Chapter 10: Visual Imagery Flashcards
mental imagery
experiencing a sensory impression int he absence of sensory input
visual imagery
“seeing” in the absence of a visual stimulus, provides a way of thinking that adds another dimension to purely verbal techniques.
early ideas about imagery
imageless thought debate, is thinking possible without images
imagery and the cognitive revolution
developed ways to measure behavior that could be used to infer cognitive processes, paired-associate learning
Paivio experiment
memory for words that evoke mental images is better than for those that do not, conceptual peg hypothesis. Concrete vs. abstract words -
Shepard and Metzler experiment
mental chronometry, participants mentally rotated one object to see if it matched another object
mental scanning
participants create mental images and then scan them in their minds
Kosslyn boat experiment
memorize picture and create an image of it. In the image, move from one part of the picture to the other. It took longer for participants to mentally move long distances than shorter distances. Imagery is spatial.
Lea experiment
more distractions when scanning longer distances may have increased the reaction time, interesting things encountered during the mental scan are responsible for these distractions.
Kosslyn and coworkers island experiment
island with seven locations, 21 trips. It took longer to scan between greater distances, visual imagery is spatial.
Pylyshyn experiment
spacial representation is an epiphenomenon, it accompanies real mechanisms but it not actually a part of it. Proposed that imagery is propositional - can be represented by abstract symbols.
Imagery debate
propositional representation - symbols, language.
Depictive representation - similar to realistic pictures
comparing imagery and perception
relationship between viewing distance and ability to perceive details. Imagine small object next to large object, quicker to detect details on the larger object.
Mental walk task
move closer to small animals than to large animals, images are spatial, like perception.
Pylyshyn experiment
Kosslyn’s results can be explained by using real-world knowledge unconsciously - Tacit-knowledge explanation.
Finke and pinker experiment
Participants judge whether arrow points to dot previously seen. Longer reaction time when greater distance between arrow and dot. Not instructed to use visual imagery. No time to memorize, no tacit knowledge.
Perky experiment
mistake actual picture for a mental image, dim images were projected onto screen in front of participant.
Imagery and the brain
imagery neurons respond to both perceiving and imagining an object, overlap in brain activity and involves visual cortex.
Le Bihan and coworkers experiment
found overlap in brain activation, and use of visual cortex. Studied brain activity using fMRI, activity increases to presentation of a visual stimulus and also increases when participants were imagining the stimulus.
Ganis and coworkers experiment
complete overlap of activation by perception and imagery in front of the brain, difference near back of the brain.
Amedi and coworkers experiment
overlap of activation, deactivation of non-visual areas of brain (hearing and touch), mental images are more fragile and less activation keeps other things from interfering.
Brain response in response to imagery
may indicate something is happening, may not cause imagery.
transcranial magnetic stimulation
decrease brain functioning in a particular area of the brain for a short time. If behavior is disrupted, the deactivated part of the brain is causing that behavior
Kosslyn and coworkers experiment
TMS to visual area of brain during perception and imagery task, response time slower for both, brain activity in visual area of brain plays a causal role for both perception and imagery.
Unilateral neglect
patient ignores objects in one half of visual field in perception and imagery.
Guariglia and coworkers experiment
brain-damaged patient, patient’s perceptions intact, but mental images were impaired.
R.M.
damage to occipital and parietal lobes, could draw accurate pictures of objects in front of him, could not draw accurate pictures of objects from memory.
C.K.
inability to name pictures of objects, even his own drawings, in front of him, could draw objects in great detail from memory.
evidence of double dissociation
imagery and perception have separate mechanisms and some shared mechanisms.
Behrmann and coworkers experiment
mechanisms partially overlap, visual perception involves bottom-up processing; located at lower and higher visual centers, imagery is a top-down process; located at higher visual centers. Explains C.K. and R.M. but not M.G.S.
Differences in experience - imagery/perception
perception is automatic and stable, but imagery takes effort and is fragile.
Chalmers and Reisberg experiment
had participants create mental images of ambiguous figures, difficult to flip from one perception to another while holding a mental image of it.
method of loci
placing images at locations, visualizing items to be remembered in different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout.
Pegword technique
associating images with words, associate items to be remembered with concrete words, pair each of these things with a pegword, create a vivid image of things to be remembered with the object represented by the word.
