cognition, 8e by margaret w. matlinchapter 7 cognition, 8e chapter 7 mental imagery and cognitive...

Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7

Cognition, 8e

Chapter 7

Mental Imagery and Cognitive Maps


The Characteristics of Visual Imagery

• not directly observable• fades quickly

imagery debate• perception vs. language • analog code (depictive

representation/pictorial representation)• propositional code (descriptive

representation)



How to study mental imagery?If a mental image resembles a physical object, then people should make judgments about a mental image in the same way that they make judgments about the corresponding physical object.



In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationShepard and Metzler's Research

• Demonstration 7.2• same/different task using pairs of line

drawings• two- vs. three-dimensions• reaction time to decide same/different• Decision time is influenced by the amount

of rotation required to match the figures.• Large rotations take more time.



In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationSubsequent Research on Mental Rotation

Research with other stimuli (e.g., letters of the alphabet) also finds clear relationship between amount of rotation and reaction time.

Takeda and coauthors (2010)• handedness• upright vs. upside-down pictures



In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationSubsequent Research on Mental Rotation

Other research• age • American Sign Language (ASL)

Overall strong support for the analog-coding approach



In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationCognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks

Kosslyn, Thompson and coauthors (2001)• rotate geometric figures with hands vs.

watch an electric motor rotate the figures• perform Shepard and Metzler

same/different task rotating the figures mentally




Kosslyn, Thompson and coauthors (2001) (continued)• PET scan—Participants who had rotated

the original geometric figure with their hands, now showed activity in the primary motor cortex; participants who only watched did not.




Role of Instructions • standard instructions activated the right

frontal lobes and parietal lobes• "rotate self" instructions activated the left

temporal lobe and a different part of the motor cortex

Implications for people recovering from a stroke



Visual Imagery and DistanceStephen Kosslyn

time to scan the distance between two points in a mental image

experimenter expectancy



Visual Imagery and ShapePaivio (1978)

• hands on imaginary clock• high-imagery vs. low-imagery participants

Shepard and Chipman (1970)• more complex shapes• U.S. states



Conclusions About The Characteristics of Mental Images (so far)

1. When people rotate a visual image, a large rotation takes them longer, just as they take longer when making a large rotation with a physical stimulus.

2. People make distance judgments in a similar fashion for mental images and physical stimuli.



Conclusions About The Characteristics of Mental Images (so far)

3. People make decisions about shape in a similar fashion for mental images and physical stimuli; this conclusion holds true for both simple shapes (angles formed by hands on a clock) and complex shapes (geographic regions, like Colorado or West Virginia).



Visual Imagery and InterferenceMental imagery can interfere with visual perception.

Segal and Fusella (1970)• create visual image• detect physical stimulus• People had more problems detecting the

physical stimulus when the image and the physical stimulus were in the same sensory mode.



Visual Imagery and InterferenceMast and colleagues (1999)

Imagined lines and real lines produced similar distortions in participants' judgments about the orientation of the line segment.



Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresDemonstration 7.3

When creating a mental image of an ambiguous figure, people sometimes use analog codes and sometimes use propositional codes.



Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresReed (1974)

• decide whether a pattern is a portion of a design seen earlier

• Chance performance indicated that people could not have stored mental pictures.

• People must store these pictures as descriptions, in propositional codes.



Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresChambers and Reisberg (1985)

• form mental image of ambiguous figure (e.g., the rabbit-duck figure)

• ask participants to provide reinterpretation of ambiguous figure

• draw figure from memory• try to reinterpret physical stimulus



Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresChambers and Reisberg (1985) (continued)

• strong verbal propositional code can dominate over an analog code

• It's easy to reverse an image while you are looking at an ambiguous physical picture, but reversing a mental image is difficult.



Explanations for Visual ImageryNeuroscience Research Comparing Visual Imagery and Visual Perception

Kosslyn (2004)• Visual imagery activates 70-90% of the

same brain regions that are activated during visual perception.

• Brain damage in the most basic region of the visual cortex leads to parallel problems in both visual perception and visual imagery.



Explanations for Visual ImageryNeuroscience Research Comparing Visual Imagery and Visual Perception

Kosslyn (2004) (continued)• Some individuals with brain damage cannot

distinguish between characteristics in visual perception and visual imagery.

• People with prosopagnosia cannot use mental imagery to distinguish between faces.



Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability

meta-analysis (continued)• meta-analyses of gender differences in verbal

ability find effect sizes "close to zero" or "small"; gender similarities

• meta-analyses of gender differences in mathematical ability find effect sizes "close to zero"; gender similarities




meta-analysis (continued)• meta-analyses of gender differences in spatial

ability find effect sizes ranging from "small" to "large"




What do these differences mean?• some studies report no gender differences• effects of task instructions• effects of training• experiences with toys and sports that

emphasize spatial skills


The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery

auditory imagery• the mental representation of sounds when

the sounds are not physically present

• examples: laughter, song, car sounds, animals



Auditory Imagery and Pitchpitch—a characteristic of a sound stimulus that can be arranged on a scale from low to highIntons-Peterson and coauthors (1992)

• "traveling" the distance between two auditory stimuli

• cat purring, door slamming, police siren• The distance between two actual tones is

correlated with the distance between the two imagined tones.



Auditory Imagery and Timbretimbre—a characteristic of sound describing the quality of a tone (e.g., flute vs. trumpet)Halpern and coauthors (2004)

• auditory imagery for the timbre of musical instruments

• young adults with musical training• similarity ratings• perception condition vs. imagined condition



Auditory Imagery and TimbreHalpern and coauthors (2004) (continued)

• Ratings for timbre perception and timbre imagery are highly correlated.

• Cognitive representations for the timbre of actual musical instruments were quite similar to the cognitive representations for the timbre of the imagined musical instruments.


Cognitive Maps

cognitive map• mental representation of geographic

information, including the environment that surrounds us

• relationships among objects


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Number of Intervening Cities

Thorndyke (1981)• study map of hypothetical region until you

can reproduce it• 0, 1, 2, or 3 other cities along the route

between two cities• estimate the distance between specified

pairs of cities


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Number of Intervening Cities

Thorndyke (1981) (continued)• The number of intervening cities had a

clear-cut influence on distance estimates.


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Category Membership

The categories we create can have a large influence on our distance estimates.

Hirtle and Mascolo (1986)• learn hypothetical map of a town• estimate distance between pairs of

locations


Cognitive Maps


Hirtle and Mascolo (1986) (continued)• People tended to shift each location closer

to other sites that belonged to the same category (e.g., government buildings).


Cognitive Maps


Friedman and colleagues• North American cities• students from Canada, United States,

Mexico• international borders


Cognitive Maps


Mishra & Mishra (2010)—border bias• vacation home in Oregon or Washington• earthquake• When people hear about an earthquake, they

prefer to select a home in a different state, rather than a home that is equally close, but in the same state as the earthquake.


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and ShapeWe tend to construct cognitive maps in which the shapes are more regular than they are in reality.


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and ShapeAngles

Moar and Bower (1983)• cognitive maps of Cambridge, England• estimates for the angles formed by the

intersection of two streets• tendency to "regularize" the angles so that

they were more like 90-degree angles


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and ShapeCurves

symmetry heuristic—We remember figures as being more symmetrical and regular than they truly are.


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionHeuristics (continued)

1. We remember a slightly tilted geographic structure as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is (the rotation heuristic).

2. We remember a series of geographic structures as being arranged in a straighter line than they really are (the alignment heuristic).


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Rotation Heuristic

A figure that is slightly tilted will be remembered as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is.

Example: San Diego or Reno?; California coastline mentally rotated to seem more vertical than it is in reality


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Rotation Heuristic

Tversky (1981)• mental maps for San Francisco Bay area• 69% of students showed evidence of the

rotation heuristiccross-cultural evidence

The rotation heuristic involves rotating a single coastline, country, building, or other figure.


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Alignment Heuristic

A series of separate geographic structures will be remembered as being more lined up than they really are.

Example: Rome or Philadelphia?; The United States and Europe get mentally mis-aligned to be at the same latitude.


Cognitive Maps

Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Alignment Heuristic

Tversky (1981)• pairs of cities• Which city is north (or east) of the other?• Many students showed a consistent

tendency to use the alignment heuristic.

Cognitive maps are especially likely to be biased when northern cities in North America are compared to southern cities in Europe.

cognition, 8e by margaret w. matlinchapter 7 cognition, 8e chapter 7 mental imagery and cognitive...

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