Visual imagery

Abstract

Visual mental imagery is our ability to reactivate and manipulate visual representations in the absence of the corresponding visual stimuli, giving rise to the experience of 'seeing with the mind's eye'. Until relatively recently, visual mental imagery had been investigated by philosophy and cognitive psychology. However, these disciplines did not have the tools required to address empirically some of the important questions they had raised, for instance the extent to which visual mental images rely on some of the same representations that support visual perception. During the last two decades, cognitive neuroscience has leveraged the vast amount of knowledge about the neural basis of primate vision to provide new insights into visual mental imagery processes. Such insights enabled the empirical test of key questions about visual mental imagery using the armamentarium of tools provided by cognitive neuroscience, including electrophysiology and neuroimaging. Using a similar logic, we propose that information about the neural basis of memory systems should be used to further enhance understanding of the neural mechanisms of visual mental imagery. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 239-252 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.103 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Neural correlates of maintaining generated images in visual working memory

“…Accordingly, the findings support current theories of mental imagery, assuming that the manipulation of mental images is governed by an attentional control process mediated by the fronto-parietal attentional network [Corbetta and Shulman, 2002;Ganis and Schendan, 2011]. This pattern of fronto-parietal theta and gamma band synchronization could reflect the process of a top-down updating of the constructed mental image during its maintenance, especially transmitted in the gamma frequency.…”

“…This pattern of fronto-parietal theta and gamma band synchronization could reflect the process of a top-down updating of the constructed mental image during its maintenance, especially transmitted in the gamma frequency. Accordingly, the findings support current theories of mental imagery, assuming that the manipulation of mental images is governed by an attentional control process mediated by the fronto-parietal attentional network [Corbetta and Shulman, 2002;Ganis and Schendan, 2011]. The reported pronounced coupling of the fronto-parietal network with the occipital ROIs support the claim that the proposed attentional control process acts in a top-down manner by maintaining dynamic functional links to object representations in a visual buffer primarily located in more occipital areas [e.g., Albers et al, 2013;Cichy et al, 2012; for reviews, see Kosslyn et al, 2006;Zimmer, 2008].…”

“…According to Kosslyn et al [2006], mental images can be created by combining perceptual representations (also described as "mental simulation") [Buckner et al, 2008]. Current theories of mental imagery converge on the notion that the manipulation of mental images is governed by an attentional control process assumed to be located in the frontoparietal attentional network [Corbetta and Shulman, 2002;Ganis and Schendan, 2011], which acts in a top-down manner by maintaining dynamic functional links to object representations in a visual buffer assumed to be primarily located in more occipital areas, that is, in primary and secondary visual cortex [e.g., Albers et al, 2013;Cichy et al, 2012; for reviews, see Kosslyn et al, 2006;Zimmer, 2008]. Connections from the prefrontal cortex have been found to mediate stimulus-specific activation during imagery [Mechelli et al, 2004], suggesting that the prefrontal cortex is forming an "imagery network" based on attentional functions together with the parietal cortex, which is involved in the maintenance of an image.…”

Visuo-spatial Programming: Visualising software structure to aid the integration of egocentric software navigation into an allocentric spatial cognitive map that supports software navigation and composition

“…Mental imagery is used to perform a wide variety of everyday tasks such as answer a question regarding prior knowledge (for example, the shape of a dog's tail) [GS11].…”

“…Experimental studies of mental imagery have investigated various tasks, including memorising a map, then timing imagined movements about the map, mentally folding paper to decide whether marked arrows will meet, deciding whether two shapes are the same after mental ro-tation, and deciding whether a dot is superimposed over the previous representation of a letter within a grid [Pyl73,Kos87,Pyl02,GS11].…”