6- Visual Imagery

Shepard and Metzler measured the time it took for participants to decide whether two objects were the same (two different views of the same object) or different (two different objects). These researchers inferred cognitive processes by using

mental chronometry

Paivio (1963) proposed the conceptual peg hypothesis. This work suggests which of these would be MOST difficult to remember?

Freedom

If it takes 4 seconds to mentally scan the distance between two locations 6 inches apart on a map, how long should it take to mentally scan locations that are 3 inches apart?

2 seconds

A complete lack of mental imagery ability is known as

Aphantasia

The key difference between depictive representation and propositional representation is based on which of these?

Content

Which characteristic fundamentally differentiates visual imagery from visual perception?

Imagery is an experience created in the absence of a physical stimulus, unlike perception

The finding that imagining a small object activates brain areas corresponding to the fovea (the center of vision) on the primary visual cortex (V1), while imagining a large object activates more peripheral V1 areas, provides strong evidence for which of the following conclusions?

Imagery and perception share mechanisms that reflect the spatial layout (the retinotopic map) of the visual system

Kosslyn's mental scanning experiment (1973), where participants mentally scanned an image of a boat, primarily sought to address the debate over whether visual imagery is represented

Visually/spatially (analog) versus abstractly/linguistically (propositional)

The key finding from mental rotation experiments (Shepard & Metzler, 1971) that supports the idea that visual imagery is spatial/analog is

Reaction time to determine if two objects are the same is linearly proportional to the angular difference between them

The case of patient R.M., who had intact visual memory (could remember what objects looked like) but damaged visual perception (couldn't recognize objects in front of him), provides behavioral evidence for

A double dissociation between visual imagery and visual perception

In the experiment where participants had to judge whether their hands could comfortably reach and manipulate an imagined object, the key finding that supports the involvement of shared motor mechanisms between perception and imagery was

Reaction time was slower if the imagined object was placed in a position that was difficult to physically reach

Zenon Pylyshyn's primary objection to the conclusions drawn from mental scanning and mental rotation experiments was that the results are based on tacit knowledge. What does Pylyshyn mean by "tacit knowledge" in this context?

That participants unconsciously simulate the experience of physical scanning/rotation based on their real-world knowledge of how objects move in space

Kozhevnikov et al.'s (2005) research on individual differences in visual imagery primarily identified two distinct groups of people based on their cognitive strengths. These two groups were

Visualizers (rely on imagery) versus verbalizers (rely on verbal-analytic skills)

In Kosslyn's original mental scanning experiment (1973), participants were asked to focus on one feature of an imagined boat and then mentally "scan" to another feature (e.g., from the anchor to the motor). The reaction time (RT) data was interpreted to support the analog view because the RT increased

linearly as the perceived distance between the two features on the imagined boat increased

Patient M.G., who had a large portion of her occipital lobe (including the visual cortex V1) removed as treatment for epilepsy, provides evidence about the spatial nature of imagery because after her surgery

The maximum size of the objects she could mentally imagine was reduced proportionally to the size of the removed visual cortex

In an experiment investigating whether imagery interferes with perception, if a participant is asked to simultaneously perceive a weak visual stimulus while maintaining a mental image, which result would suggest a strong shared mechanism hypothesis?

The ability to detect the weak visual stimulus is impaired because both tasks are competing for the same limited visual processing resources

Kozhevnikov et al.'s (2005) subsequent research divided visualizers into two groups: those strong in Spatial Imagery (like mental rotation) and those strong in Object Imagery (like visualizing color and detail). This distinction is important because it suggests that

Visual imagery is not a single process and may be supported by partially distinct neural pathways

Which of the following findings provides the strongest physiological support for the functional overlap (shared mechanisms) between visual imagery and visual perception?

Damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) impairs both actual visual field size and the maximum size of the mental image

Patients suffering from unilateral neglect (hemispatial neglect), who ignore objects in the contra-lesional side of their visual field (e.g., ignoring the left half of the world due to right parietal damage), often exhibit a corresponding deficit in visual imagery. This is evidence that

Imagery processing shares the same spatial attention mechanisms used for perception

The idea that information can be represented in the brain in both an analog (picture-like) code and a propositional (verbal/abstract) code is best described by which of the following?

Paivio's Dual-Code Theory

The Method of Loci (or "memory palace") is an ancient mnemonic technique that primarily relies on which aspect of visual imagery?

Creating strong spatial associations between visualized objects (items to be remembered) and a familiar, imagined location (the loci)

When Kosslyn suggested that the mental image is like a display on a computer screen (a spatial medium) and Pylyshyn countered that the image is more like a computer file (an abstract description), they were fundamentally arguing over the

Format of the underlying mental representation (analog vs. propositional)

The existence of a double dissociation between visual imagery and visual perception (as seen with Patients R.M. and C.K.) strongly suggests which conclusion about the relationship between the two processes?

Imagery and perception rely on separate, though partially shared, neural mechanisms that can be independently damaged

In an experiment, if a person is asked to maintain a mental image of a melody while simultaneously judging the height of an external object, and neither task is impaired, this outcome supports the view that

Auditory imagery and visual perception utilize separate cognitive resources

The Pegword Method is a mnemonic device where individuals visually associate items to be remembered with a sequence of rhymes (e.g., "One is a bun, two is a shoe"). This technique highlights the power of visual imagery to improve memory encoding by leveraging which primary memory principle?

The creation of interactive, distinct, and bizarre visual images to link items to cues