Episode summary

What happens when you close your eyes and try to “see” something in your mind? For some people it’s a full-colour mental movie. For others it’s hazy, fleeting or completely blank. In this episode, Dr Sabina Brennan explores the neuroscience of mental imagery, including eigengrau (that grainy ‘intrinsic grey’ most people notice in darkness), the spectrum from aphantasia to hyperphantasia and why visualisation is less about forcing pictures and more about learning how your brain constructs experience.

In this episode, Sabina covers

Why “seeing nothing” when you visualise doesn’t mean you’re bad at imagination

Eigengrau – what that smoky grey tells us about baseline visual activity

Aphantasia and hyperphantasia – two ends of the imagery vividness spectrum

Mental imagery in brain terms: top-down simulation meeting bottom-up perception

Why worry is often a “mental movie” and how imagery can amplify emotion

How imagery is used in sport, performance, rehab and therapy

Tools in Three: how to work with imagery whatever your baseline

Key takeaways

Imagery varies hugely between people and it’s normal.

Visualisation isn’t just visual – sound, touch, movement, emotion and language can carry imagination too.

The goal isn’t perfect pictures, it’s intentional rehearsal that shapes attention, expectation and behaviour.

The most effective visualisation tends to be process-focused, not just outcome-focused.

Tools in Three

1. Know your baseline – stop forcing a cinema screen. Work with your strongest channel (words, sensation, sound, movement).

2. Build a multisensory practice – start with a real object, then recreate it with eyes closed. Add texture, temperature, weight, sound. Pair calming imagery with slow breathing.

3. Apply imagery intentionally and aim for process – rehearse the steps, the likely wobble moments and how you’ll recover, not just the “trophy scene”.

Memorable lines (pull quotes)

“Imagination isn’t about pictures. It’s about possibility.”

“Worry is often imagery too – the brain running mental movies of what might go wrong.”

“Aphantasia is not an imagination failure. It is a different format for thinking.”

References (as cited in the episode)

Zeman A, Dewar M, Della Sala S. Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia. Cortex. 2015.

S6E6 - Visualisation beefed up …

Pearson J. The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2019.

Milton F, et al. Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: extreme differences in visual imagery vividness. Cortex. 2021.

Tags

visualisation, mental imagery, aphantasia, hyperphantasia, eigengrau, neuroscience of imagination, memory, anxiety, sport psychology, mental rehearsal, guided imagery, manifesting, brain prediction

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Have you ever walked into a room and thought, “Any minute now they’re going to realise I’ve no idea what I’m doing”?

In this episode of Super Brain, psychologist and neuroscientist Sabina Brennan unpacks what’s often called imposter syndrome – and why the original researchers actually called it the impostor phenomenon instead.

Drawing on brain science and real-world examples, Sabina explores what’s happening in your threat circuits, reward system and perfectionist wiring when you’re constantly bracing for the “fraud police” to knock on the door. You’ll hear how early messages about being “the smart one” – or never quite smart enough – can set up a lifelong gap between how others see you and how you see yourself.

Most importantly, you’ll learn three practical tools to add to your Super Brain kit:

– Name it, don’t shame it – shifting from “I am a fraud” to “I’m having an impostor moment”

– Rewire the self-doubt circuits – using neuroplasticity, self-compassion and “good enough” experiments

– Change the context, not just yourself – noticing when your discomfort is data about an exclusionary system

The impostor phenomenon isn’t proof that you’re a con artist. It’s a protective brain story that you can gently update. You’re allowed to be a work in progress – and you’re allowed to be here while you’re learning.

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Episode summary:

“Brain rot” was named the Oxford Word of the Year 2024 – a tongue-in-cheek term for that fried feeling after too much scrolling or streaming. But what’s really going on in the brain when constant digital stimulation leaves us feeling empty and unfocused?

In this episode, Dr Sabina Brennan unpacks the neuroscience of brain rot – how dopamine loops, cognitive overload and attention fatigue are reshaping our mental landscape – and what you can do to reclaim your focus and creativity.

You’ll learn:

• Why “brain rot” isn’t just slang – it reflects a real neurological tug-of-war
• How dopamine drives endless scrolling and decision fatigue
• Why your attention and memory pay the price for multitasking
• The difference between brain fog (physiological) and brain rot (behavioural)
• Why daydreaming and mental white space are the healthiest “apps” on your mental home screen

Three Tools for Your Super Brain Kit:

1. 🧩 The Friction Rule – add small barriers to scrolling and let your brain catch up.
2. ⚡ Dopamine Reset – replace passive hits with active rewards like learning or movement.
3. 🌿 Stillness Practice – schedule unstructured thinking time to reboot your focus.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Beating Brain Fog by Dr Sabina Brennan – for deeper insights into how clarity and focus are restored in the brain.
• Oxford University Press Word of the Year 2024: “Brain Rot”.
• Research on dopamine, attention fatigue and the Default Mode Network.

Connect:

💬 Share your thoughts and experiences with #SuperBrain

📚 Read more: www.sabinabrennan.ie

🎧 Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts

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