How does imagination work in the brain?

Visualization is a beneficial ability that comes from a combination of innate ability and practical experience.

Imagine a soccer match where the score is tied and the two teams are about to take a penalty shootout. The crowd is roaring with excitement, and the team is counting on you to score the winning goal. In that situation, can you visualize what will happen in the specific visual and action details?

Some people can visualize things and events accurately, while others cannot (Photo: Getty Images).

Scientists are trying to understand why some people can visualize such situations in their minds easily, while others cannot, or even why one person may be better or worse at one thing at a time than another.

The brain and mental imagery

Mental imagery is the ability to visualize objects and situations in your mind without needing actual input.

For example, when you think of a close friend, you may immediately see that person's face in your mind without seeing that person in person. When you fantasize about an upcoming vacation, you may see yourself at a beautiful beach.

A soccer player preparing to take a penalty kick might visualize himself watching a video, or even smell the grass or hear the cheers of the crowd.

The visual cortex influences both real and imagined image construction (Photo: Coxer/Wiki).

Scientists believe that the primary visual cortex , located at the back of the brain, is involved in constructing mental images. This is also the part of the brain that processes visual information actually received by the eyes.

Another area of ​​the brain located just in front of the forehead is also involved in creating mental images. This is the prefrontal cortex , which is responsible for executive functions, which are the higher mental skills that allow you to focus, plan, organize, and reason. These skills are more or less related to each person's ability to create mental images.

The prefrontal cortex controls executive functions (Photo: US National Institute of Mental Health/ Wiki).

Experience and remember

Most brain regions are equally active when you are physically experiencing something as when you are visualizing it in your mind.

For example, when you see a beautiful scene directly, your brain creates a memory of that image; but this memory is not simply stored in one place in the brain, but is created when thousands of brain cells work together to interact with each other.

Later, when a sound, smell or image reminds you of that beautiful scene, the network of brain cells is activated again and you can see that beautiful scene very clearly in your mind as if you were actually standing there.

Benefits of Visualization

Mental visualization is very helpful. Look at the face of a gymnast and see the concentration before a competition. It is as if the gymnast is visualizing himself performing a perfect move during practice.

Every time he practices, the brain regions that are used, visualizing this moment, when he is preparing to enter a competition, also activates those same brain regions, helping him gain confidence and preparing his brain to repeat what has brought success before.

Building mental imagery can help athletes perform difficult moves (Photo: Koki Nagahama/ Getty Images).

Athletes can use visualization to help them build skills more quickly and with less effort. Engineers and mechanics can use it to repair and design things. Mental visualization can also help people who have had a brain injury relearn how to move their bodies more quickly.

Innate - experiential interaction

If you find it difficult to visualize in your head, that's okay. This ability is a result of a combination of your brain's ability to function and your real-life experiences.

Taxi drivers, for example, need to navigate complex city streets, and over time, their experience causes changes in the structure of their brains. Specifically, their hippocampus, an area of ​​the brain involved in memory, grows larger.

Scientists believe that the training involved visualizing a map of winding streets, which helped them visualize better, affecting the hippocampus, and in turn, this brain region developed, helping them improve their navigation skills.

Additionally, watching someone else perform a physical activity stimulates the same brain regions as creating mental imagery within your own brain.

If you want to be able to do something, watching videos of other people doing it can be just as effective as visualizing yourself doing it. So even if you don't have a natural ability to create mental images, there are ways to improve your ability.