Adam Zeman, "The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination" (Bloomsbury, 2025)
About this episode
Adam Zeman discusses the science of imagination and its role in our daily lives.
A compelling insight into how our imagination works, based on the latest scientific research. People often think of imagination as something used only in creative endeavours. In fact, we use imagination constantly as we reminisce, anticipate, plan, daydream, read, create imagined worlds. The truth is we live in the here and now much less than we tend to think. Imagination isn't the exception in our daily lives; it's our default setting. Yet only now are we beginning to understand exactly how it works.From hallucination to sleepwalking, from REM sleep to delusions, neurologist Adam Zeman brilliantly guides us through the latest scientific studies in the world of the imagination. In The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination (Bloomsbury, 2025), he draws on research in neuroscience, the study of human origins and child development to show how the human brain is above all else a creative, imaginative organ – and that we have evolved to share what we imagine.Our brains behave in strikingly similar ways when we observe, remember, imagine or act. Imagine looking at a cube and your eye will trace the contours of the cube as if you were actually seeing it. Yet it turns out…
People in this episode
Guest: Adam Zeman
Topics covered
- imagination
- neurology
- creativity
- scientific research
- human brain
- child development
Keywords
- imagination
- neurology
- creativity
- human brain
- scientific studies
- child development
- sensory imagery
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Bloomsbury
Books & works: The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination
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