imagery Flashcards
imagery
the ability to recreate a perceptual experience in the absence of an external sensory stimulus - ****you don’t need to have experienced something to imagine it
vividness
quality of imagery that refers to how clearly we can create an image in our mind’s eye
- vividness of mental images varies across individuals and contexts
factors that affect vividness
- familiarity and experience
visualizing vs verbalizing
recalling events with visual images vs words
dual coding theory
mental representations of events can be broken down into two categories
- images and words
proposed as a theory about thoughts more generally
imagery debate
two opposing viewpoints for how we form representations of mental images
1. Kosslyn: imagery is an analogue form of representation
2. Pylyshyn: imagery is a by product of symbolic code
pylyshyn’s propositional theory
mental relationships between objects are represented by symbols containing abstract information and not by mental images or words
- we turn the symbols into words or objects
kosslyn’s depictive representation theory
images are depictive representations: analog codes that maintain the perceptual and spatial characteristics of physical objects - images in our head maintain relative spatial locations, etc
more direct than pylyshyn’s theory - knowledge is directly represented in linguistic code or imagery
epiphenomena
pylyshyn thinks that images are by products of more fundamental cognitive processing
propositions
pylyshyn thinks that cognitive processing relies on manipulating cognitive symbols called propositions
propositions contain abstract conceptual knowledge which can be conveyed to someone else using language or images, both of which are secondary to propositions
mental scanning
technique used in one of kosslyn’s earliest experiments
- meant to test whether images maintain the spatial characteristics of physical stimuli
- idea is that it should take longer to process larger mental distances than shorter distances, just as it would take more time to travel longer physical distances than shorter ones
procedure:
had ppl memorize line drawings - then had them recreate a mental image of the line drawing and try to focus on a part of the object, either top or bottom, left or right, etc - then, they were told to look on their mental object for a different part and press a button once they found it
- showed that the farther away ps had to shift their attention to find the new part of the object, the longer search time
***supports the idea that images are depictive representations that maintain the spatial arrangements of physical obejcts
alternative explanation for mental scanning results
participants could have been storing information from the line drawings as a list of features and were searching through the memorized list rather than “looking” at a mental image - would have the same result, because the the more items on the list to search through, the longer reaction time
mental scanning map test
as a follow up to his other mental scanning experiment, kosslyn had participants scan a memorized map where the number of landmarks was the same, but the distance varied
- the further the scanning distance, the longer the reaction time
mental rotation
experiment designed to investigate the time it takes to mental rotate mental images of abstract figures - the reasoning is that if the mind is performing a process similar to rotating real objects, then the bigger the angular distance between the two objects that needs to be compared, the longer it should take to compare them - in other words, the more you have to rotate an object, the longer it should take to do so
- results confirmed this!
- eg. a task where in order to decide if two images are similar, you have to mentally rotate them to see if they line up
mental scaling
how much of an object can be seen at one time depends on both the size of the object and its distance - if mental imagery is analogous to perception, we should experience the same thing with imagery
- had ps imagine animals standing next to an elephant or a fly and then asked about the properties of the animal
- ps where faster to respond when they were imagining their animal next to a fly (bc it seemed relatively big) compared to next to an elephant (that would make it seem relatively small)
in order to make sure this was accurate, ps are also asked to imagine an animal next to an elephant sized fly or a fly sized elephant - reverses reaction ties, showing that reaction time depends on the relative size of images, suggesting that images are processed similarly to real objects
crowder auditory imagery vs perception
- ppl presented with a pure tone and asked to imagine the tone played by a specific instrument (guitar, flute, or trumpet)
- they are then presented with a second tone played by one of three instruments (guitar, flute, or trumpet)
- finally, they are asked to judge whether the second tone is the same as or different from the first tone
findings:
- people were faster at saying the two notes were the same when the perceived timbre was consistent with the heard timbre - suggests that auditory imagery is similar to perception
are similar brain areas active during auditory imagery as during auditory perception?
- ps either listened to or imagined inside an fmri scanner - similar areas activated
similarity between visual imagery and perception tasks
both evoke activity in the primary visual cortex
imagery of ambiguous figures
ps asked to memorize ambiguous figures, and then shown shapes and asked to identify whether the shapes make up the memorized image
ps were not always accurate, suggesting that ps were giving the figure/picture verbal labels instead of storing their spatial characteristics
imagery and brain damage
brain damage patients show that imagery doesn’t entirely rely on the same neural mechanisms as perception
- some patients who lose visual perception ability still use visual imagery
- others lose the ability to use mental imagery but maintain perceptual abilities - ex not able to draw animals from memory
imagery, memory, and performance feedback
experiment that had people play a piece of music under different conditions
1. normal - play normally
2. motor only - play a piece of music without hearing what it sounds like (have to imagine)
3. auditory only - hear the music, imagine what it would be like to play it
4. no feedback - image what it would be like to hear and play a piece of music
found that memory of the music/memory performance decreases as feedback available at practice decreases
auditory imagery and memory
same experiment as the one on performance feedback, but found that is auditory imagery is high, it can compensate for lack of feedback, causing less of a decrease in performance
paivio and csapo imagery and memory
items represented as images are better remembered than those represented as words
however, effect is disrupted after a period of watching dynamic visual noise
imagery and mental health
negative imagery seems to be linked to severity of several psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety and ptsd
synesthesia and memory
synesthesia can aid memory
- ps with chromesthesia and absolute pitch have reported that their chromesthesia aids their memory for specific pitches and music
amusia
deficits in musical abilities/tone deafness
- people with amusia have also been shown to have deficits in visual/spatial imagery
suggests that imagery in different sensory domains may interact with one another
