II. The Nature of mental imagery: ”AnalogJonna Kokko
Propositional” debate (N.Thomas)
1) Analog – picture –like imagery:
1) Backgrounds:
Spatial properties of imagery:
I. 20th century discussions:
 Roger Shepard: ”Mental Rotation”of images
 Verbal mediation theory:
 Stephen Kosslyn: ”Mental Scanning”of visual images
language determines or mediates thought
 Perceptual dominance theory:
imagistic structures are dominant
 Common code or Propositional
models:
Evidence of the spatial properties of mental imagery
shown in the studies by these two scientists
2) Propositional – descriptive imagery (Pylyshyn)
Descriptions of objects in mentalese (language of thought)
Information, perceptual or linguistic,
represented in an abstract, amodal code
 Dual Coding (Paivio):
Nonverbal and verbal information encoded in
symbolic form in separate systems
specialized for such representation, and
connected by a complex system of
referential relations
The theory of the Mind’s eye and pictorial nature
of mental image abandoned in the 20th century
”Imagination.. makes it possible to think
outside the confines of the present
perceptual reality.” –N.J.T. Thomas
3) Reading and mental imagery:
Consider reading verbal instructions,
descriptions, prose etc. without the ability to
generate mental imagery..
2) Mental imagery and
language in human
cognition
I. Reading comprehension:
Thinking: based on language or
mental imagery or something else?
High-imagery sentences easier to grasp than
low-imagery?
The role of mental imagery in:
”Imagery strategies” to enhance reading
comprehension.
Do not necessarily work always.
The importance of the background knowledge
II. Vividness of Visual Imagery:
Memory – mnemonics
Individual differences
imagination
Consequences on leisure time reading?
Consequences on comprehension?
prediction
problem solving
etc.
Most often reported lack of mental imagery
among scientists and academicians.
Why? More advanced ability to process lowimagery, abstract information?
III. Neurological basis of mental imagery
in reading (M.A. Just et al. 2003)
Distinction between processing high-imagery
versus low-imagery sentences
Low-imagery sentences:
More semantic-related processing in the Left
Temporal Area
High-imagery sentences:
More visuo-spatial processing in the Left
Intraparietal Sulcus
 Partly different areas in the brain activated.
 There is a distinction in congnitive
processing of abstract and concrete
information
Listening comprehension a better modality to
receive imagery-laden information
Reading comprehension modality better to
receive abstract information.
More natural and effortless to generate visual
mental images when listening to narratives
The reason the overlap of the activation of some
parts of the brain used for both interpretation
of perception and mental imagery
4) Some questions and ideas:
I.
Synesthesia – a non-linguistic form of thinking?
More common among indigenous peoples without written
language
The modern culture highly reliant on written language
logical abstract thinking
People lose the ability for synesthesia through learning more
linguistic-based thinking
dormant in all people
II. How do people react to contradiction between visual and
written message?
Does the visual message ”win” usually?