Chapter 10 Notes + Flashcards

Imagery

Mental recreations of sensory information from the outside world, can be visual, auditory, olfactory, or tactile.

Cognitive Tasks of Imagery

Problem solving, navigation, sports performance, mind wandering, memory

Two Ideas for Image Storage and Manipulation

Spatial representation, prepositional representation

Spatial Representation (Kossyln, 1973)

The idea that visual information is represented in analog form in the mind (i.e., In the same way that objects or scenes are perceived when looking at them); supported by more data and considered dominant view

Propositional Representation (Pylyshyn, 1973)

The idea that visual information is represented non-spatially in the mind and beyond our conscious awareness

Mental Scanning Task

Participants are given a task in which they have to access different locations of a scene or object represented in their minds. Accessing a spatial representation of the image

Kosslyn et al., 1973

A study using mental-scanning task that showed that mental images exist as spatial representations in the mind that we can access, by having participants focus on a plane’s propeller and then asked to verify the presence of another part of the plane; the further away from the original focus point (propeller), the longer it took participants to complete the task, suggesting they were scanning the entire plane

Kosslyn et al., 1978

A study that further supported the spatial representation by giving participants a map of a fictional island and asked them to mentally move around; the time it took them to “mentally travel” between locations depended on the actual distance between locations, suggesting they were moving around on a spatial representations of the map in their mind

Picture Superiority Effect

A result showing that memory for pictures is superior to memory for words of the same concepts.

Dual-coding Theory

Theory stating that words produce only a verbal code, while pictures produce both an image code and a verbal code. Spatial and propositional representations for pictures, and only propositional for words

Concreteness Effect

A result showing that memory for concrete concepts is superior to memory for abstract concepts (i.e., we remember more concrete objects over abstract)

Bizarreness Effect

A result showing that memory for unusual images is superior to memory for typical images (i.e., sentences that create bizarre images are better remembered than sentences that invoke more common images)

Distinctiveness

Suggested that the bizarreness effect is caused by distinctiveness of the bizarre image when compared with the common image. Bizarreness only aids memory when it stands out against other studied information

Auditory Imagery

Memory for an auditory stimuli such as a piece of music, inner speech, or memories of distinctive sounds. Extends across time

Auditory Superiority Effect

Sounds (e.g., actual barking) recalled better than the labels of sounds (the word “barking”).

Spatial Representation

The idea that visual information is represented in analog form in the mind, akin to perceiving objects or scenes.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic technique relying on imagery and known locations to encode and retrieve information.

Pegword Mnemonic

A memory aid where ordinal words (e.g., one, two) are rhymed with pegwords (e.g., bun, shoe) to create images of pegwords and to-be-remembered items interacting

Loftus and Pickrell (1995) (lost in mall)

A study demonstrating the role of imagery in false memory that asked participants to remember the time they were lost in the mall when they were a child , they were later able to recall details of the event (usually about one to two weeks after the first session), even though every participant in these studies was never actually lost in a mall as a child (verified by family members)

Thomas and Loftus (2002) (false memory bizarre tasks)

A study that shoed that just imagining an event a few times can create false memories for having experience the event. Participants were asked to perform or imagine common tasks and bizarre tasks, after performing or imagining a few times and a two-week delay, many participants reported having performed both the common and bizarre tasks that they only imagined.

Hegarty (2004) (gear system)

A review of research studies showing that when participants tried to solve problems like the gear system (i.e., one move clockwise, which direction will the other go), the reaction time in solving the problem depended on the amount of movement required by the system in the problem

Moulton and Kosslyn (2009) (prospective cognition)

Argued that imagery serves a primary role in prospective cognition— our ability to make predictions about how things will occur in the future. Imagery allows for prediction of various solutions from the knowledge gained in the mental simulation

Two Types of Imagery

Scenographic imagery, abstract imagery

Scenographic Imagery

The image of an environment based on landmarks encountered in that environment along a navigated route (e.g., what one would see walking through the environment)

Abstract Imagery

An image of an environment based on an overview of the environment (e.g., a map-like image overview of the environment)

More helpful in navigating an environment (Abu-Obeid 1998)

Verbal Code

e.g., A word label for pictures

Non-verbal Code

e.g., visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory information; sometimes can be easily translated into verbal code

Internal Imagery

e.g., may be difficult to explain verbally what is involved in running, but kinesthetic imagery can describe such imagery

Embodied Cognition Approach

A new perspective on mental imagery suggesting that the format of imagery is dependent on an individual’s goals and the purpose of the imagery in achieving those goals

Motor Imagery

A mental representation of motor movements that can benefit performance in sports; may be important in active interactions with others and in understanding other’s emotional states

Grounded Cognition

The idea that imagery aids in simulating everyday situations in describing the role of cognitive processes in our goals for perception and action in our environment; considers cognition as a broad interactive process