Mental Imagery & Cognitive Maps

Dr. Claudia J. StannyEXP 4507

Memory & Cognition

Spring 2009

Overview

• Role of images in long-term retention• Representation of images in long-term

memory• Characteristics of mental images• Cognitive maps

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How are images used for long-term retention?

Dual Coding Hypothesis (Paivio)• Imagery Code• Verbal Code

Relevant evidence:• Memory for abstract and

concrete words• Time required to encode

in each system• Effects of speed of

presentation on code used

RABBIT

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Use of imagery in mnemonic systems

Method of loci

Keyword technique

Pegword technique

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Why does Imagery Improve Memory?

Images produce a larger number of associations between encoded items

Interacting images produce more links & more reliable links than separate images

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How are images related to perception?

Analog code• Proposes that images are closely related to

perception and perceptual processes• Images are analogous to our perception of physical

objects

Propositional code• Proposes that images are closely related to language

and language-like abstract coding• Abstract representations with no physical

resemblance to the objects stored

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Evidence relating images and perceptual processes

Mental rotation

Representation of physical distances

Representation of shape

Interpretation and memory for ambiguous figures

Modality-specific interference

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Mental rotation of letters

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Mental Rotation(Shepard & Metzler, 1971)

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Scanning Mental Images

Kosslyn (1978)

Mental Travel

Effects of distance

Effects of complexity

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Estimating angles based on clock time (Paivio, 1978)

Create an image of a clock face based on two times• Are the angles formed the same or different?• Must rotate the image of the angle to align and

compareExamples

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Properties of Images

Time to create images

Effects of size of image

Effects of verbal interpretationDemonstration: Are images analog or propositional?

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Imagine an Elephant that Completely Fills Each of these

Squares

Are images coded differently than other memories ?

Problems with demand characteristics of imagery tasks

Experimenter expectancy effects

Propositional versus Analog Codes as the basis for imagery• Differences between pictures in the world and

images in memory• Role of inferences in images: the case for

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Cognitive Maps

Are maps mental images (pictures) or are they more abstract representations?

Relevant evidence:• Effects of heuristic processes on mental maps

90⁰ angle heuristic

Alignment heuristic

Rotation heuristic

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Rotation Heuristic

Is San Francisco, California east or west of Reno, Nevada?

Is San Francisco, California north or south of Reno, Nevada?

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Influence of verbal processing and other knowledge on cognitive maps

Interpretation of regularization errors

Creation of maps from verbal descriptions

Influence of non-visual and non-spatial knowledge on cognitive maps• Numbers of cities represented on a road• Landmark effects

travel to a landmark seems shorter than travel from the landmark to another location

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