Question: why is it that some people can retrain from fantasy whereas others thrive in an imaginary world?

Simone Bijvoet answered on 17 Jun 2011:

Hmm, that’s a difficult one and I don’t know if I know enough about fantasy and imagination to give you a clear scientific answer.
My personal idea is that people can choose to be more imaginative, and don’t let the borders of what is real stop them from imagining what could be. In my job as a teacher in acting I have seen many people who told me they had no imagination and couldn’t think of anything non-real, who became more and more imaginative until the point that they were hopping around the room as the weirdest imaginary creature. That shows that people definately can be imaginative but they just don’t know how to access it.

Of course it is always important to keep in mind how the brain works and I think there might be some biological processes going on that will make some people have trouble thinking of anything imaginative. But for that I must admit I don’t know enough about it. Hope this answers your question a bit.