Visual mental imagery and visual perception: structural equivalence revealed by scanning processes.

Full Abstract

The research reported in the present article investigates whether information is represented the same way in both visual mental imagery and the early phases of visual perception. In Experiment 1, the same participants scanned over patterns of dots in a mental image (with images based on a just-seen pattern), during perception, and in an iconic image. The time to scan increasing distances increased at comparable rates in the three tasks. However, in Experiment 2, when mental images were created from information stored in long-term memory, participants scanned more slowly in the mental image condition. Nevertheless, the rates of scanning in the perceptual tasks were highly correlated with the rates of scanning in the imagery tasks in both experiments. The results provide evidence that mental images and perceived stimuli are represented similarly and can be processed in the same way.

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Author information

Author/s: Borst, Gregoire (G); Kosslyn, Stephen M (SM);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. borst(-atsign-)wjh.harvard.edu

Grants: 2 R01 MH060734 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Memory & cognition (Mem Cognit), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 36 (issue 4) : pp 849-62

Dates: Created 2008/07/07; Completed 2008/08/12;

PMID: 18604966, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Female
Humans
Imagination

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