Oh where were we? Right. DNews.

Hi there, Julia here for DNews. Ever been lost in a daydream? Ever had trouble separating

imagination from reality? Yeah me too. But there is a difference, and scientists have

discovered what it is. Turns out when you are revelling on a beach with Benedict Cumberbatch

your brain is running in the opposite direction of reality. Literally.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin identified the neural pathways in which daydreams

and reality travel and they appear to be heading in opposite directions. The researchers tracked

the electrical activity of subjects, using EEG, or electroencephalography. EEGS are noninvasive

sensors placed on the scalp, it looks like a sci-fi hair net. Some subjects imagined

riding a bike while focusing on details, like shapes and colors, and then watched silent

nature videos. The other subjects watched short videos and then replayed them in their

head.

What the scientists found was surprising. Neural activity seemed to flow in specific

directions. For those imagining scenes, the information flowed from parietal lobe to the

occipital lobe. From a higher–order region that synthesizes information from the senses

to a lower order region, where the visual information is registered.

When taking in information from reality, the information followed the reverse path, from

the occipital lobe “up” to the parietal lobe.

How about people who seem to confuse reality and daydreams? They might be lacking a specific

fold in the brain, called the paracingulate sulcus, or PCS. Those with the fold have an

easier time remembering if something actually happened or if they just imagined it. They

also perform better on memory tests. The size of the PCS fold varies naturally within people,

some people just have larger ones than others. Unfortunately, the fold forms just before

birth so there’s not much you can do if you don’t have one or if yours is small.

So where does imagination happen in the brain? Imagination has been a tricky thing to pin

down. Imagination and creativity used to be considered the domain of the “so-called”

right brain. Which is now pretty much considered junk science.

Some scientists consider the hippocampus to be a prime location for imagination. It’s

active in both imagining and remembering images and events. This close location

could be one of the reasons memory is so unreliable.

Yet researchers from Dartmouth University have found out that the imagination isn’t

isolated to just one part of the brain. 12 regions across the brain seem to play a part

in imagining. The so called mental playground is a large cortical and subcortical network

across the brain. It’s a place where you can visualize and play around with images.

We can combine shapes or see scenarios which may not even happen in real life. Which makes

sense, since imagining something requires a lot of different processes. It blends emotions,

memory, thoughts, and more to make-up something completely different.

These types of studies can help us understand what makes us separate from other species.

What gives humans our imaginative edge? And they could potentially lead to new tools to

find out what happens when we sleep and dream. Or could lead to a new cognitive neuroscientific

theory on consciousness.

What do you think? Do you ever get lost in a daydream?

How contrary to reality is your imagination?

Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe here for more DNews every

day of the week.