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Neurodiversity in mental simulation: conceptual but not visual imagery priming modulates perception across the imagery vividness spectrum

Welker and colleagues · Scientific Reports

Eighty-nine young adults, mostly psychology students, watched two patterns moving in opposite directions, one shown to each eye, while eye tracking revealed which one they were seeing. Beforehand they either pictured the moving pattern or silently repeated its direction. Picturing it tilted what people then saw only in those with typical or vivid imagery, and more so the more vivid their imagery, while repeating the direction worked across the range, including in people with low imagery, though only modestly for them. Only 4 participants had aphantasia, which the authors propose renaming an abstract simulation style.