The pink elephant test: what your visual imagination predicts about your ability to control your thoughts

By Derek Arnold, Professor, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland
Loren N. Bouyer, PhD Student, Neuroscience, The University of Queensland

Tell a man he shouldn’t think of a pink elephant and he can’t get that beast out of his mind!

This quote, from Curt Siodmak’s 1974 novel City in the Sky, describes how hard it can be to suppress our thoughts. “Don’t think of a pink elephant” has become a classic example of how difficult it can be to intentionally avoid visualising.

Research suggests…

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