Mental Imagery and Cognitive Maps Chapter 7 Mental Imagery and Cognitive Maps

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery not directly observable fades quickly imagery debate perception vs. language analog code (depictive representation/pictorial representation) propositional code (descriptive representation)

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery How to study mental imagery? If a mental image resembles a physical object, then people should make judgments about a mental image in the same way that they make judgments about the corresponding physical object.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery In Depth: Visual Imagery and Rotation Shepard and Metzler's Research Demonstration 7.2 same/different task using pairs of line drawings two- vs. three-dimensions reaction time to decide same/different Decision time is influenced by the amount of rotation required to match the figures. Large rotations take more time.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery In Depth: Visual Imagery and Rotation Subsequent Research on Mental Rotation Research with other stimuli (e.g., letters of the alphabet) also finds clear relationship between amount of rotation and reaction time. Takeda and coauthors (2010) handedness upright vs. upside-down pictures

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery In Depth: Visual Imagery and Rotation Subsequent Research on Mental Rotation Other research age American Sign Language (ASL) Overall strong support for the analog-coding approach

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery In Depth: Visual Imagery and Rotation Cognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks Kosslyn, Thompson and coauthors (2001) rotate geometric figures with hands vs. watch an electric motor rotate the figures perform Shepard and Metzler same/different task rotating the figures mentally

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery In Depth: Visual Imagery and Rotation Cognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks Kosslyn, Thompson and coauthors (2001) (continued) PET scan—Participants who had rotated the original geometric figure with their hands, now showed activity in the primary motor cortex; participants who only watched did not.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery In Depth: Visual Imagery and Rotation Cognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks Role of Instructions standard instructions activated the right frontal lobes and parietal lobes "rotate self" instructions activated the left temporal lobe and a different part of the motor cortex Implications for people recovering from a stroke

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Distance Stephen Kosslyn time to scan the distance between two points in a mental image experimenter expectancy

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Shape Paivio (1978) hands on imaginary clock high-imagery vs. low-imagery participants Shepard and Chipman (1970) more complex shapes U.S. states

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Conclusions About The Characteristics of Mental Images (so far) When people rotate a visual image, a large rotation takes them longer, just as they take longer when making a large rotation with a physical stimulus. People make distance judgments in a similar fashion for mental images and physical stimuli.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Conclusions About The Characteristics of Mental Images (so far) People make decisions about shape in a similar fashion for mental images and physical stimuli; this conclusion holds true for both simple shapes (angles formed by hands on a clock) and complex shapes (geographic regions, like Colorado or West Virginia).

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Interference Mental imagery can interfere with visual perception. Segal and Fusella (1970) create visual image detect physical stimulus People had more problems detecting the physical stimulus when the image and the physical stimulus were in the same sensory mode.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Interference Mast and colleagues (1999) Imagined lines and real lines produced similar distortions in participants' judgments about the orientation of the line segment.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Ambiguous Figures Demonstration 7.3 When creating a mental image of an ambiguous figure, people sometimes use analog codes and sometimes use propositional codes.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Ambiguous Figures Reed (1974) decide whether a pattern is a portion of a design seen earlier Chance performance indicated that people could not have stored mental pictures. People must store these pictures as descriptions, in propositional codes.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Ambiguous Figures Chambers and Reisberg (1985) form mental image of ambiguous figure (e.g., the rabbit-duck figure) ask participants to provide reinterpretation of ambiguous figure draw figure from memory try to reinterpret physical stimulus

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Visual Imagery and Ambiguous Figures Chambers and Reisberg (1985) (continued) strong verbal propositional code can dominate over an analog code It's easy to reverse an image while you are looking at an ambiguous physical picture, but reversing a mental image is difficult.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Explanations for Visual Imagery Neuroscience Research Comparing Visual Imagery and Visual Perception Kosslyn (2004) Visual imagery activates 70-90% of the same brain regions that are activated during visual perception. Brain damage in the most basic region of the visual cortex leads to parallel problems in both visual perception and visual imagery.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Explanations for Visual Imagery Neuroscience Research Comparing Visual Imagery and Visual Perception Kosslyn (2004) (continued) Some individuals with brain damage cannot distinguish between characteristics in visual perception and visual imagery. People with prosopagnosia cannot use mental imagery to distinguish between faces.

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability meta-analysis (continued) meta-analyses of gender differences in verbal ability find effect sizes "close to zero" or "small"; gender similarities meta-analyses of gender differences in mathematical ability find effect sizes "close to zero"; gender similarities

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability meta-analysis (continued) meta-analyses of gender differences in spatial ability find effect sizes ranging from "small" to "large"

The Characteristics of Visual Imagery Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability What do these differences mean? some studies report no gender differences effects of task instructions effects of training experiences with toys and sports that emphasize spatial skills

The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery the mental representation of sounds when the sounds are not physically present examples: laughter, song, car sounds, animals

The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery Auditory Imagery and Pitch pitch—a characteristic of a sound stimulus that can be arranged on a scale from low to high Intons-Peterson and coauthors (1992) "traveling" the distance between two auditory stimuli cat purring, door slamming, police siren The distance between two actual tones is correlated with the distance between the two imagined tones.

The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery Auditory Imagery and Timbre timbre—a characteristic of sound describing the quality of a tone (e.g., flute vs. trumpet) Halpern and coauthors (2004) auditory imagery for the timbre of musical instruments young adults with musical training similarity ratings perception condition vs. imagined condition

The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery Auditory Imagery and Timbre Halpern and coauthors (2004) (continued) Ratings for timbre perception and timbre imagery are highly correlated. Cognitive representations for the timbre of actual musical instruments were quite similar to the cognitive representations for the timbre of the imagined musical instruments.

Cognitive Maps cognitive map mental representation of geographic information, including the environment that surrounds us relationships among objects

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Distance Distance Estimates and Number of Intervening Cities Thorndyke (1981) study map of hypothetical region until you can reproduce it 0, 1, 2, or 3 other cities along the route between two cities estimate the distance between specified pairs of cities

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Distance Distance Estimates and Number of Intervening Cities Thorndyke (1981) (continued) The number of intervening cities had a clear-cut influence on distance estimates.

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Distance Distance Estimates and Category Membership The categories we create can have a large influence on our distance estimates. Hirtle and Mascolo (1986) learn hypothetical map of a town estimate distance between pairs of locations

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Distance Distance Estimates and Category Membership Hirtle and Mascolo (1986) (continued) People tended to shift each location closer to other sites that belonged to the same category (e.g., government buildings).

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Distance Distance Estimates and Category Membership Friedman and colleagues North American cities students from Canada, United States, Mexico international borders

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Distance Distance Estimates and Category Membership Mishra & Mishra (2010)—border bias vacation home in Oregon or Washington earthquake When people hear about an earthquake, they prefer to select a home in a different state, rather than a home that is equally close, but in the same state as the earthquake.

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Shape We tend to construct cognitive maps in which the shapes are more regular than they are in reality.

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Shape Angles Moar and Bower (1983) cognitive maps of Cambridge, England estimates for the angles formed by the intersection of two streets tendency to "regularize" the angles so that they were more like 90-degree angles

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Shape Curves symmetry heuristic—We remember figures as being more symmetrical and regular than they truly are.

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Relative Position Heuristics (continued) We remember a slightly tilted geographic structure as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is (the rotation heuristic). We remember a series of geographic structures as being arranged in a straighter line than they really are (the alignment heuristic).

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Relative Position The Rotation Heuristic A figure that is slightly tilted will be remembered as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is. Example: San Diego or Reno?; California coastline mentally rotated to seem more vertical than it is in reality

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Relative Position The Rotation Heuristic Tversky (1981) mental maps for San Francisco Bay area 69% of students showed evidence of the rotation heuristic cross-cultural evidence The rotation heuristic involves rotating a single coastline, country, building, or other figure.

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Relative Position The Alignment Heuristic A series of separate geographic structures will be remembered as being more lined up than they really are. Example: Rome or Philadelphia?; The United States and Europe get mentally mis-aligned to be at the same latitude.

Cognitive Maps Cognitive Maps and Relative Position The Alignment Heuristic Tversky (1981) pairs of cities Which city is north (or east) of the other? Many students showed a consistent tendency to use the alignment heuristic. Cognitive maps are especially likely to be biased when northern cities in North America are compared to southern cities in Europe.