ch. 10 Cognitive psych.

final exam chapter

what is visual imagery? what are some examples of using visual imagery in real life?

the ability to create a sensory experience in the mind without an actual external stimulus.

we use this far more in everyday life then we expect:

• mental navigation, planning & visualization, memory retrieval, problem solving, emotional regulation, etc.

how did Kosslyn use the technique of mental scanning (in the boat & island experiments) to demonstrate similarities between perception and imagery?

Kosslyn claimed that if imagery, like perception, is spatial, then it should take participants longer to find places that are farther apart.

Boat experiment:

• participants were told to imagine a boat, then focus on an initial point (i.e., anchor). researchers asked them to locate another point on the other side (i.e., motor).

• results showed slower reaction time b/c participants had to scan across the image

Island experiment:

• participants asked to imagine an island and have 7 different points. asked to scan, imagining the boat moving to each of the 7 different points.

• result showed participants had a longer reaction time when scanning btw longer distances, which supports the idea that visual imagery is spatial.

what is the imagery debate? describe the spatial (or depictive) propositional explanations of the mechanism underlying imagery. how does the propositional explanation interpret the results of Kosslyn’s boat and island image-scanning experiment

debate: argue over how the brain represents mental images.

spatial (depictive) explanation: argues that mental imagery is analog.

• mechanism; mental images are like “mental maps” or pictures. they preserve the spatial layout of the original object.

propositional explanation: argues that imagery is non-analog, & distance SHOULD NOT matter.

• mechanism; mental images are stored as propositions-abstract, language-like descriptions (i.e., “the cat is black.” “the cat has a tail”)

• experiment: participants asked to imagine a map with an island and a boat. They were then asked to “scan” from the boat to various landmarks on the island.

describe the experiments by Kossyn, Perky, and Farah that demonstrate interactions between imagery and perception.

Kosslyn: Mental images preserve spatial properties (they are analog).

• Participants were asked to imagine a map with an island and a boat. They were then asked to “scan” from the boat to one of the 7 various points imagined on the map.

• The results showed that the amount of time taken to “travel” mentally between points increased with the distance between them.

Perky: wanted to see if a real visual stimulus would interfere with a mental image.

• Participants were asked to visualize an image while a dim projection of a similar image was simultaneously displayed.

• Many participants could not differentiate between their own mental image and the projected image.

• This demonstrates that visual imagery can be influenced by an actual visual stimulus, thereby showing a strong interaction between imagery and perception.

Farah: looked at how the brain handles “competition” between what we ‘see’ and what we ‘imagine.’

• Participants had to perform a task using a mental image while simultaneously viewing a real image.

• Results showed a mutual interference. the real image disrupted the mental image, but the mental image could also interfere with the perception of the real object.

• Suggested a shared resource. the brain has limited capacity for visual processing and mental imagery “competes” for the same neural space as actual sight.

describe how experiments using the following psychological techniques have provided evidence of parallels between imagery and perception: (a) recording from single neurons in the human brain; (b) brain imaging; (c) deactivation of part of the brain; and (d) neuropsychology

(a) recording from single neurons in the human brain;

(b) brain imaging;

(c) deactivation of part of the brain;

(d) neuropsychology

What are the differences between imagery and perception? What have most psychologists concluded about the connection between imagery and perception?

differences:

• perception is automatic, but imagery needs to be generated with some effort.

• perception is stable & imagery is fragile

• harder to manipulate mental images than images that are created perceptually. This was shown by Chalmers & Reisburg when they showed ambiguous figures (can you see a rabbit or a duck?), perceptually easy to flip images, but hard to do so if u are holding a mental image of the figure

Most psychologists concluded that imagery and perception are closely related and share some (but not all) mechanisms.

under what conditions does imagery improve memory? describe techniques that use imagery as a tool to improve memory? what is the basic principle that underlies these techniques? describe the method of loci.

placing images at locations:

• method of loci, a method in which things to be remembered are placed at different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout.

associated images with words

• peg-word technique; e.g., “one-bun, two-shoe, three-tree, four-door, five-hive, etc.”

what is the evidence for individual differences in imagery?

Research indicates individuals vary significantly in their imagery capabilities, assessed through self-report measures, experiments, and neuropsychological studied, vividness of imagery can differ vastly among individuals.

what is the difference between spatial visualizers and object visualizers?

Spatial Visualizers: excel in manipulating and transforming spatial representations, often visualizing layouts and 3-dimensional objects in their mind.

Object Visualizers: focus on detailed representations of specific objects rather than spatial relations.

what can imagery ability predict?

can predict various cognitive skills, including performance in tasks requiring spatial reasoning, memory recall, creativity, and problem-solving. It has been linked to success in fields that rely heavily on visual and spatial processing.