Mental Imagery

Question 1

What are the three pervasive uses of mental imagery?

Answer 1

Mental rotation- rotating something mentally
Mental combination- combining things within one’s mind
Mental scanning

Question 2

When asked visuospatial questions such as “how many windows are in your home”, what do we do?

Answer 2

Use mental imagery (visualizing your room and counting the windows)

Question 3

Why is the idea of mental imagery controversial?

Answer 3

The concepts of “pictures in our head that we interpret in our brain” is in large part a major critique of naive realism

Question 4

When studying Tetris blocks and how long it takes for them to mentally rotate, what should take longer?

Answer 4

The more angular disparity, the slower the mental rotation, implying that objects has to mentally move through the space

Question 5

What is the rate of mental rotation?

Answer 5

60 degrees per second

Question 6

Do mental images contain enough details to be reinterpreted? Or are they inherently constrained by their verbal description? Describe a study that describes this.

Answer 6

Finke et al investigated ability to perform mental combinations. If participants mentally transformed and combined the figure correctly they identify it correctly 70% of the time, suggesting that they have enough details to be reinterpreted

Question 7

Mental images are more than just ____ images. They are ___ and ____

Answer 7

mental images are more than just static images, they are dynamic and generative

Question 8

When participants were asked to imagine a goose standing next to an elephant or fly, when asked whether the goose had legs, which one did they imagine faster? Why?

Answer 8

People were faster when the goose was next to the fly, as the goose is reference of focus for goose and fly (it’s bigger)

Question 9

When participants memorized a map and then focused on a particular landmark, and were asked about the existence of another landmark, what took it longer for them to identify that the landmark was there?

Answer 9

Found that the greater the distance the landmark on the map was from the one they focused on the longer it took for participants to verify that the landmarks were there

Question 10

What are the two types of mental imagery representations?

Answer 10

Analog
Propositional

Question 11

Information about the objects and processes is conveyed through spatial proportions of the representations

Answer 11

Analog

Question 12

Information about the objects/processes conveyed through symbols (such as numbers and words)

Answer 12

Propositonal

Question 13

Describe the difference between analog and propositonal with clocks.

Answer 13

Analog clock: spatial layout of the clock corresponds to dimensions of time
Propositional representation of time: digital clock

Question 14

What is a retinal picture and how is it a defense of analog representations?

Answer 14

When we close our eyes, we create a trace image of what we just saw

Question 15

How are image algorithms a defense of analog representations

Answer 15

We have now devised algorithms for analyzing pictures, there are ways of analyzing images visually rather than verbally

Question 16

Describe the proposal of analog mental imagery

Answer 16

Mental images are interpreted using the same machinery that interprets actual imagery. When we engage in mental imagery we feed the visual system information.

Question 17

What is the relationship between sensory input, visual system, and visual memories?

Answer 17

Typically about real sensory input: sensory input to visual system to visual memories
Visual memories go to visual system in mental imagery, though sensory input could be a distractor.

Question 18

Does mental imagery interfere with true perception?

Answer 18

Yes- forming a mental imagery interferes with perception of a weak visual stimuli

Question 19

When giving someone an imaginary tune, does it become harder to perceive visual stimuli?

Answer 19

No, it only works when the senses are the same- mental images do not interfere with the perception of auditory stimuli and vice versa

Question 20

When participants are asked to mentally visualize their displays, what part of the brain activates that supports analog representations?

Answer 20

The primary visual cortex is activated when the brain does mental imagery

Question 21

When a monkey was sacrificed after being shown a bullseye with radioactive dye, what was seen in its visual cortex?

Answer 21

Dyed areas in visual cortex corresponded to the spatial layout of the bullseye that was projected onto the retina before they died

Question 22

What is the claim Kozhekinov et al tested?

Answer 22

Monks that study a very intricate image of god in one’s mind and try to recall it would have enhanced visuospatial processing

Question 23

What is the primary question of Kozhekinov et al?

Answer 23

Does Buddhist deity meditation enhance visuospatial processing?

Question 24

What are the alternatives of Kozhekinov et al?

Answer 24

Yes, deity meditation may facilitate access to visuospatial resources in working memory
no, visuospatial processing is biologically constrained

Question 25

What is the logic of Kozhekinov et al?

Answer 25

if deity meditation increases visuospatial processing, then performance on mental imagery tasks will improve following meditation

Question 26

What were the methods of Kozhekinov et al?

Answer 26

Participants were experts at Deity Yoga, Open presence or non-meditating controls. Completed mental rotation and visual memory tasks and control tasks and analyzed processing efficiency

Question 27

What is the results of Kozhekinov et al?

Answer 27

Deity yoga practitioners are much more efficient on memory tests and mental rotation tests after meditation (comparing pretest and posttest)

Question 28

What are the inferences of Kozhekinov et al?

Answer 28

Deity yoga enhances visuospatial processing, but only directly (20-25 minutes) after meditation. Heightened mental ability following meditation is similar to heightened physical activity following exercise