Return of the mental image: are there really pictures in the brain?

@article{Pylyshyn2003ReturnOT,
  title={Return of the mental image: are there really pictures in the brain?},
  author={Zenon W. Pylyshyn},
  journal={Trends in Cognitive Sciences},
  year={2003},
  volume={7},
  pages={113-118}
}
  • Z. Pylyshyn
  • Published 1 March 2003
  • Psychology
  • Trends in Cognitive Sciences
View on Elsevier
isites.harvard.edu
277 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
7
Background Citations
141
Methods Citations
13
Results Citations
8

Figures from this paper

277 Citations

Mental images and the Brain

  • S. Kosslyn
  • Biology, Psychology
    Cognitive neuropsychology
  • 2005
The nature of a processing system in which such a dual use of early visual cortex (in perception and in imagery) makes sense is outlined.

The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery

  • J. Pearson
  • Psychology, Biology
    Nature Reviews Neuroscience
  • 2019
Recent insights into the neural mechanisms that underlie visual imagery are discussed, how imagery can be objectively and reliably measured, and how it affects general cognition are discussed.

Mental imagery in animals: Learning, memory, and decision-making in the face of missing information

This work describes the behavioral and neurobiological studies investigating the use of a mental image, its theoretical basis, and its connections to current human cognitive neuroscience research on episodic memory, imagination, and mental simulations and provides insight into the mechanisms that mediate the flexible use of an image during ambiguous situations.

Crossmodal Mental Imagery

In this review, evidence supporting the existence of crossmodal mental imagery in neurologically normal adults is critically evaluated and similarities and differences with related phenomena such as cross modal sensory forms of synaesthesia andcrossmodal perceptual completion are discussed.

Neural Mechanisms of Visual Mental Imagery in the Healthy and Damaged Brain

In the absence of visual input from the external world, humans are able to internally generate vivid mental images of external stimuli. This cognitive process is known as visual mental imagery, and…

Mental Imagery of Speech and Movement Implicates the Dynamics of Internal Forward Models

The dynamics of internal forward models are investigated from an unconventional angle: mental imagery, assessed while recording high temporal resolution neuronal activity using magnetoencephalography, and it is suggested that one internal forward model over parietal cortex subserves the kinesthetic feeling in motor imagery.

Low and high imagers activate networks differentially in mental rotation

Why do imagery and perception look and feel so different?

The directional flow of information (top-down versus bottom-up), the differences in targeted cortical layers in primary visual cortex and possible different neural mechanisms of modulation versus excitation are discussed.

Neural Mechanism of Mental Imagery in Problem Solving

The results suggested that except for the region PPC played a key role for the processing of mental imagery, the association of PPC with other regions, such as FG and PFC would improve the mental imagery during heuristic problem solving.

The Two Eyes of the Blind Mind: Object vs. Spatial Aphantasia?

Individual variability in imagery experiences has long attracted the interest of philosophers, educators, and psychologists. Since Aristotle’s time, it was assumed that imagery is a universal…
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 35 REFERENCES

Reopening the Mental Imagery Debate: Lessons from Functional Anatomy

A body of recent results indicates that there is no unique mental imagery cortical network; rather, it reflects the high degree of interaction between mental imagery and other cognitive functions.

Mental imagery: In search of a theory

  • Z. Pylyshyn
  • Psychology, Philosophy
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences
  • 2002
It is claimed that when such questions as whether images are depictive or spatial are formulated more clearly, the evidence does not provide support for the picture-theory over a symbol-structure theory of mental imagery, and whether recent neuroscience evidence clarifies the debate over the nature of mental images is considered.

Scanning visual mental images: A window on the mind.

The process of mental scanning corresponds to the systematic shifting of attention over visualized objects. The first part of this article focuses on the role of mental scanning as an empirical…

The Relationship Between Visual Perception and Visual Mental Imagery: A Reappraisal of the Neuropsychological Evidence

Topographical representations of mental images in primary visual cortex

Findings resolve a debate in the literature about whether imagery activates early visual cortex and indicate that visual mental imagery involves 'depictive' representations, not solely language-like descriptions12–14.

A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness.

It is proposed that seeing is a way of acting, which provides a natural and principled way of accounting for visual consciousness, and for the differences in the perceived quality of sensory experience in the different sensory modalities.

The imagery debate: Analogue media versus tacit knowledge.

The debate over the nature of mental imagery, especially with respect to the interpretation of recent findings on the transformation of images.” has failed to focus on the crucial differences between…

Visual angle of the mind's eye before and after unilateral occipital lobectomy.

It was found that the overall size of the largest possible image was reduced following the surgery, and the S understood the tasks, was not aware of the authors' predictions, and was unaffected by a strong demand characteristic in a different imagery task.

Visual representations of scenes and objects: retinotopical or non-retinotopical?

Solving the "real" mysteries of visual perception: the world as an outside memory.

This paper discusses several defects of vision and the classical theories of how they are overcome, and suggests an alternative approach, in which the outside world is considered as a kind of external memory store which can be accessed instantaneously by casting one's eyes (or one's attention) to some location.