"Mind Blanking as Mental Imagery"

Angelica Kaufmann (Università degli Studi di Milano)

We are pleased to announce a monthly online talk series on “Inferences & Capacities.” The series brings together work on inferential capacities, rationality, normativity, and cognition — across both human and non-human animals — with the aim of fostering discussion on the nature and limits of the cognitive sphere. 

Angelica Kaufmann (University of Milan)

"Mind Blanking as Mental Imagery"
April 27: 11am (Buenos Aires); 10am (New York); 4pm (Berlin)

Abstract: Mind blanking is often described as a mental state characterized as if there is “nothing in mind.” This label does not pin down exactly its nature. While in some cases there may be a genuine absence of conscious content, in this talk, I will argue that, at least in some instances, a content may be experienced, while remaining too indeterminate or too weakly structured to support conceptual or linguistic uptake. This paper focuses on the second kind of cases. I contend that some forms of mind blanking may be usefully modelled through the framework of mental imagery. Drawing on work on perceptual absence, uniform experience, and white dreams, I suggest that an episode can feel empty, or be reported as empty, even when experience has not disappeared altogether. This approach helps explain the poor reportability of mind blanking, its possible heterogeneity, and its difference from both mind wandering and full interruptions of consciousness.

Each talk in our series will last 40 minutes followed by 40 minutes open Q&A. To register, please send an email to Alfredo Vernazzani at:

alfredo-vernazzani AT protonmail.com

The series is co-organized by

Mariela Aguilera (University of Córdoba)

Matías Osta-Vélez (Universidad de la República), and

Alfredo Vernazzani (TU Dortmund; Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg; University of Pittsburgh).

All talks take place online and are open to interested participants.

To register, please email Alfredo Vernazzani at:

alfredo-vernazzani AT protonmail.com

Here is the 2026 lineup: 

April 27: Angelica Kaufmann (University of Milan): “Mind Blanking as Mental Imagery”

May 18: Federico Burdman (Universidad Alberto Hurtado) “Constrained choices: addiction, attention, and reasons-responsiveness”

June 22: Susanna Schellenberg (Rutgers): TBA

July 20: Cameron Buckner (University of Florida): TBA

September 7: Ulf Hlobil (Concordia University): TBA

October 19: Eva Schmidt (TU Dortmund): TBA

November 16: Hans-Johann Glock (University of Zürich): “Is ascribing inferences to brains or non-human animals a fallacy?"

December 14: TBA


See our website: 

https://sitio.ffyh.unc.edu.ar/cartografias-cognitivas/online-series-inferences-capacities/