The "Instinct" of Imagination. A Neuro-Ethological Approach to the Evolution of the Reflective Mind and Its Application to Psychotherapy.
Antonio Alcaro, Stefano Carta
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2018 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00522 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Keywords | Affective Consciousness Dream images Emotion Mentalization Noetic Self |
| Key points | Proposes that the core-Self's emotional dispositions are organized into dynamic mental structures through intrinsic self-referential processing, and that psychotherapy should facilitate a shift from extrinsic perception to a void feeling-state to reactivate imaginal restructuring. |
Abstract
Recent neuro-psychoanalytic literature has emphasized the view that our subjective identity rests on ancient subcortical neuro-psychic processes expressing unthinking forms of experience, which are "affectively intense without being known" (Solms and Panksepp, 2012). Devoid of internal representations, the emotional states of our "core-Self" (Panksepp, 1998b) are entirely "projected" towards the external world and tend to be discharged through instinctual action-patterns. However, due to the close connections between the subcortical and the cortical midline brain, the emotional drives may also find a way to be reflected within an intrinsic self-referential processing, evident when the organism is not actively engaged with the external world. Thanks to such endogenous functioning, the core-Self emotional dispositions are not overtly executed, but they are organized within coherent dynamic mental structures, called "feeling-toned complexes" by C. G. Jung and "unconscious phantasies" by Melanie Klein. The intrinsic self-referential dynamism of the "brainmind" originated from REM sleep arousal and then evolved in the resting-state activity of a complex of cortico-limbic midline brain structures (CMS), also called Default Mode Network (DMN). From our neuro-ethological perspective, it is sustained by an "introverted" SEEKING activity leading to the subjective exploration of internally constructed virtual scenarios. This "mind wandering" function, implicated in dreaming, fantasy processing, remembering and thinking, is the essence of the imaginative function and constitutes the first form of reflection, where intentions and drives gain a primordial form of conscious (but not self-conscious) representation. During postnatal development, this original ("archetypal") imaginative function is slowly attuned in a relational "transitional" space and may be expressed first in non-verbal and eventually in abstract-verbal social communicative patterns. Our view has noticeable implications for psychotherapy. Instead of trying to directly modify interpersonal, extrinsic relationships (a top-down approach), dysfunctional emotional-relational patterns may be modified by a process in which the patient is helped to let-go of the perceived feeling-objects in favor of an immersion, via the actual feeling, from the superficial level of perception towards a void feeling-state, empty of images. Only starting from this "anoetic" feeling-state, the deep imaginal creative and re-structuring self-referential activity may be reactivated by a process of spontaneous imagination.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on default mode network, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The default mode network in cognition: a topographical perspective | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cooperation between the default mode network and the frontal–parietal network in the production of an internal train of thought | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- The Human Body is the Collective Unconscious: Archetypal Images as Innate Embodied Metaphors Journal of Analytical Psychology May 29, 2024
- Towards a neuroethological approach to consciousness. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences November 13, 2025
- Embodied Neuropsychodynamics of the Relational Self Across Space and Time: An Integrative Narrative Review Brain Sciences June 11, 2026
- Flights and Perchings of the BrainMind: A Temporospatial Approach to Psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychology March 24, 2022
- Carl Jung and the Psychedelic Brain International Journal of Jungian Studies September 9, 2021
and 1 more in the library
Cites 25
- A default mode of brain function Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 16, 2001
- The Brain's Default Mode Network Annual Review of Neuroscience May 4, 2015
- The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014
- Rat brains also have a default mode network Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences February 21, 2012
- The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas Brain February 28, 2010
and 20 more in the library