problem 5 - mental images

Question 1

what is imagery?

Answer 1

The mental representation of things that aren’t currently seen or sensed by the sense organs
- Can even represent things that you have never experienced or things that don’t exist outside the mind
- Involves mental representations in any of the sensory modalities

Question 2

what is the extreme view of imagery?

Answer 2

all images of everything we ever sense is stored as exact copies of physical images → impossible

Question 3

what is the dual code theory?

Answer 3

We use both pictorial & verbal codes for representing info in our minds
- Codes organize knowledge than can be acted on, stored & later retrieved

analog & symbolic codes

Question 4

what are analog codes?

Answer 4

Mental images are analog codes (imaginary) = resemble the objects they are representing
- Physical characteristics of an object are registered in your brain in a form that represents the physical relationships
- Mental images we form in our minds are analogous to the physical stimuli we observe

Question 5

what is symbolic code?

Answer 5

A form of knowledge representation that has been chosen arbitrarily to stand for something that does not perceptually resemble what is being represented
- Language-like description of the physical characteristics of an object
- A symbol can be anything that has been designated to stand for something other than itself - e.g. number 9 is a symbol for concept of ‘nineness’

Question 6

Brooks (1968): experiment about different systems for verbal/visual recall

Answer 6

• P’s performed either verbal or visual task
• Expressed responses verbally, visually or manually
• Interference measured by slow downs in response times

Results:
- More interference in performing the pictorial tasks when asked to respond using a competing visual display
- More interference in performing the verbal task when asked to respond using a competing verbal form of expression

Suggest the use of 2 distinct codes for mental representation of knowledge

Question 7

what is the propositional theory?

Answer 7

The propositional form of mental representations is neither in words nor images → it is an abstract form representing the underlying meanings of knowledge

• Both images & verbal statements are encoded & stored mentally represented as propositions
• Our minds re-create the verbal or the imaginal code relatively accurately
• Images are epiphenomena

Question 8

what are epiphenomena?

Answer 8

secondary derivative phenomena that occur as a result of other more basic cognitive processes

Question 9

what is image scaling?

Answer 9

Mental zooming in & out
- In general, seeing details of large objects is easier than seeing details of small one → we respond more quickly to questions about large objects we observe

e.g. can see more details on a rabbit when you picture it next to a fly compared to an elephant

Question 10

what is resolution?

Answer 10

A measure of the ability of the eye to detect two distinct objects when these are close together
- System w high res: can distinguish targets very close to one another as individual entities
- System w low res: can only distinguish targets that are farther apart

Our res is limited - details of large objects is easier than seeing details of small ones
- respond more quickly to questions about large objects

Question 11

what is the functional-equivalence hypothesis?

Answer 11

Perception & mental imagination are functionally equivalent
- The way perception works with physical objects corresponds to the way mental imagination works with mental representation

Question 12

image scanning & kosslyn (1978)

Answer 12

Images can be scanned in much the same way as physical percepts can be scanned
+ strategies & responses for imaginal scanning should be the same as for perceptual scanning

Kosslyn: found an almost perfect linear relation between the distances separating pairs of objects in the mental map & the amount of time it took p’s to press a button
- The further away from each other the objects were, the longer it took p’s to scan from 1 object to the other

Question 13

Handedness & mental rotation

Answer 13

Handedness can influence mental rotation process

• Right-handers recognized a right hand faster than a left hand
• Left-handers recognized right vs left hands equally quickly
• Both groups recognized upright pictures faster & more accurately than upside-down pictures

Question 14

age and mental rotation

Answer 14

Elderly people perform more slowly on mental rotation tasks

But age is not consistently correlated w other imagery skills (e.g. sense of direction)

Question 15

deafness & mental rotation

Answer 15

Deaf individuals perform better on mental rotation tasks

Perhaps bcuz they have an advantage from extensive experience in watching a narrator produce a sign → they must mentally rotate this sign

Question 16

cognitive neuroscience research into mental rotation

Answer 16

• P’s that had originally rotated a geometric figure with their hands = activation in primary motor cortex
• P’s that only watched the rotation of a geometric figure = primary motor cortex not activated
• Change in wording of instructions = different activation in brain

Question 17

visual imagery & distance

Answer 17

Allan Paivio (1978): creating visual images with 2 hands on a mental analog clock → with real objects, people take long time to make decisions when 2 angles are very similar to each other

• High-imagery p’s made decisions more quickly
• P’s in both groups made decisions slowly when they compared 2 similar angles, and quickly when the angles were different

Supports analog code perspective

Question 18

visual imagery & interference

Answer 18

Mental images can interfere with an actual physical image

Segal & Fusella (1970): p’s had more problems detecting a physical stimulus when the mental image was in the same sensory mode

Question 19

what is the bizarreness imagery effect?

Answer 19

Sentences describing unusual or bizarre scenarios are better remembered than sentences describing, every day or common scenarios

• Often attributed to visual imagery bc ppl create a mental image when they read a bizarre sentence
• More effort & elaboration = better remembered
• Distinctiveness

Question 20

what is the visual-imagery hypothesis?

Answer 20

Non-imagery instructions should reduce the bizarreness effect even if it does not eliminate it, which is a generally found result
BE (recall rate) smaller under visual distractions

Question 21

Besken et al (bizareness effect) - experiment 1 method

Answer 21

Dynamic visual noise (DVN): rectangular display consisting of small, flickering black & white squares on a screen
- Only disrupts visual imagery & visuospatial info processing

• Shown a mixed list of bizarre & ordinary sentences
• Asked to imagine each sentence being heard through headphones
• Rate on vividness of the image while doing DVN task

Question 22

Besken et al (bizareness effect) - experiment 1 conditions

Answer 22

Experimental group: DVN + hearing instructions over headphones

Control auditory: heard sentences over headphones (have an exact counterpart to experimental condition)

Visual control: sentences were presented visually

Question 23

Besken et al (bizareness effect) - experiment 1 results

Answer 23

Vividness:
- Ordinary sentences rated more vividly + more quickly than bizarre ones across all groups
- DVN group got lower vividness scores than the control groups

Recall:
- Visual control condition produced BE: recalled more bizarre sentences than ordinary
- BE significantly greater in the experimental distraction condition than in the control auditory condition

Question 24

Besken et al (bizareness effect) - experiment 2 method

Answer 24

Spatial tapping task in which participants are asked to repeatedly tap a series of keys in the shape of a figure
- Hinders creation of mental images & mental pathways
- Hinders visual WM more than the DVN test

Same experiment as before but sentences were now presented entirely visually (no headphones) & the distracting task was also entirely visual

Question 25

Besken et al (bizareness effect) - experiment 2 results

Answer 25

Vividness:
- Ordinary sentences assessed with higher vividness + more quickly
- Spatial distraction group judged more slowly than the control group

Recall:
- Spatial distraction condition & visual control: recall rate was higher for bizarre than for ordinary sentences
- No reduction in BE seen in the distraction condition

Question 26

Besken et al (bizareness effect) - conclusion

Answer 26

Neither visual or spatial distraction reduced the bizarreness effect (recall) - but were slower on vividness ratings

Significantly larger BE under distraction