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Individual differences shape the content of visual representations.

Reshanne R Reeder1

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology II, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.

Vision Research
|October 11, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This review explores the pictorial nature of brain representations activated without visual input. Individual differences significantly impact visual imagery, visual working memory, and preparatory templates, influencing task performance and experiences like hallucinations.

Keywords:
Individual differencesMental imageryTarget templateVisual representationVisual working memory

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Neuroimaging

Background:

  • Visual perception creates pictorial brain representations.
  • The pictorial nature of representations without visual input is debated.
  • Visual imagery (VI), visual working memory (VWM), and preparatory templates involve internally activated visual information.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence for pictorial content in internally activated visual representations.
  • To propose that VI, VWM, and preparatory templates offer complementary evidence for pictorial representations.
  • To highlight the impact of individual differences on visual representation research.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on visual imagery, visual working memory, and visual preparatory templates.
  • Analysis of discrepancies in cortical and behavioral overlap between external and internal visual representations.
  • Examination of factors contributing to individual differences in visual representation.

Main Results:

  • Internally activated visual information, as seen in VI, VWM, and preparatory templates, likely possesses pictorial content.
  • Discrepancies in research findings may stem from individual differences in vividness, task demands, expertise, and anatomy.
  • Individual differences significantly affect task performance and phenomena like intrusive imagery and hallucinations.

Conclusions:

  • Visual imagery, VWM, and preparatory templates support the pictorial nature of visual representations activated without sensory input.
  • Accounting for individual differences is crucial for understanding visual representation and its variations.
  • Future research should focus on individual variability rather than solely on uniformities in visual experience.