Non-commitment in mental imagery

Bigelow, Eric J.; McCoy, John; Ullman, Tomer

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105498

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Are you able to hold a clear and stable image without moving your eyes? A recent study showed that when asked to freely imagine a scene, most participants leave out many low-level details (Bigelow et al, 2023). Furthermore, some people might even experience mental images in a kind of separate space that is decoupled from the physical environment (Schwarzkopf, 2024).…”

Section: The Challenges Of Studying the Early Visual Cortex During Me...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Role of the Early Visual Cortex in Visual Mental Imagery

Dijkstra

2024

Preprint

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The question of whether the early visual cortex (EVC) is involved in visual mental imagery remains a topic of debate. In this paper, I propose that the inconsistency in findings can be explained by the unique challenges associated with investigating EVC activity during imagery. During perception, the EVC processes low-level features which means that activity is highly sensitive to variation in visual details. If the EVC has the same role during visual mental imagery, any change in the visual details of the mental image would lead to corresponding changes in EVC activity. Within this context, the question should not be whether EVC is ‘active’ during imagery but how its activity relates to specific imagery properties. Studies using methods that are sensitive to variation in low-level features reveal that imagery can recruit the EVC in similar ways as perception. However, not all mental images contain a high level of visual details. Therefore, I end by considering a more nuanced view which states that imagery can recruit the EVC, but that does not mean that it always does so.

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Section: The Challenges Of Studying the Early Visual Cortex During Me...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Role of the Early Visual Cortex in Visual Mental Imagery

Dijkstra

2024

Preprint

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“…Are you able to hold a clear and stable image without moving your eyes? A recent study showed that when asked to freely imagine a scene, most participants leave out many low-level details [ 13 ]. Furthermore, some people might even experience mental images in a kind of separate space that is decoupled from the physical environment [ 14 ].…”

Section: The Challenges Of Studying the Early Visual Cortex During Me...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, importantly, that does not mean that all instances of visual mental imagery will activate the EVC. Consider, for example, a recent study in which participants were asked to imagine a person walking into a room and knocking a ball off a table [ 13 ]. Afterwards, participants were asked several questions regarding the visual details of their mental imagery, i.e., ‘did you imagine the color of the ball’, ‘the clothes the person was wearing’, etc.…”

Section: The Role Of the Early Visual Cortex In Visual Mental Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It turned out that most participants did not imagine the majority of basic visual details. The authors concluded that ‘while imagination may indeed be a good artist, it’s on a deadline, and stingy about paint’ ([ 13 ], p. 20). In other words, imagination can create vivid, detailed scenes, but that requires effort, so if it is not necessary, those details will be omitted.…”

Section: The Role Of the Early Visual Cortex In Visual Mental Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncovering the Role of the Early Visual Cortex in Visual Mental Imagery

Dijkstra

2024

Vision

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The question of whether the early visual cortex (EVC) is involved in visual mental imagery remains a topic of debate. In this paper, I propose that the inconsistency in findings can be explained by the unique challenges associated with investigating EVC activity during imagery. During perception, the EVC processes low-level features, which means that activity is highly sensitive to variation in visual details. If the EVC has the same role during visual mental imagery, any change in the visual details of the mental image would lead to corresponding changes in EVC activity. Within this context, the question should not be whether the EVC is ‘active’ during imagery but how its activity relates to specific imagery properties. Studies using methods that are sensitive to variation in low-level features reveal that imagery can recruit the EVC in similar ways as perception. However, not all mental images contain a high level of visual details. Therefore, I end by considering a more nuanced view, which states that imagery can recruit the EVC, but that does not mean that it always does so.

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“…Their strength may stem from a very salient feature or from being able to picture a target in a very stable way. This may explain why subjects who report scant details about their mental images can still judge them to be vivid (Bigelow, McCoy, and Ullman 2023). Even within a single dimension, different objects can contribute to different degrees of strength.…”

Section: Mental Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental strength: A theory of experience intensity

Morales

2023

Philosophical Perspectives

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Our pains can be more or less intense, our mental imagery can be more or less vivid, our perceptual experiences can be more or less striking. These degrees of intensity of conscious experiences are all manifestations of a phenomenal property I call mental strength. In this article, I argue that mental strength is a domain‐general phenomenal magnitude; in other words, it is a phenomenal quantity shared by all conscious experiences that explains their degree of felt intensity. Mental strength has been largely overlooked in favor of mental states’ type, representational contents, domain‐specific phenomenology, or processes such as attention. Considering mental strength in our reflections about the mind illuminates debates about the relation of representational contents and phenomenal character, and it also helps address questions about the structure and functions of consciousness. Mental strength provides a unifying construct to model what is shared in the phenomenology of different types of conscious experiences.

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Non-commitment in mental imagery

Cited by 3 publications

References 46 publications

Uncovering the Role of the Early Visual Cortex in Visual Mental Imagery

Uncovering the Role of the Early Visual Cortex in Visual Mental Imagery

Uncovering the Role of the Early Visual Cortex in Visual Mental Imagery

Mental strength: A theory of experience intensity

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