Imagery Flashcards
what is imagery?
representation that is similar to that formed in early stages of perception, however, it is based on information drawn from memories
- a form of representation that is based on memories
In bonnets syndrome ..
perception and imagery are confused
why are images and perceptions rarely confused?
have an awareness that we have deliberately constructed an image and these are usually less detailed
perceptual anticipation theory …
the perceptual anticipation their argues that visual perception and visual imagery depend on the same visual buffer
imagery resembles perception: evidence of facilitation …
Participants were told to perceive or imagine a green or red horizontal grating
one eye was then presented with a green gating and the other a red grating
these two different stimuli presented caused binocular rivalry to occur…
the stimulus consciously perceived was more likely the one they had imagined
the degree of orientation had an effect
evidence of interference
imagery resembles perception
dual task experiment
participants rated vividness of auditory or visual images
the secondary task was either visuo-spatial or to do with the phonological loop
the spatial task reduced the vividness of the visual imagery
clouting task (phonological) reduced the vividness of the auditory imagery
evidence for mental imagery
Pavio sugastes there was dual coding in mental imagery
a code for visual representations and a code for verbal representations
- recall better sets of concrete imageable words better than concrete non-imageable words
mental rotation evidence
time taken to mentally rotate an image is the same as it would take to move it through space
when deciding whether two objects that are mirror images of each other are the same, the time to make the decision in related to the degree of rotation
neuroimaging evidence that imagery and perception are similar
viewing an object and imaging one both activate the primary visual cortex
when imaging an object however there is greater activation in the posterior left cortex
children’s and adults use of imagery
young children are more likely to reply on imagery as long term memory knowledge is lacking
Kosslyn 1979, Adult and children’s imagery use
participants (5,14 and adults) had to make judgements about animal properties
there were two conditions,, first the participant had were asked to visualise the animal and then indenity properties and then in another they only identified properties
in the imagery category all responded faster to larger less associated properties
differences between imagery and non-imagery conditions was greatest for adults
Imagery and emotion …
images can directly influence emotional systems in the brain
imagined events can be as emotionally arousing as real events
imagery can contribute to psychopathology
negative aversive images are a feature of psychopathlogy
depression, social anxiety and phobias
Imagery and Trauma
traumatic imagery is present in individuals with PTSD
people with PTSD have strong physiological reactions to cues associated with their traumatic experience
also have reduced a hippocampus
Imagery and Social anxiety experiment
Hirsch et al 2003
asked participants to imagine themselves conversing with another person
then asked them to imagine a positive image of themselves conversing with another person
results of self-reported rating showed reduced distress in the positive imagery condition
