Visual Imagery Flashcards
Mental Imagery
Experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of a sensory input
or
The ability to re-create the sensory world in the absence of a physical stimuli
i. e. tasting food, hearing musics
- Imagining tastes, smells, and tactile experiences
Visual Imagery
Seeing in the absence of a visual stimulus
Imageless thought debate
“Thought is impossible without an image” -Aristotle
Paired-associate learning (Paivio)
It is easier to remember concrete nouns such as “truck” or “tree” then it is to remember abstract nouns such as “truth” or “justice” that are difficult to image.
-Memory for pairs of concrete nouns is better than memory for pairs of abstract nouns
Shepard and Meltzer Experiment
Mental Rotation
- Mentally compared two objects to see if they were the same or different
- They inferred cognitive processes by measuring mental chronometry
What were the IV and DV of the Mental Rotation Coglbb?
IV = object similarity (same or different) and rotation angle
DV = RT (milliseconds)
-RT from the correct trials were only recorded
Why was the mental rotation important in imagery?
It was one of the first studies to apply quantitative methods to the study of imagery and suggest that imagery and perception share the same mechanisms (i.e. mental mechanisms- manipulating perceptual and mental images, and brain mechanism- such as which structures are involved in creating the perceptual and mental images)
What did Shepard and Metzler’s study should about the mental and perceptual images?
That they both involve a spatial representation of the stimulus
Mental Rotation: Which will have a longer RT and why? Same and 90° or same and 180°
Same and 180° because you will have to rotate it for longer and thus have a longer RT
What is different about how you mentally rotate it the object in the different rotation condition?
You will mentally rotate it such that it should match up with the other condition. However, once you meet max rotation and realize that the two letters are a mirror image of each other, then you will report that they are different.
How does your RT change in the “same” condition in the mental rotation lab?
The further you have to mentally rotate the object, the longer your RT will be.
How does your RT change for the symbolic representation (block by block analysis) in the Mental Rotation Lab?
For the same and different condition they will be the exact same RT because you are just working working your way down the blocks one by one until you find an area where it might be different.
What are the mental processes involved when the shapes are the same? (0° vs 120°)
0° = 1. Perceive the objects
- Compare the objects
- Respond
- -> No rotation is required
120° =
- Perceive the objects
- Compare and rotate/rotate and compare
- When you reach 120° you stop and compare
- Respond
What did the Shepard and Meltzer experiment show?
The time it takes to determine that the two objects are the same is directly related to the difference in the angles between the two objects.
-As if we “mentally rotate” one object to match the other object
Describe Kosslyn (1973) Experiment
Participants memorized a picture, and were asked to create a mental image of it. They then had to move from one part of the picture to another.
Results of Kosslyn (1973) Experiment
It took longer for participants to mentally move longer distances than shorter distances
Conclusion: Like perception, imagery is spatial
What was the argument Lea (1975) had about Kosslyn’s experiment?
-That an increase in RT was due to more distractions when scanning longer distances
Which experiment is “mental scanning” associated with?
Kosslyn (1973)
Which experiment is “mental chronometry” associated with?
Shepard and Metzler’s experiment
Describe the experiment conducted by Kosslyn (1978) in the efforts to address Lea’s (1975) argument?
Had participants construct an island with 7 locations and 21 trips.
Results: It took longer to scan between greater distances
-Therefore it was determined that visual imagery is spatial.
–> More about the distance and not the intervening objects
Pylyshyn (1973) experiment “Imagery Debate”
A debate about whether imagery is spatial (i.e. like those involved in perception) or propositional (i.e. mechanisms related to language)