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Investigating the Neural Dynamics Underlying Different Modes of Thought using Precision fMRI

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Desmond Wood-Anderson¹ (dwoodanderson@psych.ubc.ca), Andre Zamani¹, Jennifer Burrell¹, Douglas Forrest¹, Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva¹; ¹University of British Columbia

Human thought can be understood in terms of both its dynamics (the way thoughts unfold over time) and its content (the modality through which a thought is experienced), as described by the Dynamic Framework of Thought. However, very little neuroimaging work has been done to investigate how naturalistic fluctuations in subjective thought dynamics and contents correspond to time-varying neural activity. This study combines precision functional MRI (fMRI) with momentary experience-sampling to observe the neural dynamics underlying subjective experiences of thought. Participants attended multiple fMRI scanning sessions where they performed an experience sampling task. In this task, thought probes were delivered at pseudorandom intervals, and participants were asked to report subjective features of thought. At each probe, three questions were asked about thought dynamics, including the degree to which thoughts were freely moving, actively directed, and pulled towards something in particular. Another three questions asked about thought contents, including the presence of inner speech, visual imagery, and bodily sensations. Functional brain networks were estimated at the individual level using Multi-Session Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling. Dynamic functional connectivity of large-scale functional networks was computed and compared across different subjective features of thought.

Topic Area: THINKING: Other