Research Current Directions in Psychological Science

New Directions in Mental-Imagery Research

PearsonMay 2014

Abstract
What This Study Is About
How They Studied It
What They Found
What This Might Mean
One Interesting Detail
Authors
Cite this paper

Abstract

Mental imagery typically involves the voluntary retrieval and representation of a sensory memory, but it can also sometimes be involuntary. Despite mental imagery having been a topic of interest for thousands of years, the methodological tools necessary to scientifically probe its underlying mechanisms have only recently been developed. New methods in behavioral psychophysics (the binocular-rivalry technique) and brain imaging (decoding techniques) have been developed and utilized to uncover many new insights into the mechanisms and brain areas involved in mental imagery. These insights are igniting further empirical and theoretical work into imagery itself as well as its role in many high-level cognitive processes and mental disorders.

Our summary in plain words

What This Study Is About

This research explores how we can objectively measure mental imagery—the ability to picture things in the mind—without relying solely on what people say they see. It examines how "seeing" with the mind's eye actually changes how our eyes perceive the physical world.

How They Studied It

The researcher reviewed several studies using a technique called "binocular rivalry." In these experiments, participants are shown two different images at the same time—for example, a green pattern to the left eye and a red pattern to the right eye. Normally, the brain flips back and forth between seeing one or the other. Before the images appear, participants are asked to imagine one of the patterns (like the green one). Researchers then track which image the person actually sees first to determine if their mental image "primed" their physical vision.

What They Found

The study found that imagining an object makes a person significantly more likely to see that same object when it is physically presented. This "priming" effect is stronger in people who report having vivid mental imagery and weaker or non-existent in those with aphantasia (the inability to visualize). Brain scans also showed that when people imagine something, the same parts of the brain used for actual seeing (the visual cortex) become active, essentially "decoding" the mental image into a physical-like representation.

What This Might Mean

This suggests that mental imagery is not just a "feeling" but a measurable sensory event that uses the same brain hardware as regular sight. It provides a way to prove that aphantasia is a real sensory difference rather than just a difference in how people describe their thoughts. However, the study notes that while we can see that the brain is active, we are still learning exactly how it builds these internal pictures.

One Interesting Detail

The research showed that mental imagery is so similar to actual seeing that it can be disrupted by physical light. If a participant is in a room with bright, uniform light, their ability to "prime" their vision with a mental image decreases, suggesting the physical light "crowds out" the mind's eye.

This summary was written with AI and may contain errors. Check the original paper.

Authors

Joel Pearson
35 papers in the library

Cite this paper

Pearson, J. (2014). New directions in mental-imagery research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(3), 178–183. doi:10.1177/0963721414532287

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Research Current Directions in Psychological Science

New Directions in Mental-Imagery Research

PearsonMay 2014

Read the paper

Abstract
What This Study Is About
How They Studied It
What They Found
What This Might Mean
One Interesting Detail
Authors
Cite this paper

Abstract

Our summary in plain words

What This Study Is About

How They Studied It

What They Found

What This Might Mean

One Interesting Detail

This summary was written with AI and may contain errors. Check the original paper.

Authors

Joel Pearson
35 papers in the library

Cite this paper

Pearson, J. (2014). New directions in mental-imagery research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(3), 178–183. doi:10.1177/0963721414532287

Topics

Measurement & Assessment

Most-cited researchers

Recruit participants for your study

We can help you reach people across the imagery spectrum, from aphantasia to hyperphantasia.

Partner with us

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Imaginary Presence—Merleau-Ponty and Mental Imagery

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This philosophy paper asks how Merleau-Ponty's ideas would explain the perception-like feel of mental images. It argues that neither the view of images as perceptual representations nor the view of them as simulations explains that feel, and proposes instead that imagining something means partly taking up the bodily stance one would have if it were really there, bringing a vague sense of how it could look. In a footnote, the author suggests that people with aphantasia keep this capacity for perception but cannot use it on purpose to make absent things appear, while calling aphantasia beyond the paper's scope.

2026

Imagery in affective and neurodevelopmental conditions: an insula-based interoceptive framework

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In this opinion article, the authors propose that the brain's processing of body signals, centered on the anterior insula, is a shared source of both mental imagery and emotion. On this view, conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, autism and ADHD change imagery because they disturb this same system, and body-focused treatments might help restore imagery. The authors say the causal direction has not yet been shown and call for long-term and treatment studies to test it.

2026

Seeing without eyes: Relation between visual mental imagery and visual hallucinations

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This systematic review found only 11 studies on imagery and hallucinations in Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and schizophrenia, and none in Lewy body dementia. Seven reported a link and four did not, so the evidence is indecisive.

Image-Free Insights

A short note from our founder, Tom Ebeyer, every other week, plus occasional news and invitations to take part in studies. Change what you get from any email.