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

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 d 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.

The function of regressions in reading: Backward eye movements allow rereading

“…Eye movements follow similar patterns when viewing a stimulus and when later inspecting that same stimulus using imagery (Borst & Kosslyn, 2008;Brandt & Stark, 1997). Participants fixate the empty space where referred-to objects have previously been seen (Altmann, 2004;Altmann & Kamide, 2009;Ferreira et al, 2008) and while trying to recall stimuli that had previously occupied that location (Richardson & Spivey, 2000;Spivey & Geng, 2001; Theeuwes, unpublished data, as cited in Theeuwes, Belopolsky, & Olivers, 2009).…”

Concepts are not represented by conscious imagery

“…Mental imagery and perception have been shown to share modality-specific mechanisms (Rouw, Kosslyn, & Hamel, 1997), and both concept representation and imagery activate brain regions that overlap with areas activated during perceptual processing (Borst & Kosslyn, 2008). On the other hand, the processes involved in imagery are quite different from those involved in representing conceptual knowledge (Barsalou, 1999(Barsalou, , 2009).…”

Structural properties of spatial representations in blind people: Scanning images constructed from haptic exploration or from locomotion in a 3-D audio virtual environment

“…The main finding from image-scanning studies has been that when people mentally scan the image of an object or a scene, their scanning time increases linearly as the scanned distance increases (e.g., Beech, 1979;Borst & Kosslyn, 2008;Borst, Kosslyn, & Denis, 2006;Dror, Kosslyn, & Waag, 1993;Kosslyn, Ball, & Reiser, 1978;Pinker, Choate, & Finke, 1984). This correlational pattern is generally taken to reflect the structural isomorphism between a visuospatial representation and the spatial layout from which the representation has been constructed.…”