Mental Imagery

Question 1

Visual Images

Answer 1

mental representation, sharing certain properties with pictures

1) preserves spatial information
2) changes with viewpoint
3) empty space explicitly represented
4) experienced using spatial attention

Question 2

Not mental images

Answer 2

symbolic or linguistic representations

Structural description, list of features and relationships

Question 3

Analog Viewpoint

Answer 3

visual mental images are analogous to pictures in the head

functional equivalence

image is a picture

Question 4

Propositional Viewpoint

Answer 4

although we may believe we experience images as pictures, the underlying mental representations are actually non-pictorial abstract concepts

image is a description

Question 5

Anecdotal evidence

Answer 5

the experience of imaging feels very much like seeing a picture in one’s mind

Question 6

Propositional Theory’s response to Mental Rotation

Answer 6

elaborate structural descriptions can explain rotation results

Question 7

Imagery and Ambiguous Figures

Answer 7

showed ambiguous figures for 5 seconds, asked for first interpretation

Remove picture, asked people to form mental image

Question 8

Imagery and Ambiguous Figures Results

Answer 8

People were unable to discover a second interpretation from the image
Then drew the figure from memory and could often find the other interpretation

Question 9

Imagery and Ambiguous Figures Conclusion

Answer 9

a propositional code may override the imaginal code in some circumstances

Question 10

Slezak Figures

Answer 10

pick one animal and memorize what it looks like. Rotate it in your mind by 90 degrees and visualize it.
Images are intrinsically bound to a structural interpretation

Question 11

Reisberg and Chambers

Answer 11

participants who fail to recognize the shape can sometimes recognize it using mental imagery

the perceptual reference frame must change

participants must be told to rotate the image 90 degrees clockwise and that the form’s left edge is actually the top

Question 12

Kosslyn

Answer 12

examined how participants scan and use mental images.

Imagine elephant next to rabbit, or rabbit next to a bee

level of detail in mental images can vary

Question 13

Image Scanning Experiment

Answer 13

Memorize map, focus attention on named location, hear other location, press button when attention is at second location.

reaction time is proportional to the distance on map

Question 14

Support for analog hypothesis

Answer 14

mental images are internal representations that operate in a way that is analogous to the functioning of the perception of physical objects

functional equivalence

Question 15

Brooks

Answer 15

Block diagram of letter, mentally travel the letter and indicate if each corner was on extreme top or bottom. Second group saw sentence, asked to classify if each word was noun

Question 16

Brooks Results

Answer 16

for letter imagery task, reaction was slower when pointing

for sentence task, reaction was slower for verbal response

Question 17

Brooks Interpretation

Answer 17

imagining a diagram is interfered with most by a visual task. Scanning a sentence is interfered with most by a verbal task.

Similar representations are more likely to interfere with each other. Different tasks use different representations.

Question 18

Imagery Debate

Answer 18

lots of evidence for analog visual images. Propositional theory never completely ruled out. Assumes that the mind can rapidly work with extremely elaborate structural descriptions

Question 19

Decoding imagery of Xs vs Os

Answer 19

activity patterns in left lateral occipital region could predict what the subject was imagining 62% of time