imagery

hyperphantasia— career likelihood & cons

extreme imagery, photo/life like

• can be harmful: experience painful events in extreme detail (linked to PTSD)

more likely to go into creative field

aphantasia— career likelihood

lack of mental imagery,

• more likely to go into math/science

dual coding theory

we have 2 distinct & interconnected ways to process & represent info

dual coding theory 2 diff systems

1st: verbal system, propositional representation

2nd: non-verbal system, depictive representation

verbal system of dual coding theory

verbal system: symbolic system, dealings with words & letters, syllables, etc

• representing info as logogens (words, sentences)

propositional representation

verbal, abstract-code, amodal (no specific sensational link)

non-verbal system of dual coding theory

non-verbal system: modality-specific system, deals w/ images

• representing info as imagens (mental imagery, sensations)

depictive representation & example

non-verbal, analog, modality-specific

• recalling sunset you saw yesterday or a song you rlly like (both sensation-linked)

propositional theory

we only use propositional representations in our minds, don’t preserve perceptual & spatial info (refutes dual-coding)

• mental imagery only comes about via epiphenomenalism— its only a byproduct

propositional representation hypothesis

all info is stored as descriptive or propositional statements (language-like)

dual-coding theory— what happens when we do mental imagery?

we bring the representation to mind— preserve perceptual & spatial info in one stream

evidence for dual coding theory

concreteness effect— we process images & physical stimuli similarly

concreteness effect explained

concrete words (table, chair) are recalled more than abstract words (democracy, justice) bc they can be represented using both verbal & non-verbal system (imagery)

3 studies that linked perception & imagery

mental rotation, mental scanning, mental scaling

mental rotation: process, important takeaways, gender’s role, utilization of brain in rotating?

ppl took longer to answer abt rotated figures that require more rotation— supports imagery linked to perception

• men outperform women → reflects sociocultural influences

  • men vs women times’ depended on whats being rotated (doll vs sailboat)

• mental rotation doesn’t strictly use R hemisphere

mental scanning: process, important takeaways

ask ppl to study image of island

• if physical distance is greater btwn 2 images, will take longer to scan

  • links imagery & perception

mental scaling: process, important takeaways

ppl asked to imagine animals standing next to other animals (rabbit & fly, rabbit & elephant)

• when imagining rabbit next to fly → perceived as bigger (physically)

  • also takes up more room in mind’s eye (imagery matches perception)

what did fMRI studying ppl viewing faces vs buildings demonstrate

suggests shared areas of perception & imagery in each respective region btwn viewing & imagining— same areas activated when viewing vs imagining

• imagery exhibits functional specialization

what study demonstrated distinction btwn imagery & perception

blindsight patients had less area overlap btwn perceiving & imagining houses than control group (no blindsight)

what did the grid experiment prove abt how imagery affects our actions

report faster when x is where they imagined it to be

• it demonstrated that imagery helps guide our perception & attention for upcoming task

von restorff effect

objects remembered better when they’re out of ordinary among common objects

• diff stands out in memory

what happens when imagery group visualizes images of distressful scenario vs group that focuses on semantics

• imagery group reports more negative emotions

sports training imagery

• pregame mental visualization linked to better performance