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Influences of mental imagery at different stages of Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s modal model: Visual imagery is associated with enhanced iconic memory performance

DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2026.04.011
Monzel, M., Yang, C., Plancher, G., Milton, F., & Reuter, M. (2026). Influences of mental imagery at different stages of atkinson’s and shiffrin’s modal model: visual imagery is associated with enhanced iconic memory performance. Cortex. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2026.04.011

Abstract

Mental imagery varies widely across individuals, ranging from aphantasia (absent or near-absent imagery) to hyperphantasia (extremely vivid imagery), yet its influence on early memory processes remains unclear. This study examined how imagery vividness affects distinct stages of Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s modal model, focusing on iconic and working memory. Ninety-two participants (46 aphantasics, 46 non-aphantasics) completed a modified Sperling partial-report task with brief (50 ms; iconic memory) and extended (5000 ms; working memory) encoding durations, each with and without a delay of the recall cue. Non-aphantasics outperformed aphantasics in iconic, but not in working memory. Performance in the iconic memory task declined numerically more strongly after the delay among non-aphantasics than among aphantasics, suggesting greater visual decay in those who were initially able to rely on visual strategies. Importantly, aphantasics’ performance declined more steeply across the rows of the iconic memory task’s letter array than that of non-aphantasics, suggesting greater reliance on sequential strategies such as verbal encoding. Additional strategy analyses revealed that visual strategies enhanced iconic memory only in non-aphantasics, whereas verbal strategies improved working memory in both groups. Overall, our findings suggest that vivid mental imagery enhances early sensory processing and that non-visual strategies can only be applied at later processing stages. Thus, iconic memory appears to be partly dependent on top-down modulation by visual imagery.

Authors

  • Merlin Monzel30
  • Charlie Yang1
  • Gaën Plancher5
  • Fraser Milton8
  • Martin Reuter16

What This Study Is About

Researchers wanted to know if having a "mind’s eye"—the ability to create mental imagery (internal pictures)—gives people a head start when remembering things they’ve just seen for a split second. They compared people with aphantasia (who cannot create these mental images) to those who can, to see which stages of memory rely most on visual imagination.

How They Studied It

The team tested 92 people: 46 with aphantasia and 46 "typical" imagers. Participants looked at a grid of letters on a screen. The researchers tested two types of memory:
1. Iconic Memory: Like a "lightning flash" memory that lasts less than a second. The letters flashed for just 50 milliseconds (faster than a blink!).
2. Working Memory: The "mental sticky note" we use to hold info. The letters stayed on screen for 5 seconds, giving participants time to think about them.

What They Found

The results showed that a "mind’s eye" acts like a signal booster for your vision.
  • The Split-Second Gap: In the "lightning flash" test, people with aphantasia struggled more, performing significantly worse than the control group.
  • The Great Equalizer: When given 5 seconds to look at the letters, the gap disappeared! Both groups performed about the same.
  • Different Playbooks: People with aphantasia were more likely to use "verbal" strategies—like quickly repeating the letters to themselves—while typical imagers relied on the fading visual "afterglow" of the image.

What This Might Mean

This suggests that mental imagery isn't just for daydreaming; it actually helps stabilize our very first "snapshot" of the world. Without it, the brain has to work harder to translate pictures into words or patterns.
However, science is a marathon, not a sprint! This study was relatively small, and because it was done online, the researchers couldn't perfectly control how everyone viewed their screens. It *suggests* imagery boosts early memory, but we need more research to *prove* exactly how the brain swaps visual snapshots for verbal notes.

One Interesting Detail

The researchers found that people with aphantasia were much better at remembering the top row of letters than the bottom rows. It’s as if they were frantically "reading" the image from top to bottom before it vanished, whereas typical imagers could "see" the whole ghost-like image at once!
This summary was generated by AI and may contain errors. Always refer to the original paper for accuracy.