Deck 10: Visual Imagery

Question 1

Look at an object for a minute; then look away, create a mental image of it, and draw a sketch of the object based on your mental image. Then draw a sketch of the same object while you are looking at it. What kinds of information about the object in the imagery drawing were omitted, compared to the sketch you made while looking at the object?

Answer 1

A person visually imagines something which is not physically present is visual imagery. It shares many properties of the original image in a less detailed way, when compared to visual perception.
Images proposed by Wundt were considered as one among the three basic elements of consciousness, including other two elements namely, sensations and feelings. Human brain had the ability to create perceptual and mental images in order to identify them, when two same objects are placed in front of them. Creating a mental image of an observed object and then drawing a sketch of it differs from the drawing a sketch of same object while looking it. Mental images share same properties of perception, but they differ based on the observation that they are not as long lasting or vivid. Viewing an image requires the help of perception to create a replica of it. In case, if the imagery affects perception, there is a chance of perception affecting imagery. The above processes affecting each other mean that they both have access to the same mechanism. The most significant thing about the imagery neurons in the brain is that they can respond to the process of perceiving an object and the way needed to imagine it. The mechanisms which help in making the perception to happen are present at both higher and lower visual centers. Mechanisms responsible for imagery are present mainly at higher centers. The kind of information that I was able to add in the sketch about the object on the basis of mental image, was that how I have imagined that object, and the relation where I could link it with the original image. I tried to remember the important aspect of the object, so that I can draw an exact sketch of it.The information that was omitted while drawing a sketch of an object using the help of mental image is that it lacked to reproduce the exact replica of the image. One can create exact image of the object if he/she is looking at image and drawing a sketch. This image has no chance of manipulation when compared to mental image, where one can add or remove the details of the image.

Question 2

Write a description of an object as you are looking at it. Then compare the written description with the information you can obtain by looking at the object or at a picture of the object. Is it true that "a picture is worth a thousand words"? How does your comparison of written and visual representations relate to the discussion of propositional versus depictive representations in this chapter?

Answer 2

Depictive representations are those which provide the realistic pictures of the image that exactly resembles an object, such that the parts of the object are corresponded by the parts of the representation. The spatial or propositional experience of mental images is a state where real mechanism is accompanied by the process happening. However, the process is not a part of the mechanism. The relationships which can be represented by abstract symbols, like a statement or an equation, is called a propositional representation. Written description of the object, while looking it, differs from original picture of the object. The written information gives details of the object. One might include the details in the way as he/she perceives it, but not in the way the exact object or the picture of the object is. The written information of object is comparable to the propositional representation as both are same form of representing the object. Both representations provide details of the object, but not exactly include the exact mechanisms to represent the image or depict the original image.
Visual representation and depictive representation are same because they both provide information of the object as it actually presents or showcases. Both representations will not omit the information as compared to the written format, and they focus on retrieving maximum information as possible. The eyes capture the exact image what is present in front of it without deleting or adding more information. Therefore, a picture is always worth than thousand words.

Question 3

Try using one ofthe techniques described at the end ofthis chapter to create images that represent things you have to do later today or during the coming week. Then, after some time passes (anywhere from an hour to a few days), check to see whether you can retrieve the memories for these images and if you can remember what they stand for.

Answer 3

There are many techniques which are helpful to recall the day-to-day activities namely; pegword technique, placing images at locations (method of loci) and mental representation of mechanical systems. Our mind has the ability to organize information that is initially unorganized, and memory performance is improved by presenting information that is organized. Pegword technique involves imagery and associate images with concrete words. The technique involves two major steps. In the first step, one has to create a list of nouns to associate it with numbers, so that it is easy to remember. The second step is to use the list in pairing and remembering each of these things with created pegword. This can be done by creation of a vivid image of the object that has to be remembered with the object, which the word represents. The technique which is used to create images that represents the things, which I have to do is using pegword technique that is, associating images with words. Associating images with words helps in remembering the things what I have to do now or later. Creating a list of what I have to do today and for a week, and associating it with the numbers continuously, help in remembering the activities, since their creation was done by their rhyming with numbers. For example, my first activity what I have to complete today is taking a dental appointment, and to remember this activity I create a mental image of dental equipment with bun in a mouth. Whenever I see bun or equipment, I can easily remember the appointment. After some time passes, the memories for these images can be retrieved, and what they represent can be memorized using the same technique because of the ability to remember the image which I have been created to memorize the activity.

Question 4

Is imagery just a "laboratory phenomenon," or does it occur in real life?

Question 5

Make a list ofthe important events in the history of the study of imagery in psychology, from the imageless thought debate of the 1800s to the studies of imagery that occurred early in the cognitive revolution in the 1960s and 1970s.

Question 6

How did Kosslyn use the technique of mental scanning (in the boat and island experiments) to demonstrate similarities between perception and imagery? Why were Kosslyn's experiments criticized, and how did Kosslyn answer Pylyshyn's criticism with additional experiments?

Question 7

Describe the spatial (or depictive) and propositional explanations of the mechanism underlying imagery. How can the propositional explanation interpret the results of Kosslyn's boat and island imagescanning experiments?

Question 8

What is the tacit knowledge explanation of imagery experiments? What experiment was done to counter this explanation?

Question 9

How have experiments demonstrated interactions between imagery and perception? What additional evidence is needed to help settle the imagery debate, according to Farah?

Question 10

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

Question 11

Some of the neuropsychological results demonstrate parallels between imagery and perception, and some results do not. How has Behrmann explained these contradictory results?

Question 12

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

Question 13

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?

Question 14

What is the relationship between food craving and visual imagery? How has visual imagery been used to reduce food craving?