Mental Images In Human Cognition

MENTAL IMAGES IN HUMAN COGNITION ADVANCES IN PSYCHOLOGY 80 Editors: G. E. STELMACH P. A. VROON NORTH-HOLLAND AMSTERDAM NEW YORK OXFORD TOKYO MENTAL IMAGES IN HUMAN COGNITION Edited by Robert H.LOGIE University of Aherdeen United Kingdom Michel DENIS Universitf de Paris-Sud Orsay, France 1991 AMSTERDAM NORTH-HOLLAND NEW YORK OXFORD TOKYO NORTH-HOLL AND ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V. Sara Burgerhartstraat 25 P.O. Box 21 I , 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands Distributors for the United States and Canada: ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 655 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10010, U.S.A. ISBN: 0 444 88894 2 ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V., 1991 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying. recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V./ Academic Publishing Division, P.O. Box 103. 1000 AC Amsterdam. The Netherlands. Special regulations for readers in the U.S.A. - This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC). Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in the U.S.A. All other copyright questions, including photocopying outside of the U.S.A.. should be referred to the copyright owner, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.. unless otherwise specified. No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise. or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Pp. 47-56. 141-152.397-408: copyright not transferred. Printed in The Netherlands ".....when I produce an image of Peter, it is Peter who is the object of my actual consciousness. As long as that consciousness remains unaltered, I could give a description of the object as it appears to me in the form of an image but not of the image as such. To determine the properties of the image as image I must turn to a new act of consciousness: I must reflect....It is this reflective act which permits the judgment 'I have an image'" (Sartre, 1950). This book represents the research efforts of individuals whose scientific expertise lies in reflection on what Sartre described as reflective acts. Theory in the cognitive psychology of mental imagery endeavours not only to describe the contents and nature of mental imagery, but also to understand the underlying functional cognition. Psychologists need not rely solely on the techniques of introspection, and the last two decades have seen highly creative developments in techniques for eliciting behavioural data to be complemented by introspective reports. This level of sophistication has provided singular insights into the relationship between imagery and other consequential and universal aspects of human cognition: perception, memory, verbal processes and problem solving. A significant additional benefit of such developments has been the recognition that imagery, despite its ubiquitous nature, differs between individuals both in prevalence and in kind. Moreover the dramatic rise in cognitive science, (to include cognitive neuroscience and computational modelling as well as cognitive psychology), over the last decade has spread the sources of converging evidence to neuroscience. These exciting developments in techniques provide the additional potential for integrating our understanding of cognitive function with our understanding of neuroanatomy and of computer science. vi Preface All of these relationships