Studied by 18 people
Aristotle
Thoughts aren’t possible without image
There is variability: some people may experience visual image, some people may not
Part and parcel of our conscious experience
Wilhem Wundt
Explored visual images and consciousness
He was the first person to have a psychology lab in Germany
His research focused on perception
our conscious experience of the world is widespread with these visual images that we have: imagery general of our interaction of the world
Francis Galton
view of imagery: individual variation
explored why some people experience more visual imagery than others
cousin of Charles Darwin
Contributed to statistics and different things that ended up being relevant for psych research
his view of individual variation was in proportion to eugenics → problematic contribution
John Watson
imagery focus was primarily on behaviourism
explored how imagery can be unreliable since we rely on the individual to report to us what they are thinking/imagining → questioned the accuracy
wanted to focus on a measure that is more precise
The timeline where the study of imagery was geared towards a more precise measure (like behaviorism)
1940’s to the 1960’s
Timeline where new information was presented to study visual imagery more
1970’s - onwards
Alan Paivio
learn new information better when they are concrete and we can form visual images around that info
“boat-hat” rather than “truth justice”
concrete is easier to imagine and easier to remember → imagery helps our memory
Roger Shepard and Jacqueline Metzler
Our ability to think about and manipulate information is important in terms of how we think about the world
Working memory: we can manipulate visual-spatial information
Visual-spatial: makes up a lot of our working memory and ability
Task: mental rotation was invented by these two
The view on imagery from 70’s to 80’s
received evolving work that saw how important imagery is to our day-to-day abilities
started to see the distinction between imagery and perception → how they are also similar to one another
Zenon Pylyshyn
suggested that imagery is what we would call an epiphenomenon
Epiphenomenon
you can experience imagery but it doesn’t really serve any function
something our brains can do but doesn’t necessarily serve any function
Example: a cat under the table → you can imagine it but how does this serve you
What did Pylyshyn argue about imagery as an epiphenomenon?
Argued that whether or not you have that experience of mental imagery, you can still understand what’s going on (around you)
His primary question: does forming mental image help you in any way?
Does it support our cognitive ability → opposed views of mental imagery
Stephen Kosslyn studies these 2 concepts about imagery
Mental Scanning
Size in Visual Field
Kosslyn studied how visual imagery is very useful in our everyday lives (true or false)
true
Kosslyn studied how visual imagery is not similar to how we perceive the world around us (true or false)
false
Explain Mental Scanning
This study found that the further apart a distance is in actuality, the longer it took for people to mentally scan to get from landmark/location to the next
Further apart and longer in real life to get there -→ applies in imagery too
Relative distance
Provided evidence that perception and imagery rely on the same principles
Explain Size in Visual Field
The way we perceive the world is similar to how we imagine them too
Approach a car in real life → gets bigger
Approach a car in mind → mentally gets bigger
Visual field: everything we see falls within our visual field → we try to fit things into our visual field when we imagine them
We adjust our distance from objects to fit them in our visual fields in real life and in imagery
Bunny, elephant, fly → details for the relatively larger animal is better seen
Cheves Perky (1910)
had participants stare into a blank wall and imagine things
wall is translucent and is flashing projections unto a wall
when told to imagine a banana, they also project a banana unto the wall
participants would take the image being faintly projected unto the wall and adopt it as the thing they are imagining
Added evidence that perception and imagery are closely related to each other → a line between reality and fiction
Single Cell Recording
Neuromachinery we use to perceive the world is the same machinery we use to imagine the world
fusiform cortex (used to see faces) also holds visual imagery as well → done by similar parts of the brain
Stimulated by doctors during surgery and produces spontaneous images/ see faces
Brain Imaging
Occipital lobe: involved in perceiving pictures and also imagining pictures → visual cortex is active too
Visual center of brain is involved in perceiving the world and also imagery
Overlap between perception and imagery
TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation)
Uses magnetic pulse to temporarily knock out function of the brain
Must be near the skull
Can impair visual functioning but using it on occipital/visual cortex
Kosslyn on TMS
asked participants if the orientation of each quadrant are the same
they would say no
but if you apply TMS before the questions is asked, trouble answering the question
Effect of TMS on Imagery
by temporarily knocking out the function of the visual cortex, it can impairs our ability to perceive things and to see imagery in our world around us too
Neuropsychology (visual cortex damage)
if we damage the visual cortex, our field of vision shrinks
part of the brain that processes the visual field is no longer available to us
when imagining the world around them, visual field is also reduced in size
Neuropsychology: Unilateral neglect
visual deficits: their ability to imagine can be impaired but not necessarily gone → still able to process and imagine spatial orientations
Parietal lobe damage: lose the ability to be aware of the space around us
Damage right side of the Parietal Lobe: can describe everything on right side but no the left; opposite processing; deficit there
Neuropsychology: Imagery can be dissociated from Vision
literature that disproportionate damage to vision shows that mental imagery is still relatively well intact and vice versa → depends on the locus of the damage
Partially overlapping
parts of our brain can overlap for vision and imagery, but some parts are solely devoted to each
Method of Loci (Simonides: Philosopher)
we can use spatial locations, particularly familiar spatial locations to help us memorize things
Hypothetical floor plan: associate objects with that location; when needing to recall information → imagine walking through that location
Technique works remarkably well
Also referred to by Memory Palace Technique by some
Peg-word Method
get a rhyme that’s easy to remember
associate each part of that rhyme with something you want to remember
example: one-bun, two-shoe, three-four, four-door
Mental Practice: Athletics
swimmers in butterfly stroke: those that engaged in real practice as well as imagining their practice (imagery) had the best performance
What was the problem with “The Secret”
Imagining your goal is fine, but expecting for it to come to you without work is the issue of this approach
Outcome Vs. Process Stimulation (Shelley Taylor and Colleagues, 1980-90s)
students who engaged in outcome simulation (imagined getting an A) and thought of strategies to achieve their outcome had the highest grades
Taylor: Imagining what you need to do makes things more concrete and helps you plan for contingencies towards that plan
Improve chances for success by imagining what you want to achieve + the process to get there
Temporal Discounting
When reward that is immediate is found to be more appealing compared to the future reward
Solution: get people to think about their future in a more concrete way
make future goal more concrete to help them overcome making impulsive decisions
What is language?
a set of sounds/symbols to express thoughts, feelings, etc.
Other animals can do so as well
Are all language verbal?
No. Honeybees can communicate by flying around in space; various spatial orientation
What are the two things that make human language unique?
It is Hierarchical and Rule-based/Syntax
Hierarchical
The letters that make up our alphabet can be used to make up many more words → make more sentences → more ideas
making basic aspects of language to complex aspects to create more meaning and more things to communicate
Rule-based/ Syntax
all units of language can be organized with one another
although units of language are arranged in a hierarchical structure, there’s a basic set of rules we follow
Number of ideas and stories is infinite despite limited language → makes human language unique
What is the most basic unit of the english language?
Letters
Phonemes
basic units of sound
47 in English
“Bit” = b/i/t
Why are there 47 phonemes in English if there’s only 26 letters?
We can make different sounds depending on what context it’s found e.g., “e” in “we” and “wet”
Morphemes
smallest unit of sound with meaning or grammatical function
two morphemes: “bedroom” bed/room or “trucks” truck/s
How is perception affected by meaning? and what are the three evidences?
context guides our ability to perceive language
Phonemic restoration effect, perceiving words in sentences, Word superiority effect
Phonemic Restoration Effect
The phoneme can be cut out in situations but your brain is recreating/restoring it to allow you to perceive the language you’re being exposed to
Perceiving words in sentences
Pollack and Pickett (1964): identify 50% percent of the words
Example: Big Girl and Big Earl
Hard time identifying individual words outside the context of the sentence in which they are presented
Pollack and Pickett’s study found that: it’s difficult to identify individual words outside the context of the sentence in which they are presented
Word Superiority Effect
The ability to perceive letters is facilitated by their occurrence in words
Fork and Rfok → easier to remember that Fork ends with K than Rfok ends with K
Words facilitate the processing of a letter: so strong that even if one letter is presented in a different context → it’s hard to identify the word
Word Frequency Effect
The higher the frequency of the word (the more likely we experience/encounter the word in our day to day lives), the more likely we are to remember the words
This determines how easily we are able to process it
Lexical Ambiguity
Some words have more than one meaning and it matters in terms of how easily we process language
Balanced meanings → slows us down, we need to think more because they have equal dominance
Biased meaning → faster process; dominant meaning we are used to seeing the world around us
Meaning Dominance
More than one meaning, equally strong or is one meaning stronger than the other?
Biased: one meaning is stronger (tin)
Balanced: equally likely to hear both definitions (cast)
Syntax
Rules to construct language
Semantics
Meaning we derive from language
What are the two pieces of evidence found regarding the syntax and semantics of human language?
Broca’s Aphasia
Wernicke’s Aphasia
Broca’s Aphasia
Difficulty with syntax, inability or difficulty to produce or generate language
Left frontal lobe
Person with this has no problem understanding but ability to produce language is impaired
Wernicke’s Aphasia
difficulty or inability in comprehending language; understanding would be difficult so communication may be nonsensical
Left Temporal Lobe
Parsing and Garden Path Sentence
Starts out meaning one thing and the meaning shifts into something else but there’s no clear indication the change occurred
Can be fixed with a coma
“After the musician played the piano was wheeled off the stage” → important shift of meaning that wasn’t indicated
Changed: After the musician played the piano, the piano was wheeled off the stage
Syntax first approach parsing (late closure)
when we read sentences, unless we are indicated by some grammatical structure like a comma that something changes, we assume every new word is part of the sentence
the main meaning of the sentence → assume things go together
Influence of Knowledge
background knowledge/past experiences
past knowledge is a top-down way to help us process the meaning of the sentences
Interactionist Approach to parsing
we use syntax (word by word) to construct meaning
we also use semantic background knowledge to also make meaning
both come to play and help us derive meaning and avoid confusion
Note 
Flashcard (41)