Abstract
Recent research has revealed similarities between visual mental imagery and visual perception. Visual imagery is supported by cortical feedback involving multiple visual areas, including the primary visual cortex, and functionally interacts with perception. This has led to the assumption that imagery is "perception in reverse," with feedback connections driving action potentials in early visual areas. However, evidence on feedback mechanisms is mixed, often exerting modulation (often as negative gain control) in sensory areas. Here, we examine and interpret the current understanding of feedback mechanisms related to visual imagery, integrating this with its functional effects and neural correlates. Finally, we put forward a new hypothesis, along with testable predictions, proposing that imagery reshapes spontaneous neural activity rather than producing spiking in early visual areas. This new framework explains many of the properties of visual imagery while providing a better general understanding of feedback and brain function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
What This Study Is About
Researchers wanted to know if the brain creates mental imagery—the ability to picture things in your mind—by "turning on" the same cells we use for seeing, or if it uses a more subtle trick to "carve" images out of existing brain activity.
How They Studied It
This was a "theoretical study," which means the scientists acted like detectives. Instead of running a new experiment with participants, they analyzed decades of existing research, including brain scans (fMRI) and studies on how neurons fire. They compared how the brain processes real sight versus imagined images to build a new model of how the mind works.
What They Found
For a long time, scientists thought that to "see" a red apple in your mind, your brain simply fired the "red" and "apple" neurons. However, these researchers found evidence for a different idea called the "Spontaneous Activity Reshaping Hypothesis."
Think of your visual brain like a radio playing static (background noise). The researchers suggest that instead of turning on a new signal, the brain *silences* specific parts of that static to "carve out" the shape of the apple. It’s like a sculptor creating a statue by removing marble rather than adding clay.
What This Might Mean
This theory offers a new way to look at aphantasia—the lived experience of having a "blind mind's eye." If mental images are created by "silencing" background noise, then aphantasia might happen because a person’s brain is "too loud" or lacks the "sculpting tools" to silence that noise effectively.
Because this is a theory based on existing data, it doesn't "prove" this is how every brain works yet. It acts as a roadmap for future experiments to test if people with aphantasia have different levels of this "background noise" in their visual cortex.
One Interesting Detail
The researchers pointed out that mental images are almost always "fuzzier" and weaker than real sight. Their theory explains why: because imagery is just "reshaping" noise that is already there, it can never be as bright or clear as the powerful signals coming directly from your eyes!