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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Using a Classroom-Based Deese Roediger McDermott Paradigm to Assess the Effects of Imagery on False Memories
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Why do imagery and perception look and feel so different?

Roger Koenig-Robert1, Joel Pearson1

  • 1School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|December 14, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Neuroscience research explores why mental imagery feels different from perception. Differences in information flow and neural mechanisms in the brain may explain this subjective experience.

Keywords:
feedback signalsmental imageryperception

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuroscience of Visual Experience

Background:

  • Decades of research show functional and neural similarities between mental imagery and perception.
  • Despite similarities, a subjective difference exists in how imagery and perception are experienced.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review and discuss the differences between mental imagery and perception.
  • To explore potential functional and neural causes for these experiential differences.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing scientific literature on imagery and perception.
  • Analysis of information flow (top-down vs. bottom-up) and neural mechanisms.

Main Results:

  • Differences identified in directional information flow between imagery and perception.
  • Variations in targeted cortical layers within the primary visual cortex are discussed.
  • Distinct neural mechanisms, such as modulation versus excitation, are proposed.

Conclusions:

  • Neuroscience is beginning to elucidate the reasons behind the distinct subjective experiences of imagery and perception.
  • Understanding these differences contributes to the study of offline perception without external stimuli.