp16270}}{{Cite book |last=Dalton |first=Jacob P. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7312/dalt20582 |title=Conjuring the Buddha |date=2023-01-16 |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/dalt20582 |isbn=978-0-231-55618-7}}

In Zhuang Zi's Taoism, imagination is perceived as a complex mental activity that is championed as a vital form of cognition. It is defended on empathetic grounds but discredited by the rational intellect as only a presentation and fantasy.

{{see also|Mental image|Imagery}}

Memory and mental imagery are two mental activities involved in the process of imagination, each influencing the other.{{Cite journal |last=Long |first=Priscilla |date=2009-12-01 |title=My Brain On My Mind |url=https://theamericanscholar.org/my-brain-on-my-mind/ |journal=The American Scholar}} Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology shows that remembering and imagining activate the identical parts of the brain. When compared to the recall of common ideas, the generation of new and old original ideas exhibits a similar activation pattern, particularly in the bilateral parahippocampal and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regions. This suggests that the construction of new ideas relies on processes similar to those in the reconstruction of original ideas from episodic memory.{{Cite journal |last1=Benedek |first1=Mathias |last2=Schües |first2=Till |last3=Beaty |first3=Roger E. |last4=Jauk |first4=Emanuel |last5=Koschutnig |first5=Karl |last6=Fink |first6=Andreas |last7=Neubauer |first7=Aljoscha C. |date=2018-02-01 |title=To create or to recall original ideas: Brain processes associated with the imagination of novel object uses |journal=Cortex |volume=99 |pages=93–102 |doi=10.1016/j.cortex.2017.10.024 |issn=0010-9452 |pmc=5796649 |pmid=29197665}}

Imagination can also contribute to the formation of false memories. For example, when participants read a description of being lost in a shopping mall and were asked to write out and imagine the event, around 25% later recalled it as a real memory, despite it never having occurred.{{Cite journal |last=Loftus |first=Elizabeth F. |date=May 1993 |title=The reality of repressed memories. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.48.5.518 |journal=American Psychologist |language=en |volume=48 |issue=5 |pages=518–537 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.48.5.518 |pmid=8507050 |issn=1935-990X}} This may be due to similar brain areas being involved in both imagining and remembering, particularly areas associated with visual imagery. An fMRI study found that participants who imagined objects after hearing verbal prompts sometimes later falsely remembered seeing them.{{Cite journal |last1=Gonsalves |first1=Brian |last2=Reber |first2=Paul J. |last3=Gitelman |first3=Darren R. |last4=Parrish |first4=Todd B. |last5=Mesulam |first5=M.-Marsel |last6=Paller |first6=Ken A. |date=October 2004 |title=Neural Evidence That Vivid Imagining Can Lead to False Remembering |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00736.x |journal=Psychological Science |language=en |volume=15 |issue=10 |pages=655–660 |doi=10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00736.x |issn=0956-7976}} This was linked to increased activity in the precuneus and inferior parietal cortex, suggesting that overlap between imagination and perception may lead to memory distortions. Imagination has also been shown to influence memory by increasing a person’s confidence that an imagined event actually occurred, a process known as imagination inflation.{{Cite journal |last1=Garry |first1=Maryanne |last2=Manning |first2=Charles G. |last3=Loftus |first3=Elizabeth F. |last4=Sherman |first4=Steven J. |date=June 1996 |title=Imagination inflation: Imagining a childhood event inflates confidence that it occurred |url=http://link.springer.com/10.3758/BF03212420 |journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=208–214 |doi=10.3758/BF03212420 |pmid=24213869 |issn=1069-9384}} When individuals vividly imagine an event they initially believe did not happen, they begin to feel more certain that it did occur, even without supporting evidence. In this way, imagination can blur the line between real and imagined experiences, making it difficult to distinguish between true and false memories.

Piaget posited that a person's perceptions depend on their world view. The world view is the result of arranging perceptions into existing imagery by imagination. Piaget cites the example of a child saying that the moon is following her when she walks around the village at night. Like this, perceptions are integrated into the world view so that they make sense. Imagination is needed to make sense of perceptions.{{cite book |last=Piaget |first=J. |title=The child's conception of the world |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1967 |location=London |translator-last1=Tomlinson |translator-first1=J. |translator-last2=Tomlinson |translator-first2=A.}}

The neocortex and thalamus are crucial in controlling the brain's imagination, as well as other functions such as consciousness and abstract thought. Imagination involves many different brain functions, including emotions, memory, and thoughts.{{Cite journal |last=Abraham |first=Anna |date=2016-10-06 |title=The imaginative mind |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23300 |journal=Human Brain Mapping |volume=37 |issue=11 |pages=4197–4211 |doi=10.1002/hbm.23300 |pmid=27453527 |pmc=6867574 |issn=1065-9471}}{{Cite journal |last=Hustvedt |first=Siri |date=January 2011 |title=Three Emotional Stories: Reflections on Memory, the Imagination, Narrative, and the Self |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2011.10773674 |journal=Neuropsychoanalysis |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=187–196 |doi=10.1080/15294145.2011.10773674 |issn=1529-4145}}

Visual imagery involves a network of brain areas from the frontal cortex to sensory areas, overlapping with the default mode network, and can function much like a weak version of afferent perception.{{Cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Joel |date=October 2019 |title=The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-019-0202-9 |journal=Nature Reviews Neuroscience |language=en |volume=20 |issue=10 |pages=624–634 |doi=10.1038/s41583-019-0202-9 |pmid=31384033 |issn=1471-003X}}

A study that used fMRI while subjects were asked to imagine precise visual figures, to mentally disassemble them, or mentally blend them, showed activity in the occipital, frontoparietal, posterior parietal, precuneus, and dorsolateral prefrontal regions of the subject's brains.{{cite journal |last1=Schlegel |first1=Alexander |last2=Kohler |first2=Peter J. |last3=Fogelson |first3=Sergey V. |last4=Alexander |first4=Prescott |last5=Konuthula |first5=Dedeepya |last6=Tse |first6=Peter Ulric |date=16 September 2013 |title=Network structure and dynamics of the mental workspace |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=110 |issue=40 |pages=16277–16282 |bibcode=2013PNAS..11016277S |doi=10.1073/pnas.1311149110 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=3791746 |pmid=24043842 |doi-access=free}}

Imagination is crucial to children’s mental, emotional, and social development. Children often engage in pretend play, using their imagination to create and act out scenarios through role-playing, symbolic use of objects, and more. This can support the development of new cognitive structures and abilities by encouraging skills such as reflection, role-integration, language, and representation, which contribute to a deeper understanding of social relationships and perspectives.{{Cite journal |last=Fink |first=Robert S. |date=December 1976 |title=Role of Imaginative Play in Cognitive Development |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2466/pr0.1976.39.3.895 |journal=Psychological Reports |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=895–906 |doi=10.2466/pr0.1976.39.3.895 |issn=0033-2941}} It also supports early reading development by helping children make sense of texts, apply them to new contexts, and explore their meaning through role-play and movement.{{Cite journal |last1=Nehal |first1=Mitasha |last2=Rule |first2=Peter N. |date=2018-06-27 |title=Imaginative play and reading development among Grade R learners in KwaZulu-Natal: An ethnographic case study |url=https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/518 |journal=South African Journal of Childhood Education |volume=8 |issue=1 |doi=10.4102/sajce.v8i1.518 |issn=2223-7682}} This allows reading to become a more interactive process, improving understanding in a child-centred way. Furthermore, research suggests that pretend play is linked to the development of emotion regulation. Children who engage in pretend play, especially with caregivers, may show better emotion regulation skills, highlighting the broader benefits of imagination for social and emotional development.{{Cite journal |last1=Galyer |first1=Karma T. |last2=Evans |first2=Ian M. |date=January 2001 |title=Pretend Play and the Development of Emotion Regulation in Preschool Children |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0300443011660108 |journal=Early Child Development and Care |language=en |volume=166 |issue=1 |pages=93–108 |doi=10.1080/0300443011660108 |issn=0300-4430}} Similarly, imaginative play fosters executive function (EF), including both hot EF (related to emotions) and cool EF (related to cognitive information processing). Studies have shown that imaginative play not only strengthens these cognitive abilities but also contributes to the development of prosocial behaviors.{{Cite journal |last1=Bauer |first1=Rebecca H. |last2=Gilpin |first2=Ansley T. |last3=Thibodeau-Nielsen |first3=Rachel B. |date=December 2021 |title=Executive functions and imaginative play: Exploring relations with prosocial behaviors using structural equation modeling |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2211949321000168 |journal=Trends in Neuroscience and Education |language=en |volume=25 |pages=100165 |doi=10.1016/j.tine.2021.100165|pmid=34844695 }}

Imagination plays a key role in decision-making by allowing individuals to mentally simulate different scenarios and outcomes. Through imagination, people can explore potential consequences of their choices, consider alternative paths, and assess risks without directly experiencing them. This enhances problem-solving skills and supports informed decisions by allowing individuals to anticipate future outcomes and evaluate various possibilities.{{Cite journal |last=Nanay |first=Bence |date=February 2016 |title=The Role of Imagination in Decision-Making |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mila.12097 |journal=Mind & Language |language=en |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=127–143 |doi=10.1111/mila.12097 |issn=0268-1064}} Imagination also plays a role in improving decision-making by encouraging greater patience. It was found that when individuals were prompted to envision future outcomes as part of a sequence, they tended to be more patient in their choices.{{Cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=Adrianna C. |last2=Hsu |first2=Ming |date=July 2017 |title=Dissociable Contributions of Imagination and Willpower to the Malleability of Human Patience |journal=Psychological Science |language=en |volume=28 |issue=7 |pages=894–906 |doi=10.1177/0956797617698133 |issn=0956-7976 |pmc=5507764 |pmid=28504898}} This effect has been linked to increased activity in brain regions associated with imagination, suggesting that imagining future scenarios can support more thoughtful decisions.

Various studies have shown that imagination can play a role in well-being. Goal-directed imagination, where individuals mentally simulate achieving personal goals, has been shown to influence mental health. A study found that clearer, more detailed, and more positive goal-directed imagination was associated with higher well-being and fewer depressive symptoms.{{Cite journal |last1=Gamble |first1=Beau |last2=Tippett |first2=Lynette J. |last3=Moreau |first3=David |last4=Addis |first4=Donna Rose |date=July 2021 |title=The Futures We Want: How Goal-Directed Imagination Relates to Mental Health |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167702620986096 |journal=Clinical Psychological Science |language=en |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=732–751 |doi=10.1177/2167702620986096 |hdl=2292/65008 |issn=2167-7026}} These findings suggest that encouraging goal-directed imagination could be a valuable tool in psychological interventions aimed at improving mental health. Similarly, imagery-based cognitive bias modification, an intervention that involves imagining positive outcomes, can enhance the vividness of positive future thinking, reduce negative affect and anxiety, and increase optimism in adults.{{Cite journal |last1=Murphy |first1=Susannah E. |last2=Clare O’Donoghue |first2=M. |last3=Drazich |first3=Erin H.S. |last4=Blackwell |first4=Simon E. |last5=Christina Nobre |first5=Anna |last6=Holmes |first6=Emily A. |date=November 2015 |title=Imagining a brighter future: The effect of positive imagery training on mood, prospective mental imagery and emotional bias in older adults |journal=Psychiatry Research |language=en |volume=230 |issue=1 |pages=36–43 |doi=10.1016/j.psychres.2015.07.059 |pmc=4593863 |pmid=26235478}} One real-world example of using imagination in therapy to support mental health is imagery rescripting, a technique that involves mentally revisiting and altering distressing memories to reduce their emotional impact. This method encourages individuals to reimagine a traumatic or negative event with a more positive ending, which can help reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD.{{Cite journal |last=Arntz |first=Arnoud |date=April 2012 |title=Imagery Rescripting as a Therapeutic Technique: Review of Clinical Trials, Basic Studies, and Research Agenda |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5127/jep.024211 |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychopathology |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=189–208 |doi=10.5127/jep.024211 |issn=2043-8087}} By changing the emotional tone of the memory through imagination, patients often experience a greater sense of control and emotional relief, making the original event feel less threatening.

However, while imagination can be a powerful tool for mental health interventions, it may also contribute to psychological distress when dysregulated. Disruptions in imaginative processes are common in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) and may play a role in symptoms such as distorted self-perception and altered reality processing.{{Cite journal |last1=Rasmussen |first1=Andreas Rosén |last2=Raballo |first2=Andrea |last3=Preti |first3=Antonio |last4=Sæbye |first4=Ditte |last5=Parnas |first5=Josef |date=2022-01-17 |title=Anomalies of Imagination, Self-Disorders, and Schizophrenia Spectrum Psychopathology: A Network Analysis |journal=Frontiers in Psychiatry |volume=12 |doi=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.808009 |doi-access=free |issn=1664-0640 |pmc=8801416 |pmid=35111092}} Imagination has also been found to be closely linked to the sense of identity, and disturbances in embodiment may contribute to challenges in self-experience associated with these conditions.{{Cite journal |last1=Gozé |first1=Tudi |last2=Fazakas |first2=Istvan |date=2020 |title=Imagination and Self Disorders in Schizophrenia: A Review |url=https://karger.com/article/doi/10.1159/000509488 |journal=Psychopathology |language=en |volume=53 |issue=5–6 |pages=264–273 |doi=10.1159/000509488 |pmid=33059352 |issn=0254-4962}} Maladaptive daydreaming (MDD) is another example of how imagination can lead to distress when not regulated. Unlike regular daydreaming, MDD is understood as a form of unusual imagination that is vivid and addictive, which often involves fantasizing about an idealized self. Research found that MDD is associated with emotional and functional distress, highlighting the potential impact of excessive imagination.{{Cite journal |last1=Shanbhag |first1=Trusha |last2=Pothiyil |first2=Dan Isaac |date=November 2024 |title=A Cognitive Approach to Maladaptive Daydreaming |journal=Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine |language=en |volume=46 |issue=6 |pages=585–588 |doi=10.1177/02537176241236898 |issn=0253-7176 |pmc=11558703 |pmid=39545109}}

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Phylogenetic acquisition of imagination was a gradual process. The simplest form of imagination, REM-sleep dreaming, evolved in mammals with acquisition of REM sleep 140 million years ago.{{cite journal |last1=Hobson |first1=J. Allan |date=1 October 2009 |title=REM sleep and dreaming: towards a theory of protoconsciousness |journal=Nature Reviews Neuroscience |volume=10 |issue=11 |pages=803–813 |doi=10.1038/nrn2716 |pmid=19794431 |s2cid=205505278}} Spontaneous insight improved in primates with acquisition of the lateral prefrontal cortex 70 million years ago. After hominins split from the chimpanzee line 6 million years ago they further improved their imagination. Prefrontal analysis was acquired 3.3 million years ago when hominins started to manufacture Mode One stone tools.{{cite journal |last1=Harmand |first1=Sonia |last2=Lewis |first2=Jason E. |last3=Feibel |first3=Craig S. |last4=Lepre |first4=Christopher J. |last5=Prat |first5=Sandrine |last6=Lenoble |first6=Arnaud |last7=Boës |first7=Xavier |last8=Quinn |first8=Rhonda L. |last9=Brenet |first9=Michel |last10=Arroyo |first10=Adrian |last11=Taylor |first11=Nicholas |last12=Clément |first12=Sophie |last13=Daver |first13=Guillaume |last14=Brugal |first14=Jean-Philip |last15=Leakey |first15=Louise |date=20 May 2015 |title=3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya |url=https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8697F75/download |journal=Nature |volume=521 |issue=7552 |pages=310–315 |bibcode=2015Natur.521..310H |doi=10.1038/nature14464 |pmid=25993961 |s2cid=1207285 |last16=Mortlock |first16=Richard A. |last17=Wright |first17=James D. |last18=Lokorodi |first18=Sammy |last19=Kirwa |first19=Christopher |last20=Kent |first20=Dennis V. |last21=Roche |first21=Hélène}} Progress in stone tools culture to Mode Two stone tools by 2 million years ago signifies remarkable improvement of prefrontal analysis. The most advanced mechanism of imagination, prefrontal synthesis, was likely acquired by humans around 70,000 years ago and resulted in behavioral modernity.{{cite journal |last1=Vyshedsky |first1=Andrey |year=2019 |title=Neuroscience of Imagination and Implications for Human Evolution |url=http://currentneurobiology.org/neurobiology/neuroscience-of-imagination-and-implications-for-humanevolution.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Current Neurobiology |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=89–109 |issn=0975-9042 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531155035/http://currentneurobiology.org/neurobiology/neuroscience-of-imagination-and-implications-for-humanevolution.pdf |archive-date=2019-05-31}} This leap toward modern imagination has been characterized by paleoanthropologists as the "Cognitive revolution",{{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval N. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780099590088 |title=Sapiens: a brief history of humankind |year=2014 |isbn=9781846558245 |location=London |publisher=Harvill Secker |oclc=890244744 |url-access=registration}} "Upper Paleolithic Revolution",{{Cite journal |last=Bar-Yosef |first=Ofer |date=October 2002 |title=The Upper Paleolithic Revolution |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=363–393 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.31.040402.085416 |issn=0084-6570}} and the "Great Leap Forward".{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared M. |title=The third chimpanzee: the evolution and future of the human animal |publisher=HarperPerennial |year=2006 |isbn=0060845503 |location=New York |oclc=63839931}}

Moral imagination usually describes the mental capacity to find answers to ethical questions and dilemmas through the process of imagination and visualization. Different definitions of "moral imagination" can be found in the literature.{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=R. E. |title=The moral imagination of Patricia werhane: A festschrift |last2=Dmytriyev |first2=S. |last3=Wicks |first3=A. C. |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year=2018 |page=97}}

The philosopher Mark Johnson described it as "[an ability to imaginatively discern various possibilities for acting in a given situation and to envision the potential help and harm that are likely to result from a given action."{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=M. |title=Moral imagination |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1993 |location=Chicago |page=202}}

In one proposed example, Hitler's assassin Claus von Stauffenberg was said to have decided to dare to overthrow the Nazi regime as a result (among other factors) of a process of "moral imagination". His willingness to kill Hitler was less due to his compassion for his comrades, his family, or friends living at that time, but from thinking about the potential problems of later generations and people he did not know. In other words, through a process of moral imagination he was able to become concerned for "abstract" people (for example, Germans of later generations, people who were not yet alive, or people outside his reach).{{cite journal |last1=Langhof |first1=J. G. |last2=Gueldenberg |first2=S. |year=2021 |title=Whom to serve? Exploring the moral dimension of servant leadership: Answers from operation Valkyrie |journal=Journal of Management History |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=537–573 |doi=10.1108/jmh-09-2020-0056 |s2cid=238689370}}

{{For|imagination in artificial intelligence|Generative artificial intelligence}}As a subcomponent of artificial general intelligence, artificial imagination generates, simulates, and facilitates{{cite arXiv |eprint=2211.11602 |class=cs.LG |author1=Abramson, J. |author2=Ahuja, A |title=Improving Multimodal Interactive Agents with Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback |date=21 November 2022 |author3=Carnevale, F. |pages=26}} real or possible fiction models to create predictions, inventions,{{cite arXiv |eprint=2202.00728 |class=cs.LG |author1=Allen, K.R. |author2=Lopez-Guevara, T. |title=Physical Design using Differentiable Learned Simulators |date=1 February 2022 |author3=Stachenfeld, K. |author4=Sanchez-Gonzalez, A. |author5=Battaglia, P. |author6=Hamrick, J. |author7=Pfaff, T.}} or conscious experiences. The term also refers to the capability of machines or programs to simulate human activities, including creativity, vision, digital art, humour, and satire.{{Cite news |date=2023-06-16 |title=How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity |url=https://hbr.org/2023/07/how-generative-ai-can-augment-human-creativity |access-date=2023-06-20 |work=Harvard Business Review |issn=0017-8012}}

The research fields of artificial imagination traditionally include (artificial) visual{{cite book |author1=Thomee, B. |title=Proceedings of the 6th ACM international conference on Image and video retrieval |author2=Huiskes, M.J. |author3=Bakker, E. |author4=Lew, M.S. |date=July 2007 |publisher=ACM |isbn=9781595937339 |pages=127–130 |chapter=Visual information retrieval using synthesized imagery |doi=10.1145/1282280.1282303 |access-date=19 December 2023 |chapter-url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1282280.1282303?download=true |s2cid=11199318}} and aural imagination,AUDIO CONTENT TRANSMISSION by Xavier Amatriain & Perfecto Herrera, {{cite web |title=Publications |url=http://www.iua.upf.es/mtg/publications/dafx2001-xamat.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106033332/http://www.iua.upf.es/mtg/publications/dafx2001-xamat.pdf |archive-date=2007-01-06 |access-date=2007-12-22}} which extend to all actions involved in forming ideas, images, and concepts—activities linked to imagination. Practitioners are also exploring topics such as artificial visual memory, modeling and filtering content based on human emotions, and interactive search.{{Cite journal |last=Oliva |first=Aude |year=2008 |title=Visual long-term memory has a massive storage capacity for object details |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=105 |issue=38 |pages=14325–14329 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10514325B |doi=10.1073/pnas.0803390105 |pmc=2533687 |pmid=18787113 |doi-access=free}} Additionally, there is interest in how artificial imagination may evolve to create an artificial world comfortable enough for people to use as an escape from reality.Hypertext and “the Hyperreal” by Stuart Moulthrop, Yale University http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=74224.74246

A subfield of artificial imagination that receives rising concern is artificial morals. Artificial intelligence faces challenges regarding the responsibility for machines' mistakes or decisions{{Cite journal |last=Tigard |first=Daniel W. |date=2021-06-10 |title=Artificial Moral Responsibility: How We Can and Cannot Hold Machines Responsible |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0963180120000985 |journal=Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=435–447 |doi=10.1017/s0963180120000985 |pmid=34109925 |issn=0963-1801}}{{Cite journal |last1=Constantinescu |first1=Mihaela |last2=Vică |first2=Constantin |last3=Uszkai |first3=Radu |last4=Voinea |first4=Cristina |date=2022-04-12 |title=Blame It on the AI? On the Moral Responsibility of Artificial Moral Advisors |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13347-022-00529-z |journal=Philosophy & Technology |volume=35 |issue=2 |doi=10.1007/s13347-022-00529-z |issn=2210-5433}} and the difficulty in creating machines with universally accepted moral rules.{{Cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Colin |last2=Varner |first2=Gary |last3=Zinser |first3=Jason |date=July 2000 |title=Prolegomena to any future artificial moral agent |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09528130050111428 |journal=Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=251–261 |doi=10.1080/09528130050111428 |issn=0952-813X}} Recent research in artificial morals bypasses the strict definition of morality, using machine learning methods to train machines to imitate human morals instead.{{Cite journal |last1=Moser |first1=Christine |last2=den Hond |first2=Frank |last3=Lindebaum |first3=Dirk |date=March 2022 |title=Morality in the Age of Artificially Intelligent Algorithms |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amle.2020.0287 |journal=Academy of Management Learning & Education |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=139–155 |doi=10.5465/amle.2020.0287 |issn=1537-260X|hdl=1871.1/042dea52-f339-445e-932c-8a06c9a51c0a |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Floridi |first=Luciano |date=2016-12-28 |title=Faultless responsibility: on the nature and allocation of moral responsibility for distributed moral actions |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2016.0112 |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |volume=374 |issue=2083 |pages=20160112 |doi=10.1098/rsta.2016.0112 |pmid=28336791 |bibcode=2016RSPTA.37460112F |issn=1364-503X}} However, by considering data about moral decisions from thousands of people, the trained moral model may reflect widely accepted rules.

{{Portal|Philosophy|Psychology}}

• {{annotated link|Creative visualization}}
• {{annotated link|Creativity}}
• {{annotated link|Fantasy (psychology)}}
• {{annotated link|Imagery}}
• {{annotated link|The Imaginary (psychoanalysis)}}
• {{annotated link|Imaginary (sociology)}}
• {{annotated link|Imagination Age}}
• {{annotated link|Imagination inflation}}
• {{annotated link|Sociological imagination}}
• {{annotated link|Tulpa}}
• {{annotated link|Verisimilitude}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Wikiquote|imagination}}

{{NIE Poster|year=1905|Imagination}}

;Books

• Byrne, R. M. J. (2005). The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
• [https://unifi.academia.edu/PaoloFabiani Fabiani, Paolo "The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche". F.U.P. (Florence UP), Italian edition 2002, English edition 2009.]
• Salazar, Noel B. (2010) [http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=SalazarEnvisioning Envisioning Eden: Mobilizing imaginaries in tourism and beyond.] Oxford: Berghahn.
• {{cite journal | last1 = Wilson | first1 = J. G. | year = 2016 | title = Sartre and the Imagination: Top Shelf Magazines | journal = Sexuality & Culture | volume = 20 | issue = 4| pages = 775–784 | doi = 10.1007/s12119-016-9358-x | s2cid = 148101276 }}

;Articles

• Salazar, Noel B. (2020). [https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354067X20936927 On imagination and imaginaries, mobility and immobility: Seeing the forest for the trees.] Culture & Psychology 1–10.
• {{cite journal | last1 = Salazar | first1 = Noel B. | year = 2011 | title = The power of imagination in transnational mobilities | journal = Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power | volume = 18 | issue = 6| pages = 576–598 | doi = 10.1080/1070289X.2011.672859 | s2cid = 143420324 | url = https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/275464 }}
• Watkins, Mary: "Waking Dreams" [Harper Colophon Books, 1976] and "Invisible Guests - The Development of Imaginal Dialogues" [The Analytic Press, 1986]
• Moss, Robert: "The Three "Only" Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination" [New World Library, September 10, 2007]
• {{EB1911|wstitle=Imagination|volume=14|pages=304–305}}

Three philosophers for whom imagination is a central concept are Kendall Walton, John Sallis and Richard Kearney. See in particular:

• Kendall Walton, Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts. Harvard University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-674-57603-9}} (pbk.).
• John Sallis, Force of Imagination: The Sense of the Elemental (2000)
• John Sallis, Spacings-Of Reason and Imagination. In Texts of Kant, Fichte, Hegel (1987)
• Richard Kearney, The Wake of Imagination. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press (1988); 1st Paperback Edition- ({{ISBN|0-8166-1714-7}})
• Richard Kearney, "Poetics of Imagining: Modern to Post-modern." Fordham University Press (1998)

{{Wiktionary-inline|imagination}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Imagination|lcfirst=yes}}

• {{In Our Time|Imagination|p00548lc|Imagination}}
• [http://www.co-bw.com/BrainConciousness%20Update%20index.htm Imagination, Mental Imagery, Consciousness, and Cognition: Scientific, Philosophical and Historical Approaches]
• [https://archive.today/20121228013431/http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=Two-Factor+Imagination+Scale&all=yes&cs=UTF-8&cat=Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/Intelligence/Emotional_Intelligence/Online_Tests Two-Factor Imagination Scale] at the Open Directory Project
• {{cite web|title=The neuroscience of imagination |url=http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-neuroscience-of-imagination-andrey-vyshedskiy|website=TED-Ed}}

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Category:Cognition

Category:Mental processes