State but not trait measures of vividness relate to memory accuracy

Abstract

Vivid mental imagery is often assumed to relate to memory accuracy, but recent empirical findings from studies of mental imagery and aphantasia have found conflicting results regarding this association. Recent literature has found the modality of stimulus may influence this association, and that vividness and confidence of memories may change over the lifespan. Therefore, the present study investigates the relationship between mental imagery vividness and memory for scenes, with a focus on modality-specific and age-related effects, and relationships with confidence. Using a novel experimental procedure, young and older participants memorised objects within scenes and later identified whether specific changes had occurred. Results indicated that while trait-level and averaged measures of vividness did not predict memory accuracy, trial-by-trial state measures were significantly related to subsequent performance. Additionally, results provided evidence that mental imagery may relate to visual aspects of memory more than spatial aspects. Older adults reported higher vividness ratings but performed worse on average than young adults. Confidence and vividness were highly correlated but remained distinct subjective experiences. Re-analysis of an existing related dataset involving people with aphantasia confirmed state-level findings regarding vividness and memory accuracy, highlighting limitations of previous research relying on averaged and trait-level measures. Results identify the need for future research to analyse vividness on a trial-by-trial basis to appropriately investigate the relationship between mental imagery vividness and memory accuracy.