Cognitive neuroscience suggests that perceptual experiences, through neural-binding, translate experience into holistic neural architecture understood by the individual as a rich image, replete with sensory information and emotion.  Because perceptual experiences enter the brain through different pathways, an individual receives more information in a richer and more meaningful way.  When students learn about botany from textbooks, the experience is purely cognitive and linear.  A red rose is a type of flower.  When experienced perceptually, the information the brain receives is a rich tableau activating multiple sensory pathways and creating multiple links between the information and existing memories, new memories, context, smell, taste, vision and touch.   The information may include the feel of the petals the first time or the emotional context upon receiving or giving one as a gift.  This holistic image is how we understand the world, and also how we create it in moving forward.  The richness of the information reinforces learning by forging multiple neural connections.

Youth from socio-economically disadvantaged areas have often experienced a limited worldview that is literally hardwired into their brains.  These images must change in order for behavioral change to occur.  Imagined Communities is an interactive, immersive, and multi-sensory learning experience, putting the tools for change in the hands of the individuals.  As youth re-design their community, there are re-designing their conceptions of themselves and thus as they shift their images, they open the possibilities for continued, future enrichment.