ReviewTopics in cognitive science2026
Inference and Imagination.
Review in Topics in cognitive science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Introduction to topiCS Volume 18, Issue 3.Topics in cognitive science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Our ability to imagine alternatives to reality is central to everyday cognition. Our competence in reasoning depends not only on our capacity to envisage the relevant facts, but also on our proficiency in simulating alternatives to them. I discuss how our skill in making deductive inferences depends on imagining possibilities. To illustrate, I consider evidence on the suppression of inferences, the cognitive processes based on mental models that explain how we make inferences, and corroboration from studies of counterfactual reasoning. I also discuss how our ability to create alternatives to reality depends on identifying mutable aspects of mental simulations. To illustrate, I consider evidence on imagining alternatives to aspects of situations within our control, the cognitive processes based on simulation availability that explain how we create alternatives to reality, and corroboration from studies of moral decision-making. I conclude with an exploration of the imagination as the engine of the mind.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.