Research library
Papers about aphantasia and mental imagery, with summaries in plain words. The summaries are generated by AI and may contain errors.
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Zeman, Dewar and Della Sala · Cortex
Of 21 people with lifelong weak or absent voluntary imagery, most still had involuntary images, as brief flashes or in dreams. The authors named this aphantasia and suspect it is a variation in brain function, akin to synesthesia.
Pearson and colleagues · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
This review argues that visual imagery works like a weak form of seeing, with brain activity resembling perception's as early as the primary visual cortex. It also covers intrusive imagery in disorders such as PTSD and imagery-based therapy.
Pearson and Westbrook · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Researchers propose a dichotomous framework for phantom perception, distinguishing between voluntary mental imagery and involuntary experiences like illusions or synesthesia. This classification helps unify diverse sensory phenomena and provides a roadmap for studying the neural mechanisms of constructive perception.
Schmidt, Ostwald and Blankenburg · NeuroImage
In a brain scanning study of 14 adults, imagining a learned vibration pattern on the fingertip activated the touch area of the brain that responds to feeling it, though the overlap with real touch was clear only at a lenient threshold. Imagining also engaged regions tied to memory and imagination, and a frontal region became more strongly coupled with the touch area. The authors read this as the brain building an abstract image and then adding sensory detail from early sensory areas.
Kjaer and colleagues · Cognitive Brain Research
Yoga Nidra meditation significantly increases endogenous dopamine release in the ventral striatum. This provides the first in vivo evidence that neurotransmitter regulation at the synaptic level can drive changes in conscious states.