Nelsy Anne T.

Rosas PSYCH 221 3:30-4:30 PM MWF

COMPARING IMAGERY AND PERCEPTION

We begin by describing another experiment by Kosslyn. This one looks at how imagery is affected by the
size of an object in a person’s visual field.

 Size in the Visual Field

- If you observe an automobile from far away, it fills only a portion of your visual field, and it
is difficult to see small details such as the door handle. As you move closer it fills more of
your visual field, and you can perceive details like the door handle more easily. With these
observations about perception in mind, Kosslyn wondered whether this relationship
between viewing distance and the ability to perceive details also occurs for mental things.
- Kosslyn’s experiment results provide further evidence for the idea that images are spatial,
just like perception.

Interactions of imagery and perception

- Another way to demonstrate connections between imagery and perception is to show that
they interact with one another.
- The basic rationale behind this approach is that if imagery affects perception, or perception
affects imagery, this means that imagery and perception both have access to the same
mechanisms.

IMAGERY AND THE HUMAN BRAIN

 Imagery Neurons in the Human brain

- Gabriel Kreiman and co-workers were able to study patients who had electrodes implanted
in various areas in their medial temporal lobe, which includes the hippocampus and the
amygdala.
- Kreiman found neurons that responded to some objects but not to others. Kreiman called
these neurons imagery neurons.
- Kreiman’s discovery of imagery neurons is important, both because it demonstrates a
possible physiological mechanism for imagery and because these neurons respond in the
same way to perceiving an object and to imagining it, thereby supporting the idea of a close
relation between perception and imagery.