We can even combine different modalities: a dragon that meows or a fish named Nemo that talks. What we envision draws from the repository of what we have stored, but what we choose to imagine depends on prefrontally mediated attentional systems that, in turn, are motivated by our internal state, our perceived needs, the state of the world around us, our own abilities, and other factors. The relative reward of different contingencies depends on our state of need so that conjured images have a reward value within the context of present circumstances. Our prefrontal attentional network directs our sensory regions to conjure images relevant to our needs (Cereb. Cortex 2001;11:260–6), which allows us to plan a course of action to create what should be. How we formulate and execute that plan will be our next consideration.