The Neuroscience of Manifestation

Author: Evelyn Fistler

Editor: Mia R-J

Introduction

Manifestation is the act of believing something into existence, and we may tell others, or we may claim in secret—positive energy, good grades, an internship—this “something” can be anything that brings us success, we think about, or we want to happen. This belief system is popular on social media platforms, where people participate by writing down affirmations or creating vision boards of their ideal lives. Many claim manifestation to be useful and true, akin to the law of attraction, and so they promote it to manifest success whenever possible, but what is the science behind manifestation?

It could certainly be considered a self-fulfilling prophecy, similar to the pygmalion effect, where an individual is provided support and encouragement, such as through academia, and ends up achieving a better performance (Dixon et al., 2025). However, negative aspects of manifestation are less talked about, which is what this article will provide—insight into manifestation, the neuroscience behind it, and underlying factors that could contribute to the thought processes.

Brief History 

The concept of modern manifestation was first introduced to the public by the New Thought movement in the late 19th century. This was influenced by eastern philosophies, and recognized the law of attraction to be a key fundamental of philosophical belief aligned with the group's ideology. A spiritual philosophical movement founded by Phineas Quimby, a person who provided the concept of the law of attraction, believed that physical disorders could be developed due to bad thoughts or mistaken ideas that could eventually be cured by changing one’s beliefs and mindset (Mehra & Chakravarty, 2024). Cultures previously utilized manifestation in a spiritual sense, hoping to achieve specific outcomes through connection (Dixon et al., 2025).

Hinduism, one of the world's oldest religions, focuses heavily on the belief system such as karma, where actions and intentions influence future outcomes. Hindu traditions such as speaking to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth if in need of money, and participating in the prayer of Ganesh Puja to enhance overall well-being and luck, focuses on the power of bringing wants and needs to life (Dadds, 2025). Because of how powerful cultural influence can be, it is no surprise to see manifestation becoming a popular point of topic in modern times.

Cognitive Bias and Manifestation

Within the study Dixon (et al., 2025) discusses, participants were found to have an ideology of power to manifest success through positive thoughts, emotions, and symbolic acts, and cosmic collaboration, or partnering with supernatural or universal forces to manifest success. Through surveying the participants' responses to the created survey, the study was able to suggest how people view manifestation and whether they consider affirmations or beliefs to be aligned with their thought process. While some thoughts were considered positive another part of the study shows that through the thought-action fusion scale, belief of having negative thoughts about oneself may increase the likelihood of the events happening is more associated with psychopathology while the positive form observed showed to be associated with manifestation. 

Investigating the results, the studies show that individuals who believe in manifestation often perceive themselves as more successful in both regards to the present and future. However, further analysis of overoptimism in relation to success experiences by the individuals who manifest show that there is higher chance of vulnerability to financial or investment opportunities that overall, promote unlikely rewards.These individuals are more likely to be a victim of fraud and to have been bankrupt, suggesting being overconfident could exhibit behaviors that may cause financial harm, and in the end potentially cause career and business decision-making issues (Dixon, et al., 2025).

Thought-action fusion is a cognitive distortion that suggests individuals who are thinking of completing an action believe it to be the same as physically doing said action, a type of cognitive bias on believing inner thoughts. This type of cognitive bias could potentially be negative depending on the thought process, known as the psychological phenomenon negativity bias, which is believing initially of an event or action to be negative in itself and curating a focus toward the negative aspects rather than positive. Thought-action fusion can be more associated with manifestation when looking at the individuals who focus on positive thoughts and beliefs rather than the negative (Dixon et al., 2025).

Furthermore, manifestation seems to be reinforced by influential individuals, some of which could be role models. Prior beliefs about one individual can subtly cause others to conform to expectations of other observers, as described in the Pygmalion effect (Dixon., et al, 2025).

Neuroscience Behind Cognitive Distortion

The precuneus is a region of the brain located in the medial parietal lobe and has been found to be associated with cognitive bias through thought-action fusion, most commonly found in mental disorders such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), where negative thoughts, often through moral and likelihood thought-action fusion, occur and increase negative belief that the action will happen through the thought (Jones., et al, 2013).

Activations in the fusiform and lingual gyri, midcingulate and superior medial frontal gyri, inferior orbitofrontal gyrus, and temporoparietal junction are shown to be shared in positive and negative thinking, while positive thinking also displayed additional activation in the precuneus, medial frontal pole, superior frontal gyrus, insula, globus pallidus, thalamus, and midbrain. These areas focus heavily on visual association, cognitive motor control, self-processing and mentalizing, and cognitive reappraisal. For negative thought-action fusion, research consistently shows that the precuneus displayed more activation rather than positive thought-action fusion (Lee., et al, 2021).

Other regions of the brain such as the inferior frontal lobe, caudate nucleus, and insular gyri are associated with thought-action process due to the linkage in emotional processing, goal directed behavior, and task engagement, as seen within a study that analyzed thought-action fusion in individuals with major depressive disorder (Sang Won Lee., et al, 2024). However, further investigation on positive thought-action fusion should be sought to understand the regions associated particularly with positive manifestation. 

Impact On Daily Life

Manifestation used in a negative way may occur due to compulsions, anxiety, negative thoughts, and emotions, but the manifestation many people refer to through social media is positive manifestation, where believing success is the same as it occurring rather than believing negative events. Similar to this, cognitive reconstruction on thought processing, such as with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), helps people identify negative thoughts and replace them with more positive ones (Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), 2025). With this in mind, society can practice positive thinking to become more resilient, boost serotonin levels, lower cortisol, activate dopamine neurons, and enhance overall cognitive health (Suhail, et al, 2025).

Conclusion

Utilizing methods that CBT focuses on and integrating positive thinking instead of negative thinking can change how the individual perceives people and the rest of the world. Because of how similar positive thinking and manifestation methods are, practicing this type of mindset can be beneficial.

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References

Aseem Mehra, Rahul Chakravarty, “Law of Attraction”: A manifestation of psychological disorder or not?, Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 100, 2024, 104155, ISSN 1876-2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2024.104155.

Dadds, K. (2025, February 27). The ancient origins of ‘manifesting’—and why it’s making a comeback. History. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/the-ancient-origins-of-manifesting

Dixon, L. J., Hornsey, M. J., & Hartley, N. (2025). "The Secret" to Success? The Psychology of Belief in Manifestation. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 51(1), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672231181162

Jones, R., & Bhattacharya, J. (2013). A role for the precuneus in thought-action fusion: evidence from participants with significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms. NeuroImage. Clinical, 4, 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2013.11.008

Neuroanatomy, Cerebral Cortex Kinaan Javed; Vamsi Reddy; Forshing Lui. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537247/

Sang Won Lee, Seungho Kim, Hansol Lee, Yongmin Chang, Seung Jae Lee, Neural correlates of thought–action fusion and their associations with rumination in patients with major depressive disorder, Journal of Psychiatric Research, Volume 180, 2024, Pages 169-176, ISSN 0022-3956, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.10.005.

Suhail Ahmad Dar, Krithika Ramakrishna, Yuvraj Singh Shekhawat, Chapter Two - Impact of positive thinking on synapses, Editor(s): Nasrollah Moradikor, Motahareh Haghipanah, Hib Hamdar, Progress in Brain Research, Elsevier, Volume 293, 2025, Pages 17-40, ISSN 0079-6123, ISBN 9780443346002, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2025.03.005.

Lee, S. W., Cha, H., Jang, T. Y., Kim, E., Song, H., Chang, Y., & Lee, S. J. (2021). The Neural Correlates of Positive Versus Negative Thought-action Fusion in Healthy Young Adults. Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 19(4), 628–639. https://doi.org/10.9758/cpn.2021.19.4.628