Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
Home> Volumes> Volume CHR Vol.95> Article
Research Article

Reevaluating the Functional Continuum Thesis: An Attentional Account of Imaginative Immersion

Zihao MoThe Lawrenceville School*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

This essay argues against the view proposed by Schellenberg that there is a functional continuum between imagination and belief, focusing on the attitudinal question of imaginative immersion. The overarching question is whether an immersed imaginer to some extent truly believes or only imagines the content of their imagination. Schellenberg’s functional continuum fails because the fundamental observations she posits in support of a functional continuum, a phenomenological continuity from non-immersed to immersed states, are better explained by a theory of immersion with attentional biasing. This essay demonstrates this by proposing a theory of immersion with attention, where immersion deepens as attention shifts from real-life representations to imagined representations, while preserving the functional distinction between belief and imagination. Finally, it concludes that imagination and belief are separate attitudes, while attention best explains the phenomenal continuity of imaginative immersion, allowing imagination to possess a belief-like quality without ever assuming the functional roles of belief.

Keywords: Imagination; Belief; Attention; Immersion
Published: November 5, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2025.HT29041
Volume: CHR Vol.95
pp. 66-78
Download PDF

References

  1. Chasid, A. (2021) Imaginative Immersion, Regulation, and Doxastic Mediation. Synthese, 199(3-4), 1–43.
  2. Schellenberg, S. (2013) Belief and Desire in Imagination and Immersion. Journal of Philosophy, 110(9), 497–517.
  3. Liao, S. and Doggett, T. (2014) The Imagination Box. Journal of Philosophy, 111(5), 259–275.
  4. Kampa, S. (2018) Imaginative Transportation. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 96(4), 683–696.
  5. Fisher, J. (2024) Maladaptive Daydreaming: What It Is and How to Stop It. Harvard Health Publishing. Retrieved from https: //www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/maladaptive-daydreaming-what-it-is-and-how-to-stop-it
  6. Leslie, A. M. (1987) Pretense and Representation: The Origins of “Theory of Mind”. Psychological Review, 94(4), 412–426.
  7. Hammond, H., Armstrong, M., Thomas, G.A. et al. Audience Immersion: Validating Attentional and Physiological Measures against Self-Report. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8, 22.
  8. Chun, M. M., Golomb, J. D. and Turk-Browne, N. B. (2011) A Taxonomy of External and Internal Attention. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 73–101.
  9. Hommel, B., Chapman, C. S., Cisek, P. et al. (2019) No One Knows What Attention Is. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics. 81(7), 2288–2303.
  10. Lojowska, M., Lucchi, F. and Mulckhuyse, M. (2024) Threat-Induced Prosocial Behavior: Enhanced Exogenous Attention to Protect Others from Harm. Scientific Reports, 14, 16252.
  11. Gong, M., Liu, T., Chen, Y. and Sun, Y. (2024) Dissociable Effects of Endogenous and Exogenous Attention on Crowding: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials. Brain Science, 14(10), 956.
  12. Dijkstra, N., Kok, P. and Fleming, S. M. (2022) Perceptual Reality Monitoring: Neural Mechanisms Dissociating Imagination from Reality. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 135, 104557.
  13. Garrison J. R., Bond, R., Gibbard, E. et al. (2016) Monitoring What Is Real: The Effects of Modality and Action on Accuracy and Type of Reality Monitoring Error. Cortex, 1-10.
  14. Lau, H. (2022) In Consciousness We Trust: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Subjective Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  15. Sheldon, A. D., Saad, E., Sahan, M. I. et al. (2021) Attention Biases Competition for Visual Representation via Dissociable Influences from Frontal and Parietal Cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 33(4), 739–755
  16. Friedman, N. P. and Robbins, T. W. (2022) The Role of Prefrontal Cortex in Cognitive Control and Executive Function. Neuropsychopharmacology, 47(1), 72–89.
  17. Watzl, S. (2017) Structuring Mind: The Nature of Attention and How It Shapes Consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  18. Irving, Z. C. (2016) Mind-Wandering Is Unguided Attention: Accounting for the “Purposeful” Wanderer. Philosophical Studies, 173(2), 547–571.
  19. Brown, S., Cockett, P. and Yuan, Y. (2019) The Neuroscience of Romeo and Juliet: An fMRI Study of Acting. Royal Society Open Science, 6, 181908.
  20. Lim, M., Hill, K. P., Stack, S. J. et al. (2024) Decreased Activation in Left Prefrontal Cortex during Role-Play. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 87. 102098.