Imagery

Imagery:

e.g.

Question #1: How do we form images?

• Experiment by Reed (1974)

1^st showed people pictures

2^nd showed pictures that were parts of the original pictures (good and odd).

Asked: Is this shape in the original drawing?

Results:

1)

 

 

 

2)

Conclusions:

1)

 

 

 

 

2)

Kosslyn , et. al (1988)

1^st subjects were shown block capital letters and told they would need to image them later.

.... ....etc

2^nd shown a little letter with empty grid --cue to remember Capital letter.

3^rd shown a blank grid on which 2 Xs appeared (after 500 ms--still forming image)

Task: say if the original block letter image would cover both the Xs.

Hypotheses:

1)

 

 

 

 

 

2)

feature of the experiment:

location of the Xs varied

 

 

Results:

1)

 

 

 

e.g.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Question #2: Can people mentally inspect images?

Image Inspection -

Experiment: Finke, Pinker, & Farah (1989)

Task: Try to follow set of oral instructions altering an image.

Visualize Letter Q
Put O next to it
Remove Diagonal Line
Rotate figure 90 degrees to the left

-What is it?

 

Results:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiment: Bisiach and Luzzatti (1978)--

They investigated:

used subjects with "hemispatial neglect" disorder:

an attentional disorder
ignore half of visual field (usually left)
behaves as if one side of world does not exist

 

Method:

1^st patients told to imagine themselves walking to the Piazza del Duomo (plaza in Italy)

and 2^nd describe what they "see" along the way

 

Results:

Method cont.

3^rd told to walk beyond the square and mentally turn around.

4^th return to the square

Results:

Conclusions:

New Question Raised:

• If attention to images mirrors attention to the world, then will other perceptual behaviors also be mirrored with imagery?

Experiment: Brandt and Stark (1997)

investigated eye movements in image scanning

Task:

1^st showed people irregular checkerboards & said they would need to image it later.

They recorded their eye movements as the subject scanned the picture.

2^nd told subject to image the picture (again they recorded eye movements).

Results:

Question #3: How do people manipulate or transform Images?

Image Rotation:

Experiment: Shepard & Metzler (1971)

Task:

1^st see 2 objects (one rotated)

Subject answers: same or different

Results:

the more mental rotation needed the longer it takes to respond

Conclusions:

Related Question to #3: If scanning an image mirrors actual perception, does image transformation mirror actual object transformations?

Experiment 1: Cooper (1975)

Method:

1^st subjects learned each image and what was considered normal vs. mirror-reversed.

Simple			Complex

 

2^nd - shown an image and need to respond if normal or mirror-reversed.

objects were rotated (either 0, 60, 120, or 180) from original orientation.

 

Results:

Conclusion:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiment 2: Parsons (1987)

Examined if physically harder transformations are also harder transformations mentally.

 

 

Method:

Results:

Conclusion:

Experiment 3: Freyd & Finke (1984)

Rotating objects have momentum.
Do images?

Method:

1^st Subjects see rotating rectangle

2^nd told to remember the final position

 

3^rd Then shown a picture of the rectangle.
orientation of picture varied.

Subjects asked: Is test stimulus same or different as Time 3?

Results:

undershot:

 

 

overshot:

 

 

Conclusion: