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Research

Picture

Areas/Topics:

The STUDY OF THE IMAGINATION from neuroscientific (brain structure and function) and psychological (cognition, perception, action, emotion) perspectives. The domains under study include:

  • Creativity 
  • Reality-Fiction Distinction     (Reality versus Fantasy)
  • Theory of Mind                         (Mental State Reasoning)
  • Mental Time Travel                 (Future thinking & Retrospection)
  • Mind wandering
  • Social & Self-Referential Cognition
  • Aesthetics
  • Consciousness

|||  A selection of papers that directly cover the following themes  |||

  • Imagination & the Brain: Theoretical views

​Abraham A [Ed] (2020). The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination. Cambridge University Press.

Abraham A (2016). The imaginative mind. Human Brain Mapping, 37, 4197-4211.

Abraham A & Bubic A (2015). Semantic memory as the root of imagination. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 325:1-4.

  • Reality-Fiction Distinction & the Brain

Abraham A, von Cramon DY & Schubotz RI (2008). Meeting George Bush versus meeting Cinderella: The neural response when telling apart what is real from what is fictional in the context of our reality. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20 (6), 965-976. 

Abraham A & von Cramon DY (2009) Reality = Relevance? Insights from spontaneous modulations of the brain’s default network when telling apart reality from fiction. PLoS ONE, 4(3), e4741: 1-9.

Abraham A (2013). The world according to me: Personal relevance and the medial prefrontal cortex. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 341: 1-4.

Abraham A (2015). How social dynamics shape our understanding of reality. In J. E. Warnick & D. Landis (Eds.) Neuroscience in Intercultural Contexts (pp. 243-246). New York: Springer.


  • Mental Time Travel & the Brain

Abraham A, Schubotz RI & von Cramon DY (2008) Thinking about the future versus the past in personal and non-personal contexts. Brain Research, 1233, 106-119.

Bubic A & Abraham A (2014). Neurocognitive bases of future oriented cognition. Review of Psychology, 21(1), 3-15. 

  • Theory of Mind & the Brain

Abraham A, Werning M, Rakoczy H, von Cramon DY & Schubotz RI (2008). Minds, persons, and space: An fMRI investigation into the relational complexity of higher-order intentionality. Consciousness and Cognition, 17 (2), 438-450.

Abraham A, Rakoczy H, Werning M, von Cramon DY & Schubotz RI (2010). Matching mind to world and vice versa: Functional dissociations between belief and desire mental state processing. Social Neuroscience, 5 (1), 1-18. 

  • Self-Referential Thinking & the Brain

Abraham A, Schubotz RI & von Cramon DY (2008) Thinking about the future versus the past in personal and non-personal contexts. Brain Research, 1233, 106-119.

Abraham A, Kaufmann C, Redlich R, Hermann A, Stark R, Stevens S & Hermann C (2013). Self-referential and anxiety-relevant information processing in subclinical social anxiety: An fMRI study. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 7 (1), 35-48.

Abraham A (2013). The world according to me: Personal relevance and the medial prefrontal cortex. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 341: 1-4.

  • Social Cognition

Abraham A (2015). How social dynamics shape our understanding of reality. In J. E. Warnick & D. Landis (Eds.) Neuroscience in Intercultural Contexts (pp. 243-246). New York: Springer.

Abraham A & Hermann C (2015). Biases in probabilistic category learning in relation to social anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1218: 1-12.

Abraham A, Kaufmann C, Redlich R, Hermann A, Stark R, Stevens S & Hermann C (2013). Self-referential and anxiety-relevant information processing in subclinical social anxiety: An fMRI study. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 7 (1), 35-48.

Stevens S, Peters A, Abraham A & Hermann C (2014). Enhanced avoidance behavior in social anxiety: Evidence from a probabilistic learning task. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 45 (1), 39-45.


  • Commentaries on published articles in the field of Creativity

Abraham A (2016). Commentary: Creativity and Memory: Effects of an Episodic-Specificity Induction on Divergent Thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 824: 1-3.

Abraham A (2007). Can a neural system geared to bring about rapid, predictive and efficient function explain creativity? Creativity Research Journal, 19 (1), 19-24.
  • Creativity & the Brain: Theoretical views

Abraham A (2018). The forest versus the trees: Creativity, cognition and imagination. In R. E. Jung & O. Vartanian (Eds.) Cambridge Handbook of the Neuroscience of Creativity. Cambridge University Press.

Abraham A (2014). Creative thinking as orchestrated by semantic processing versus cognitive control brain networks. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 95: 1-4.

Abraham A (2013). The promises and perils of the neuroscience of creativity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 246: 1-9.

Abraham A & Windmann S (2007) Creative cognition: The diverse operations and the prospect of applying a cognitive neuroscience perspective. Methods, 42 (1), 38-48.

  • Creativity & the Brain: Empirical Studies (neuroimaging, EEG)

Abraham A, Thybusch K, Pieritz K & Hermann C (2014). Gender Differences in Creative Thinking: Behavioral and fMRI Findings. Brain Imaging & Behavior, 8 (1): 39-51.

Kröger S, Rutter B, Hill H, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2013). An ERP study of passive creative conceptual expansion using a modified alternate uses task. Brain Research, 1527: 189-98. 

Kröger S, Rutter B, Stark R, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2012). Using a shoe as a plant pot: Neural correlates of passive conceptual expansion. Brain Research, 1430, 52-61.

Rutter B, Kröger S, Hill H, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2012). Can clouds dance? Part 2: An ERP investigation of passive conceptual expansion. Brain and Cognition, 80 (3), 301-310.

Rutter B, Kröger S, Stark R, Schweckendiek J, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2012). Can clouds dance? A new approach to investigate neural correlates of creativity using unusual metaphors in an fMRI setting. Brain and Cognition, 78 (2), 114-122.

  • Creativity & the Brain: Empirical Studies (neuropsychology)

Abraham A, Beudt S, Ott DV & von Cramon DY (2012). Creative cognition and the brain: Dissociations between frontal, parieto-temporal and basal ganglia groups. Brain Research, 1482, 55-70.

Abraham A, Windmann S, McKenna PJ & Güntürkün O (2007). Creative thinking in schizophrenia: The role of executive dysfunction and symptom severity. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12 (3), 235-258.

Abraham A, Windmann S, Siefen R., Daum I & Güntürkün O (2006) Creative thinking in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Child Neuropsychology, 12 (2), 111-123.


  • Creativity & Mental Illness

Abraham A ed. (2015). Madness and Creativity: Yes, No or Maybe? Lausanne: Frontiers Media. ISBN: 978-2-88919-670-8.

Abraham A (2014). Is there an inverted-U relationship between creativity and psychopathology? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 750: 1-2.

Abraham A (2014). Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying creative thinking: Indications from studies of mental illness. In J. Kaufmann (Ed.) Creativity and Mental Illness (pp. 79-101). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.


Abraham A, Windmann S, McKenna PJ & Güntürkün O (2007). Creative thinking in schizophrenia: The role of executive dysfunction and symptom severity. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12 (3), 235-258.

Abraham A, Windmann S, Siefen R., Daum I & Güntürkün O (2006) Creative thinking in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Child Neuropsychology, 12 (2), 111-123.


  • Creativity & Personality

Abraham A, Windmann S, Daum I & Güntürkün O (2005) Conceptual expansion and creative imagery as a function of psychoticism. Consciousness and Cognition, 14 (3), 520-534.

Karimi Z, Windmann S, Güntürkün O & Abraham A (2007). Insight problem solving in individuals with high versus low schizotypy. Journal of Research in Personality, 41 (7), 473-480. 

Abraham A & Windmann S (2008). Selective information processing advantages in creative cognition as a function of schizotypy. Creativity Research Journal, 20(1), 1-6.


  • Creativity & Gender

Abraham A (2016). Gender and creativity: An overview of psychological and neuroscientific literature. Brain Imaging & Behavior. 10 (2), 609-618.

Abraham A, Thybusch K, Pieritz K & Hermann C (2014). Gender Differences in Creative Thinking: Behavioral and fMRI Findings. Brain Imaging & Behavior, 8 (1): 39-51.

Images on this website adapted from: Abraham et al. (2005) Consciousness and Cognition.