Difficulty limits of visual mental imagery

Ceja, Cristina R.; Franconeri, Steven

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105436

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…These tasks occupy an intermediate space between conscious imagery and the sketchpad proposed in working memory models, as indicated by prior research linking mental rotation skills with working memory capacity [23][24][25]. Despite theoretical distinctions, visual imagery and visual working memory share similarities, making a clear separation challenging [26].…”

Section: (B) Mental Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationship between foveal mask interference and mental imagery in peripheral object recognition

Contemori,

Oletto,

Battaglini

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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A delayed foveal mask affects perception of peripheral stimuli. The effect is determined by the timing of the mask and by the similarity with the peripheral stimulus. A congruent mask enhances performance, while an incongruent one impairs it. It is hypothesized that foveal masks disrupt a feedback mechanism reaching the foveal cortex. This mechanism could be part of a broader circuit associated with mental imagery, but this hypothesis has not as yet been tested. We investigated the link between mental imagery and foveal feedback. We tested the relationship between performance fluctuations caused by the foveal mask—measured in terms of discriminability (d′) and criterion (C)—and the scores from two questionnaires designed to assess mental imagery vividness (VVIQ) and another exploring object imagery, spatial imagery and verbal cognitive styles (OSIVQ). Contrary to our hypotheses, no significant correlations were found between VVIQ and the mask's impact on d′ and C. Neither the object nor spatial subscales of OSIVQ correlated with the mask's impact. In conclusion, our findings do not substantiate the existence of a link between foveal feedback and mental imagery. Further investigation is needed to determine whether mask interference might occur with more implicit measures of imagery.

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Section: (B) Mental Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationship between foveal mask interference and mental imagery in peripheral object recognition

Contemori,

Oletto,

Battaglini

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Recent research has considered capacity limits in mental imagery in general, looking at how the subjective vividness and strength of imagination is affected by the number of imagined objects, using a binocular rivalry task (Keogh and Pearson, 2017). Another recent paper Ceja and Franconeri (2023), noting the absence of work on the limits of imagery, considered set size effects on imagery by asking people to imagine moving objects based on static scenes, and examined people's subjective difficulty reports, and the chance of missing feature-swaps in a working memory paradigm. Unsurprisingly, these studies find an increase in subjective difficulty and decrease in precision as the amount of imagined objects grows.…”

Section: Introducionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The capacity limits of mental simulation

Balaban,

Ullman

2024

Preprint

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A great deal of research has shown people have sever capacity limits when they track objects in direct perception. But how many objects can people track in their imagination? In three pre-registered experiments, we examined the capacity limits of the imagination. Specifically, we examined how many objects people can mentally simulate simultaneously. In a novel Imagined Objects Tracking task, we had participants continue the motion of animated objects in their mind, and indicate when they collided with the ground. When tracking one object in the mind (Experiment 1a), participants gave excellent estimations compared to ground truth. But, with the addition of just one more object (Experiment 1b), their behavior altered qualitatively. Responses when tracking two objects in imagination were in line with the predictions of a Serial Model that mentally simulates only one object at a time, as opposed to a Parallel Model that simulates all objects in tandem. The serial bottleneck does not reflect response limitations (Experiment 2), and is reduced – but not eliminated – by adding extremely strong grouping cues (Experiment 3). The results suggest that the capacity limits of tracking in the imagination are quite severe, possibly restricted to a single object at a time.

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Visual mental imagery of atypical color objects attracts attention to an imagery-matching object

Moriya

2023

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Difficulty limits of visual mental imagery

Cited by 3 publications

References 57 publications

On the relationship between foveal mask interference and mental imagery in peripheral object recognition

On the relationship between foveal mask interference and mental imagery in peripheral object recognition

The capacity limits of mental simulation

Visual mental imagery of atypical color objects attracts attention to an imagery-matching object

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