Summary: Vividly imagining a positive interaction with someone can increase how much you like them and even change how your brain encodes information about that person. In a new study, participants developed stronger preferences after imagining rewarding encounters, and brain scans showed activity in reward-learning circuits similar to what occurs during real positive experiences.
These results show that imagination is an active cognitive process that helps form expectations, guide motivation, and influence future choices. The findings suggest practical applications for improving relationships, reducing social anxiety, and enhancing performance with guided imagery.
Key Facts
- Imagination Shapes Preference: People reported greater liking for acquaintances after vividly imagining positive moments with them.
- Reward Circuit Activation: Brain regions involved in reward prediction and learning responded to imagined experiences similarly to real rewards.
- Practical Potential: Guided imagination techniques could support mental health, ease social tensions, and aid skill development.
Source: University of Colorado
Overview
A study published Dec. 10 in Nature Communications shows that merely imagining a pleasant meeting with someone can change both how much you like them and how your brain stores information about that person. Led by cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, the research provides evidence that vivid mental imagery can produce measurable neural and behavioral effects.
The authors suggest the results could guide new approaches for mental health treatment, relationship building, and improving performance in fields like sports or music.
“We show that we can learn from imagined experiences, and it works very much the same way in the brain as when we learn from actual experiences,” said Roland Benoit, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder and senior author of the study. First author Aroma Dabas, who conducted the work while a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute, added: “Imagination is not passive. It can actively shape what we expect and what we choose.”
What imagination and memory have in common
Past research has found overlap between the brain systems we use to remember the past and those we use to imagine the future. Children typically gain the ability to remember and to imagine around age three, and both abilities often decline together in older adults. People with damage to memory centers of the brain also struggle to imagine new experiences.
Because memory and imagination share neural machinery, the researchers hypothesized that people might be able to learn from imagined events in a way that resembles learning from real events.
To test this, the team recruited 50 volunteers for an experiment that combined behavioral tests with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The study focused on reward prediction error, a core mechanism for forming preferences and learning. A reward prediction error occurs when an outcome is more rewarding than expected; the brain releases dopamine and strengthens neural connections, promoting a lasting change in preference or behavior.
Participants first listed 30 people they knew and ranked them from liked to neutral to disliked. While inside the fMRI scanner, they were shown names of those rated as neutral and asked to vividly imagine, for eight seconds, either a positive or a negative interaction with each named person. Later tests asked participants to indicate how much they liked each acquaintance.
Those who imagined enjoyable encounters came to prefer the people they had pictured more than before. fMRI data revealed that the ventral striatum, a key region for signaling reward prediction errors, was more active during imaginations that produced stronger changes in liking. Activity in the ventral striatum appeared to work with the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, a region linked to storing person-specific memories, suggesting a neural pathway by which imagined rewards update social preferences.
“This provides a mechanism-level explanation for how vividly imagining future scenarios — like conversations, social meetings, or challenges — can affect motivation, avoidance tendencies, and later choices,” said Dabas.
Practical applications and cautions
The study points to several practical uses for guided imagination. In psychotherapy, imagining feared situations might complement or, in some cases, substitute for real-life exposure when treating phobias or social anxiety. At work, intentionally imagining positive interactions could reduce tension with colleagues. Athletes and performers might use vivid mental practice to enhance confidence and skill.
However, imagination is not inherently beneficial. People with anxiety or depression often imagine negative outcomes vividly, which can deepen distress. Benoit warned: “You can paint the world black just by imagining it.” Interestingly, the study did not find consistent evidence that imagining negative interactions made participants dislike people more; further research will explore why that asymmetry emerged.
The main takeaway: deliberately imagining better interactions can shape expectations and preferences in ways that influence real-life behavior.
Key Questions Answered
A: Yes. Participants formed stronger liking for individuals after vividly imagining positive moments with them.
A: The brain’s reward-learning circuitry, including the ventral striatum, activates in response to imagined positive surprises, signaling updates to preference.
A: Imagination-based approaches may help build relationships, reduce anxiety, and support therapeutic or performance-related interventions.
Editorial Notes
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- The journal paper was reviewed in full by the editorial team.
- Additional context was added by staff to clarify implications and limitations.
About this social neuroscience research news
Author: Lisa Marshall
Source: University of Colorado
Contact: Lisa Marshall, University of Colorado
Image: Image credit: Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Learning from imagined experiences via an endogenous prediction error” by Aroma Dabas et al., Nature Communications.
Abstract
Learning from imagined experiences via an endogenous prediction error
Experiences shape preferences, especially when they differ from our expectations and produce prediction errors. This study shows that prediction errors are not limited to real events: they can also arise from vividly imagined scenarios. Participants repeatedly chose between acquaintances and imagined interacting with them. Those who pictured unexpectedly pleasant events developed stronger preferences for those acquaintances. Computational modeling indicates these changes are driven by prediction errors generated during imagination. Functional MRI results show striatal activity mediates these endogenous prediction errors and appears to update cortical representations of individual people. Overall, the findings demonstrate that imaginings can violate our expectations and drive learning by engaging neural systems involved in reinforcement learning.