During the preschool years, many children invent imaginary people and animals that become regular companions and play partners. Children's ability and inclination to create imaginary companions (often with detailed histories and idiosyncratic characteristics) and their emotional investment in these companions raise many questions about the functions of this type of play and what it reveals about the developing mind. In this roundtable, the significance of children's imaginary companions is discussed from the perspectives of developmental psychology, neuroscience, and child psychoanalysis.

Edith Ackermann is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Aix-Marseille, France. She is a Visiting Scientist at the M.I.T. School of Architecture Center for Advanced Visual Studies. In addition to teaching graduate students and conducting research, she consults for companies and institutions interested in the intersection between learning, teaching, design, and digital technologies.

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at Yale University. He is an internationally recognized expert on language and development and, with Steven Pinker, coauthored one of the seminal papers in the field. Bloom is the author of How Children Learn the Meanings of Words and Descarte's Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human.

Ruth Fischer is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Marcel Kinsbourne is a behavioral neurologist and Professor of Psychology at the New School. He is the author of The Asymmetrical Function of the Brain, The Unity and the Diversity of the Human Brain, and Consciousness: The Brain's Private Psychological Field.

Dorothy Singer is Senior Research Scientist Emeritus at Yale University. She is the author, with Jerome Singer, of several books, including The House of Make Believe and Imagination in the Electronic Age.

Marjorie Taylor is Professor and Head of Psychology at the University of Oregon. She is the author of Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them.

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