Imagery

Question 1

Propositional representations

Answer 1

• Some thoughts/concepts are clearly non image-
  based (e.g. justice, democracy, even numbers, mammal)
• Psychologists represent this variety of thought
  using propositional networks

Question 2

Propositions are amodal

Answer 2

They represent information in a way that is independent of any sensory modality

Question 3

Propositions are symbolic or arbitrary

Answer 3

The structure of the representation is unrelated to the

structure of the represented object

Question 4

Propositional theories argue that the experience

of seeing an image in your mind’s eye is epiphenomenal

Answer 4

It is a consequence of our cognition but does not contribute to it

Question 5

Spatial-based representations

Answer 5

• Many of us have the intuition that mental imagery
  representations are more like the image itself
• Can be distorted

Question 6

Spatial-based representations are modal

Answer 6

• Information is represented in the same format as
  perceptual state
• The representations are overlapping with perceptual
  representation

Question 7

Spatial-based representations are analogical

Answer 7

Their structure corresponds to the visual state that

produced them

Question 8

To demonstrate that mental imagery relies on spatial-based representations you need to demonstrate that it is

Answer 8

Analogical:
- Objects that we imagine are similar to objects in the real world
- Demonstrated through rotation and zooming experiments
Modal:
- Mental imagery relies on similar processes as visual perception
- Demonstrated through facilitation, brain imaging, and patient studies

Question 9

Independent variable of mental rotation experiment

Answer 9

Degree of rotation

Question 10

Dependent variable of mental rotation experiment

Answer 10

Reaction time

Question 11

How is RT influenced by rotation angle in our data? Is it linear?

Answer 11

It’s not necessarily linear in our results (linear in the original results) but there’s definitely an increase in reaction time (when the pairs are identical) as degree of rotation increases

Question 12

Are imagined and perceived images represented the same way?

Answer 12

Johnson and Johnson used machine learning to ask whether imagined and perceived natural scenes are represented in the same way

Question 13

Imageless thought debate

Answer 13

The debate about whether thought is possible in the absence of images.

Question 14

Paired associate learning

Answer 14

A learning task in which participants are first presented with pairs of words, then one word of each pair is presented and the task is to recall the other word.

Question 15

Conceptual peg hypothesis

Answer 15

According to this hypothesis, concrete nouns create images that other words can “hang onto.”

Question 16

Mental walk task

Answer 16

A task used in imagery experiments in which participants are asked to form a mental image of an object and to imagine that they are walking toward this mental image. Have to get closer to smaller objects

Question 17

Imagery neurons

Answer 17

Neurons in the human brain which fire in the same way when a person sees a picture of an object and when a person creates a visual image of the object.