Visual Imagery Concepts from Cognitive Psychology

These flashcards cover essential concepts of visual imagery and cognition as presented in the lecture notes.

What is visual imagery?

Visual imagery refers to 'seeing' in the absence of a visual stimulus.

What is the difference between visual imagery and mental imagery?

Visual imagery involves visual stimuli, while mental imagery encompasses experiencing sensory impressions without sensory input.

What does the imageless thought debate question?

The imageless thought debate questions whether thinking is possible without images.

What is paired-associate learning?

Paired-associate learning is a memory task where participants learn pairs of words and must recall one word when given its pair.

What does Paivio's conceptual peg hypothesis imply about memory?

It implies that memory for words that evoke mental images is better than for those that do not.

What research method did Shepard and Metzler use in their study?

They used mental chronometry, where participants mentally rotated objects to determine if they matched.

What was Kosslyn's finding about mental scanning?

Kosslyn found that it took longer for participants to mentally move between farther locations in an image.

What did the mental walk task demonstrate about imagery?

It demonstrated that images are spatial, as participants moved closer to smaller animals than larger ones.

What is the difference between propositional and depictive representations in imagery?

Propositional representation uses symbols and language, while depictive representation is similar to realistic pictures.

What role do imagery neurons play in the brain?

Imagery neurons respond to both perceiving and imagining an object, indicating overlap in brain activation.

What is the significance of Ganis and coworkers' study on brain activation?

Their study showed complete overlap of activation by perception and imagery in the front of the brain.

What cognitive effect does TMS have when applied to visual areas?

TMS can slow down response times in perception and imagery tasks, suggesting causal involvement of visual areas.

What does the double dissociation in neuropsychological studies indicate?

It indicates separate mechanisms for imagery and perception.

What distinguishes perception from imagery according to the lecture?

Perception is automatic and stable, while imagery requires effort and is more fragile.

What technique uses visualization to improve memory by associating items with locations?

The method of loci.

What does the pegword technique involve for memory recall?

It involves associating items to be remembered with concrete words, creating vivid images for recall.