Problem 5
Learning goals:
1. How can we view images in our mind?
2. What are the theories of mental representation?
3. What factors influence the accuracy of a mental image?
- Speed
- Scale
4. Do our mental representations represent reality?
Problem A & B
Pictures in your mind: mental imagery
Imagery- mental representation of things that aren’t currently seen
or sensed by the sense organs
- Can represent things you have never experienced
- Can represent things that do not exist at all outside the mind of
the person creating the image
May involve mental representations in any of the sensory modalities
i.e. hearing, smell, taste etc.
We are more aware of visual imagery
To solve problems and answer questions, we visualise the objects in
question. In doing so, we mentally represent the images
Guided-imagery techniques for controlling pain and strengthening
the immune system responses are helpful in promoting health
- Also helpful in overcoming psychological problems e.g. phobias
and other anxiety disorders
- Down syndrome-the use of mental images + hearing a story
improved memory as compared to only hearing the story
- Can help those with brain damage do simple tasks in the correct
order to remember all the details involved e.g. wash dishes or
take medication
Extreme view of imagery – all images of everything we sense
may be stored as exact copies of physical images
- Seems impossible for the brain to have that much capacity
Learning can take place using just mental images
- Vertical line study- practice using mental images resulted in ppt
becoming more sensitive to the asymmetry toward either the left
or right side
Dual-code theory- images and symbol
Dual-code theory- we use both visual and verbal codes for
representing information
- The codes organise info into knowledge that can be acted on,
stored, and later retrieved
, Analog codes- resemble the objects they are representing
- E.g. trees and rivers may be represented by analogue codes
Symbolic code- form of knowledge representation that has been
chosen randomly to stand for something that doesn’t perceptually
resemble what is being represented
- Our minds use random symbols (words and combinations of
words) to represent many ideas
- Concepts like ‘justice’ and ‘peace’ are best represented
symbolically
Verbal information seems to be processed differently than visual
information
- Sequence of words or pictures presented- ppt more easily
recalled the pictures when they could do so in any order. Ppt
better recalled the words when they had to do so in sequence
Visual perception interferes with visual imagery - experiment
- Visual task- answering questions requiring judgements about a
picture presented briefly
- Verbal task- answering questions requiring judgements about a
sentence that was stated briefly
- Answers- verbal (yes, no), visual (pointing to an answer),
manually (tapping with one hand to agree and the other to
disagree)
- Ppt showed slower response times in performing the visual task
when asked to respond using competing visual display than when
using a noninterfering response i.e. verbal or manual
- Findings suggest the use of 2 distinct codes for mental
representation: imaginal (analogical) and verbal (symbolic)
Storing knowledge as abstract concepts: propositional theory
Conceptual-propositional theory- we don’t store mental
representations as images, or mere words
- We may experience mental representations as images, but these
images are secondary and derivate phenomena that occurs as a
result of other more basic cognitive processes
Our mental representations (mentalese) resemble the abstract form
of a proposition
Proposition- the meaning underlying a particular relationship
among concepts
- Predicate calculus- underlying meaning of a relationship
- [relationship between elements] ([subject element], [object
element])
- E.g. [vertically higher position] ([table], [cat]) – a cat is under the
table
- This is translated by the brain into a format suitable for its
internal mental representation
Propositions may be used to describe any kind of relationship
- Actions of one thing on another
- Attributes of a thing
- Positions of a thing
Learning goals:
1. How can we view images in our mind?
2. What are the theories of mental representation?
3. What factors influence the accuracy of a mental image?
- Speed
- Scale
4. Do our mental representations represent reality?
Problem A & B
Pictures in your mind: mental imagery
Imagery- mental representation of things that aren’t currently seen
or sensed by the sense organs
- Can represent things you have never experienced
- Can represent things that do not exist at all outside the mind of
the person creating the image
May involve mental representations in any of the sensory modalities
i.e. hearing, smell, taste etc.
We are more aware of visual imagery
To solve problems and answer questions, we visualise the objects in
question. In doing so, we mentally represent the images
Guided-imagery techniques for controlling pain and strengthening
the immune system responses are helpful in promoting health
- Also helpful in overcoming psychological problems e.g. phobias
and other anxiety disorders
- Down syndrome-the use of mental images + hearing a story
improved memory as compared to only hearing the story
- Can help those with brain damage do simple tasks in the correct
order to remember all the details involved e.g. wash dishes or
take medication
Extreme view of imagery – all images of everything we sense
may be stored as exact copies of physical images
- Seems impossible for the brain to have that much capacity
Learning can take place using just mental images
- Vertical line study- practice using mental images resulted in ppt
becoming more sensitive to the asymmetry toward either the left
or right side
Dual-code theory- images and symbol
Dual-code theory- we use both visual and verbal codes for
representing information
- The codes organise info into knowledge that can be acted on,
stored, and later retrieved
, Analog codes- resemble the objects they are representing
- E.g. trees and rivers may be represented by analogue codes
Symbolic code- form of knowledge representation that has been
chosen randomly to stand for something that doesn’t perceptually
resemble what is being represented
- Our minds use random symbols (words and combinations of
words) to represent many ideas
- Concepts like ‘justice’ and ‘peace’ are best represented
symbolically
Verbal information seems to be processed differently than visual
information
- Sequence of words or pictures presented- ppt more easily
recalled the pictures when they could do so in any order. Ppt
better recalled the words when they had to do so in sequence
Visual perception interferes with visual imagery - experiment
- Visual task- answering questions requiring judgements about a
picture presented briefly
- Verbal task- answering questions requiring judgements about a
sentence that was stated briefly
- Answers- verbal (yes, no), visual (pointing to an answer),
manually (tapping with one hand to agree and the other to
disagree)
- Ppt showed slower response times in performing the visual task
when asked to respond using competing visual display than when
using a noninterfering response i.e. verbal or manual
- Findings suggest the use of 2 distinct codes for mental
representation: imaginal (analogical) and verbal (symbolic)
Storing knowledge as abstract concepts: propositional theory
Conceptual-propositional theory- we don’t store mental
representations as images, or mere words
- We may experience mental representations as images, but these
images are secondary and derivate phenomena that occurs as a
result of other more basic cognitive processes
Our mental representations (mentalese) resemble the abstract form
of a proposition
Proposition- the meaning underlying a particular relationship
among concepts
- Predicate calculus- underlying meaning of a relationship
- [relationship between elements] ([subject element], [object
element])
- E.g. [vertically higher position] ([table], [cat]) – a cat is under the
table
- This is translated by the brain into a format suitable for its
internal mental representation
Propositions may be used to describe any kind of relationship
- Actions of one thing on another
- Attributes of a thing
- Positions of a thing
