HOW THE BRAIN CREATES
MENTAL IMAGES.
BY: BRYCE DEIURI-MARANGON AND JJ CHANTHAMALAY
What is it?
Definition: Mental imagery, also called visualization and mental
rehearsal, is defined as experience that resembles perceptual
experience, but which occurs in the absence of the
appropriate stimuli for the relevant perception
• Common examples of mental images include daydreaming and
the mental visualization that occurs while reading a book or when
you visualize what you are going to do like in a sport.
How does the brain do it?
We do not really know how the brain creates them but there are a few
Theories on how it happens.
Dual-Code Theory: created by Allan Paivio in 1971
• is the theory that we use two separate codes to represent
information in our brains: image codes and verbal codes.
• Image codes are things like thinking of a picture of a dog when
you are thinking of a dog
• a verbal code would be to think of the word "dog"
How does the brain do it?
The Propositional Theory
• involves storing images in the form of a generic propositional code
that stores the meaning of the concept not the image itself.
• can either be descriptive of the image or symbolic.
• They are then transferred back into verbal and visual code to form the
mental image.
How does the brain do it?
The Functional-Equivalency Theory
•
is that mental images are "internal representations" that work in the
same way as the actual perception of physical objects.
• In other words, the picture of an object brought to mind when the
word of the object is read it’s interpreted in the same way as if the
person looking at a actual object before them.
Why it’s important
• It’s important because it allows you to visualize how you might
accomplish something or an image that may motivate you.
• like how Marshawn lynch says how he imagines in his head him
winning the game which would motivate him.