That's a fascinating argument, thanks for bringing it to my attention, Jim!

Work led by Jérémy Perez with Corentin Leger @kovacgrgur.bsky.social Cédric Colas @clemmoulinfrier.bsky.social @pyoudeyer.bsky.social @maximederex.bsky.social

Find out more here arxiv.org/abs/2407.04503 or check out our companion website sites.google.com/view/telepho...

This paper concludes a long, exciting journey, which started several years ago when I first met Moshe. It's been a fantastic ride! Thank you Moshe, Bar Ilan University, and Onward Israel for enabling it ♥️ and the editors Deniz Vatansever and Jessica Andrews-Hanna for inviting us to contribute!

In light of its similar merits, ST deserves at least the same care, protection, and appreciation we devote to children’s play. Get access to the full article here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @elsevierconnect.bsky.social

Similarly, we propose that ST provides a cognitive platform for simulating outcomes and ideas that extend beyond immediate constraints. As long as a fictional goal provides enough structure, even unrealistic STs can contribute to our cognitive flexibility.

In play, children engage in "fictional" goals. @junyi.bsky.social, @joshtenenbaum.bsky.social and Laura Schulz argued that these seemingly trivial activities enhance children's capacity to plan, innovate, and simulate complex scenarios.

To answer this question, we draw an analogy between ST and children's play.

The usefulness of ST is often connected to the proactive simulation of future scenarios related to our goals. But what about ST that engages in frivolous or highly unlikely situations?

Spontaneous thought (ST, the relatively unrestricted thought process that accompanies much of our waking life) benefits cognition in several ways, from memory consolidation to mood enhancement. Check out work by Judith Mildner and @dianatamir.bsky.social for an awesome recent perspective on this.

Thanks for flagging @ebonawitz.bsky.social! Here it is osf.io/preprints/ps...