Daydreaming as spontaneous immersive imagination: A phenomenological analysis
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences April 4, 2024 E. O. Lawson, Evan Thompson 9 citations
Daydreaming is often conflated with mind-wandering or night dreaming in philosophy and cognitive neuroscience, but it has distinct features. This paper argues that daydreams are experiences of spontaneous, immersive imagination during wakefulness, not reducible to either mind-wandering or narrative imagination. The authors distinguish prototypical daydreaming from fleeting imagery and focused visualization, aiming to clarify its phenomenal core—its dreamlike qualities. They propose that precise conceptual and phenomenological distinctions can guide future neurophenomenological studies, help measure individual differences, and eventually identify unique neural correlates for daydreaming versus mind-wandering and night dreaming.