Visual imagination can influence visual perception - towards an experimental paradigm to measure imagination

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Visual imagination activates perceptual representations without sensory input, utilizing similar neural resources as visual perception.
• Objective measures for quantifying visual imagination intensity are lacking, with current assessments relying on subjective questionnaires.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a novel experimental paradigm for objectively quantifying visual imagination.
• To investigate whether imagined stimuli can induce priming and adaptation effects similar to observed stimuli.

Main Methods:

• Utilized priming and adaptation effects with ambiguous figures (Necker Cube, Letter/Number) and their unambiguous conditioning variants.
• Compared conditioning effects from observing (Real condition) versus imagining (Imaginary condition) the conditioning stimuli.

Main Results:

• No systematic group-level conditioning effects were found for either stimulus type or condition (Real vs. Imaginary).
• Significant correlations between Real and Imaginary conditions were observed, indicating individual consistency in conditioning effects.
• These correlations suggest that past imaginations, like perceptions, can influence current percepts.

Conclusions:

• The findings support the hypothesis that perception and imagination share similar underlying neural mechanisms.
• The developed paradigm shows promise as an objective measure for quantifying imagination and potentially identifying conditions like aphantasia.