Problem 5
Matlin, Sternberg
Mental Imagery
- Refers to the mental representation of stimuli when those stimuli are not physically
present in the environment
- Most research has focused on visual imagery, but there is also increased research for
auditory imagery
- Research is difficult to conduct because they can’t directly observe mental images
and because they fade away so quickly
- Mental imagery is different from perception, mental imagery is knowledge driven
and you rely on what you know in your long-term memory
- In some cases, mental images arise as a result of general thought processes
- The ability to create and manipulate mental images is often seen as a hallmark of
creativity and imagination
Pictures vs Words
- Some ideas are better and more easily represented in pictures whereas others
are better represented in words e.g. egg vs justice
- Both pictures and words may be used but neither form of representation actually
retains all the characteristics
- A picture is:
o relatively analogous (similar) to the real-world object,
o shows concrete attributes (shape, relative size)
o shows the spatial relationship
o conveys all features simultaneously
- A word is:
o a symbolic representation
o the relationship between the word and what it represents is arbitrary
o a preposition must be used to state a spatial relation e.g. under
o conveys information sequentially
DUAL CODE THEORY by Paivio
- We use both pictorial and verbal codes for representing and storing information
- These 2 codes organize information into knowledge that can be acted on
- Mental images are represented as analog codes: resembles the objects they are
representing
- Words are represented as symbolic codes: form of knowledge that arbitrarily
stands for something that doesn’t perceptually resemble what it is
- Verbal information is processed differently than pictorial information
- Many researchers have found supporting evidence for this theory
- Experiment: 2 tasks either visual or verbal
o Slower response in performing pictorial task when asked to respond using a
completing visual display, as compared to when they were using a
noninterfering response medium (verbal)
o Both task and response required the same system for completion
, o These suggest that there are 2 codes for mental representation of knowledge
imaginal (analogical) or verbal (symbolic)
PROPOSITIONAL THEORY
- Suggests that we don’t store mental images in the form of images or words
- We may experience our mental representations as images but they are
epiphenomena: secondary and derivative phenomena that’s occurs as a result of
other more basic cognitive processes
- Our mental representations resemble an abstract form of a proposition
- A proposition is the meaning that underlies a particular relationship among
concepts
- A shorthand means ‘predicate calculus’ to express the underlying meaning of a
relationship
o [relationship between elements] ([subject element], [object element])
o A cat is under the table:
o [vertically higher position] ([table], [cat])
- A proposition doesn’t include visual or auditory properties
- Both images and verbal statements are mentally represented in terms of deep
meanings not as specific images or words
- So, both pictorial and verbal information is encoded and stored as propositions &
when we retrieve that proposition our minds create the verbal or imaginal code
accordingly
Experiments supporting this theory: (Matlin)
- Reed’s experiment of star of David: people couldn’t store the previous visual image
and couldn’t match figures so they proposed that people might store pictures as
descriptions, using the propositional code
- Chambers and Reisberg’s duck-rabbit experiment: it’s easier to reverse a visual
stimulus while you look at the physical picture but it’s more difficult to reverse a
mental image in your mind verbal labels (propositional code) may be helpful if the
visual stimulus is complex
Limitations:
- We don’t necessarily need a propositional code to manipulate information, we
can do it directly
- Rabbit-duck experiment with ambiguous figures:
o Combined 2 distinct images to form a different mental image altogether
o The whole of the combined images differed from the sum of its two
distinct parts
o The study showed that in some situations, mental images can be
combined effectively
- Alternative view to ambiguous figures:
o Mental reinterpretation involves 2 manipulations:
o 1st: mental realignment of reference frame: involves a shift in the
positional orientations of the figures on the mental ‘page’ on which the
image is displayed
o 2nd: mental reconstrual (reinterpretation) of the parts of the figure
Matlin, Sternberg
Mental Imagery
- Refers to the mental representation of stimuli when those stimuli are not physically
present in the environment
- Most research has focused on visual imagery, but there is also increased research for
auditory imagery
- Research is difficult to conduct because they can’t directly observe mental images
and because they fade away so quickly
- Mental imagery is different from perception, mental imagery is knowledge driven
and you rely on what you know in your long-term memory
- In some cases, mental images arise as a result of general thought processes
- The ability to create and manipulate mental images is often seen as a hallmark of
creativity and imagination
Pictures vs Words
- Some ideas are better and more easily represented in pictures whereas others
are better represented in words e.g. egg vs justice
- Both pictures and words may be used but neither form of representation actually
retains all the characteristics
- A picture is:
o relatively analogous (similar) to the real-world object,
o shows concrete attributes (shape, relative size)
o shows the spatial relationship
o conveys all features simultaneously
- A word is:
o a symbolic representation
o the relationship between the word and what it represents is arbitrary
o a preposition must be used to state a spatial relation e.g. under
o conveys information sequentially
DUAL CODE THEORY by Paivio
- We use both pictorial and verbal codes for representing and storing information
- These 2 codes organize information into knowledge that can be acted on
- Mental images are represented as analog codes: resembles the objects they are
representing
- Words are represented as symbolic codes: form of knowledge that arbitrarily
stands for something that doesn’t perceptually resemble what it is
- Verbal information is processed differently than pictorial information
- Many researchers have found supporting evidence for this theory
- Experiment: 2 tasks either visual or verbal
o Slower response in performing pictorial task when asked to respond using a
completing visual display, as compared to when they were using a
noninterfering response medium (verbal)
o Both task and response required the same system for completion
, o These suggest that there are 2 codes for mental representation of knowledge
imaginal (analogical) or verbal (symbolic)
PROPOSITIONAL THEORY
- Suggests that we don’t store mental images in the form of images or words
- We may experience our mental representations as images but they are
epiphenomena: secondary and derivative phenomena that’s occurs as a result of
other more basic cognitive processes
- Our mental representations resemble an abstract form of a proposition
- A proposition is the meaning that underlies a particular relationship among
concepts
- A shorthand means ‘predicate calculus’ to express the underlying meaning of a
relationship
o [relationship between elements] ([subject element], [object element])
o A cat is under the table:
o [vertically higher position] ([table], [cat])
- A proposition doesn’t include visual or auditory properties
- Both images and verbal statements are mentally represented in terms of deep
meanings not as specific images or words
- So, both pictorial and verbal information is encoded and stored as propositions &
when we retrieve that proposition our minds create the verbal or imaginal code
accordingly
Experiments supporting this theory: (Matlin)
- Reed’s experiment of star of David: people couldn’t store the previous visual image
and couldn’t match figures so they proposed that people might store pictures as
descriptions, using the propositional code
- Chambers and Reisberg’s duck-rabbit experiment: it’s easier to reverse a visual
stimulus while you look at the physical picture but it’s more difficult to reverse a
mental image in your mind verbal labels (propositional code) may be helpful if the
visual stimulus is complex
Limitations:
- We don’t necessarily need a propositional code to manipulate information, we
can do it directly
- Rabbit-duck experiment with ambiguous figures:
o Combined 2 distinct images to form a different mental image altogether
o The whole of the combined images differed from the sum of its two
distinct parts
o The study showed that in some situations, mental images can be
combined effectively
- Alternative view to ambiguous figures:
o Mental reinterpretation involves 2 manipulations:
o 1st: mental realignment of reference frame: involves a shift in the
positional orientations of the figures on the mental ‘page’ on which the
image is displayed
o 2nd: mental reconstrual (reinterpretation) of the parts of the figure
