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Eye Movement Monitoring of Memory
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Involuntary refreshing of mental representations.

Anthony G Velasquez1, Jessica K Yankulova1, Nathan A White1

  • 1Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, United States of America.

Acta Psychologica
|December 26, 2022
PubMed
Summary

Refreshing mental representations can occur involuntarily, even without conscious effort. This study demonstrates that involuntary mental imagery can arise unexpectedly, impacting cognitive processes.

Keywords:
ConsciousnessMental imageryReflexive Imagery TaskRefreshingUnconscious processing

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Mental representations, such as mental imagery, can emerge involuntarily into consciousness.
  • The Reflexive Imagery Task was previously developed to study these involuntary mental phenomena.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the process of refreshing mental representations can lead to involuntary conscious experiences.
  • To determine if mental representations can arise in consciousness involuntarily after a delay and in response to a cue.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed a task where they were instructed *not* to refresh a previously presented stimulus after a delay.
  • The study involved presenting an object name and later cueing participants to assess for involuntary mental representation reactivation.
  • Two experiments were conducted, with the second using a more challenging refreshing task to replicate and extend findings.

Main Results:

  • Involuntary refreshing of mental representations occurred in a significant proportion of trials (56% in Experiment 1, 53% in Experiment 2).
  • These involuntary mental representations arose even when participants were instructed against refreshing and in the absence of the original stimulus.

Conclusions:

  • Mental representations generated through processes like refreshing can indeed occur involuntarily.
  • This finding has significant theoretical implications for understanding the interplay between voluntary and involuntary cognitive processes.