mindmade

Mindmade is a term used in philosophy of mind and cognitive science to describe mental content that is produced by the mind rather than directly derived from external stimuli. It encompasses phenomena such as imagined scenarios, remembered reconstructions, predictions, and other internally generated representations that influence perception and thought.

In theoretical contexts, mindmade content is discussed in relation to constructivist theories of perception and predictive coding frameworks, which hold that the brain actively generates hypotheses about the world and tests them against incoming data. This view treats perception as an ongoing act of construction in which expectations and prior knowledge shape experience, producing mindmade representations alongside veridical sensory input.

The term is not widely standardized and is used variably by authors to emphasize the proactive, constructive aspects of mental life. Critics caution that lightweight usage can blur distinctions between imagination, belief, and perceptual content, while proponents argue that recognizing mindmade elements helps explain illusions, dreams, memory errors, and creative thinking.

Mindmade has potential relevance across cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and phenomenology, where researchers examine the line between internal mental content and externally grounded experience.