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The Neural Complexities of Human Imagination
Our imagination is unique among the animal kingdom, yet there is no designated region for it in the brain.
Things like imagination or assigning meaning to something are innate qualities of our species, and among the features that set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Yet, perhaps because imagination comes so naturally to us, we rarely think about its complexity.
Imagination is typically associated with kids and make-believe, and while it does play a crucial role in childhood, we adults use our imagination all the time at work and at home. I’m using mine right now to create this article that you’re reading. In fact, we use our imagination so often that it’s challenging to, well, imagine our lives without the ability.
But if our imagination is such an integral part of us, where did it come from, and where does it reside in our brains?
Where Did Our Imagination Come From?
It’s easy to see that the human imagination is quite remarkable. Because of it, we have Shakespeare’s plays and Jane Austen’s novels, music by the Beatles, and sprawling cities. We used imagination to put people on the Moon, create the internet, and develop the atomic bomb.
