Imagine this: study suggests power of imagination is more than just a metaphor

We’ve heard it before: “Imagine yourself passing the exam or scoring a goal and it will happen.” We may roll our eyes and think that’s easier said than done, but a new study from psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis suggests imagination may be more effective than we think in helping us reach our goals. “The imagination has the extraordinary capacity to shape reality,” say co-authors of a study suggesting that merely imagining something close to our hands will cause us to pay more attention to it.