Imagination Explained: Brain Silences Signals To Sculpt Mental Images In Reverse

On April 21–22, 2026, neuroscientists from the University of Technology Sydney and collaborators unveiled a groundbreaking explanation of how imagination functions in the brain. Their findings challenge decades of conventional wisdom, offering a fresh perspective on how humans visualize, dream, and create mental imagery.

Imagination As Seeing In Reverse

Traditionally, scientists believed imagination mirrored vision: starting with abstract ideas and reconstructing them into images through feedback signals. The new theory argues imagination instead sculpts mental images by modulating existing brain activity, reducing or amplifying signals rather than generating them outright.

Brain Energy And Background Activity

The brain consumes about 20% of the body’s energy, with most of it spent on spontaneous neural activity.

Even when reading or watching, external stimuli alter brain activity by only about 1%.

Imagination taps into this background static, reshaping it into coherent mental images.

Implications For Neuroscience

Creativity and dreaming: Suggests imagination relies on silencing irrelevant signals to form vivid mental pictures.

Mental health research: Could inform treatments for hallucinations or intrusive thoughts, where feedback activity misfires.

AI and brain-inspired computing: Offers insights into how artificial systems might replicate human imagination.

Key Highlights

•⁠  ⁠New theory published in Psychological Review redefines imagination as modulation, not creation

•⁠  ⁠Imagination silences background brain activity to form mental images

•⁠  ⁠Vision works via feedforward activity; imagination uses feedback signals differently

•⁠  ⁠Findings may impact creativity research, mental health, and AI development

•⁠  ⁠Challenges decades-old view that imagination is simply “seeing in reverse”

Sources: The Conversation, University of Technology Sydney, Medical Xpress