cognition, 8e by margaret w. matlinchapter 7 cognition, 8e chapter 7 mental imagery and cognitive...
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Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e
Chapter 7
Mental Imagery and Cognitive Maps
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
• not directly observable• fades quickly
imagery debate• perception vs. language • analog code (depictive
representation/pictorial representation)• propositional code (descriptive
representation)
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
How to study mental imagery?If a mental image resembles a physical object, then people should make judgments about a mental image in the same way that they make judgments about the corresponding physical object.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationShepard and Metzler's Research
• Demonstration 7.2• same/different task using pairs of line
drawings• two- vs. three-dimensions• reaction time to decide same/different• Decision time is influenced by the amount
of rotation required to match the figures.• Large rotations take more time.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationSubsequent Research on Mental Rotation
Research with other stimuli (e.g., letters of the alphabet) also finds clear relationship between amount of rotation and reaction time.
Takeda and coauthors (2010)• handedness• upright vs. upside-down pictures
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationSubsequent Research on Mental Rotation
Other research• age • American Sign Language (ASL)
Overall strong support for the analog-coding approach
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationCognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks
Kosslyn, Thompson and coauthors (2001)• rotate geometric figures with hands vs.
watch an electric motor rotate the figures• perform Shepard and Metzler
same/different task rotating the figures mentally
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationCognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks
Kosslyn, Thompson and coauthors (2001) (continued)• PET scan—Participants who had rotated
the original geometric figure with their hands, now showed activity in the primary motor cortex; participants who only watched did not.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
In Depth: Visual Imagery and RotationCognitive Neuroscience Research on Mental Rotation Tasks
Role of Instructions • standard instructions activated the right
frontal lobes and parietal lobes• "rotate self" instructions activated the left
temporal lobe and a different part of the motor cortex
Implications for people recovering from a stroke
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and DistanceStephen Kosslyn
time to scan the distance between two points in a mental image
experimenter expectancy
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and ShapePaivio (1978)
• hands on imaginary clock• high-imagery vs. low-imagery participants
Shepard and Chipman (1970)• more complex shapes• U.S. states
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Conclusions About The Characteristics of Mental Images (so far)
1. When people rotate a visual image, a large rotation takes them longer, just as they take longer when making a large rotation with a physical stimulus.
2. People make distance judgments in a similar fashion for mental images and physical stimuli.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Conclusions About The Characteristics of Mental Images (so far)
3. People make decisions about shape in a similar fashion for mental images and physical stimuli; this conclusion holds true for both simple shapes (angles formed by hands on a clock) and complex shapes (geographic regions, like Colorado or West Virginia).
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and InterferenceMental imagery can interfere with visual perception.
Segal and Fusella (1970)• create visual image• detect physical stimulus• People had more problems detecting the
physical stimulus when the image and the physical stimulus were in the same sensory mode.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and InterferenceMast and colleagues (1999)
Imagined lines and real lines produced similar distortions in participants' judgments about the orientation of the line segment.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresDemonstration 7.3
When creating a mental image of an ambiguous figure, people sometimes use analog codes and sometimes use propositional codes.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresReed (1974)
• decide whether a pattern is a portion of a design seen earlier
• Chance performance indicated that people could not have stored mental pictures.
• People must store these pictures as descriptions, in propositional codes.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresChambers and Reisberg (1985)
• form mental image of ambiguous figure (e.g., the rabbit-duck figure)
• ask participants to provide reinterpretation of ambiguous figure
• draw figure from memory• try to reinterpret physical stimulus
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Visual Imagery and Ambiguous FiguresChambers and Reisberg (1985) (continued)
• strong verbal propositional code can dominate over an analog code
• It's easy to reverse an image while you are looking at an ambiguous physical picture, but reversing a mental image is difficult.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Explanations for Visual ImageryNeuroscience Research Comparing Visual Imagery and Visual Perception
Kosslyn (2004)• Visual imagery activates 70-90% of the
same brain regions that are activated during visual perception.
• Brain damage in the most basic region of the visual cortex leads to parallel problems in both visual perception and visual imagery.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Explanations for Visual ImageryNeuroscience Research Comparing Visual Imagery and Visual Perception
Kosslyn (2004) (continued)• Some individuals with brain damage cannot
distinguish between characteristics in visual perception and visual imagery.
• People with prosopagnosia cannot use mental imagery to distinguish between faces.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability
meta-analysis (continued)• meta-analyses of gender differences in verbal
ability find effect sizes "close to zero" or "small"; gender similarities
• meta-analyses of gender differences in mathematical ability find effect sizes "close to zero"; gender similarities
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability
meta-analysis (continued)• meta-analyses of gender differences in spatial
ability find effect sizes ranging from "small" to "large"
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Visual Imagery
Individual Differences: Gender Comparisons in Spatial Ability
What do these differences mean?• some studies report no gender differences• effects of task instructions• effects of training• experiences with toys and sports that
emphasize spatial skills
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery
auditory imagery• the mental representation of sounds when
the sounds are not physically present
• examples: laughter, song, car sounds, animals
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery
Auditory Imagery and Pitchpitch—a characteristic of a sound stimulus that can be arranged on a scale from low to highIntons-Peterson and coauthors (1992)
• "traveling" the distance between two auditory stimuli
• cat purring, door slamming, police siren• The distance between two actual tones is
correlated with the distance between the two imagined tones.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery
Auditory Imagery and Timbretimbre—a characteristic of sound describing the quality of a tone (e.g., flute vs. trumpet)Halpern and coauthors (2004)
• auditory imagery for the timbre of musical instruments
• young adults with musical training• similarity ratings• perception condition vs. imagined condition
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
The Characteristics of Auditory Imagery
Auditory Imagery and TimbreHalpern and coauthors (2004) (continued)
• Ratings for timbre perception and timbre imagery are highly correlated.
• Cognitive representations for the timbre of actual musical instruments were quite similar to the cognitive representations for the timbre of the imagined musical instruments.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
cognitive map• mental representation of geographic
information, including the environment that surrounds us
• relationships among objects
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Number of Intervening Cities
Thorndyke (1981)• study map of hypothetical region until you
can reproduce it• 0, 1, 2, or 3 other cities along the route
between two cities• estimate the distance between specified
pairs of cities
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Number of Intervening Cities
Thorndyke (1981) (continued)• The number of intervening cities had a
clear-cut influence on distance estimates.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Category Membership
The categories we create can have a large influence on our distance estimates.
Hirtle and Mascolo (1986)• learn hypothetical map of a town• estimate distance between pairs of
locations
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Category Membership
Hirtle and Mascolo (1986) (continued)• People tended to shift each location closer
to other sites that belonged to the same category (e.g., government buildings).
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Category Membership
Friedman and colleagues• North American cities• students from Canada, United States,
Mexico• international borders
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and DistanceDistance Estimates and Category Membership
Mishra & Mishra (2010)—border bias• vacation home in Oregon or Washington• earthquake• When people hear about an earthquake, they
prefer to select a home in a different state, rather than a home that is equally close, but in the same state as the earthquake.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and ShapeWe tend to construct cognitive maps in which the shapes are more regular than they are in reality.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and ShapeAngles
Moar and Bower (1983)• cognitive maps of Cambridge, England• estimates for the angles formed by the
intersection of two streets• tendency to "regularize" the angles so that
they were more like 90-degree angles
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and ShapeCurves
symmetry heuristic—We remember figures as being more symmetrical and regular than they truly are.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionHeuristics (continued)
1. We remember a slightly tilted geographic structure as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is (the rotation heuristic).
2. We remember a series of geographic structures as being arranged in a straighter line than they really are (the alignment heuristic).
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Rotation Heuristic
A figure that is slightly tilted will be remembered as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is.
Example: San Diego or Reno?; California coastline mentally rotated to seem more vertical than it is in reality
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Rotation Heuristic
Tversky (1981)• mental maps for San Francisco Bay area• 69% of students showed evidence of the
rotation heuristiccross-cultural evidence
The rotation heuristic involves rotating a single coastline, country, building, or other figure.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Alignment Heuristic
A series of separate geographic structures will be remembered as being more lined up than they really are.
Example: Rome or Philadelphia?; The United States and Europe get mentally mis-aligned to be at the same latitude.
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognition, 8e by Margaret W. Matlin Chapter 7
Cognitive Maps
Cognitive Maps and Relative PositionThe Alignment Heuristic
Tversky (1981)• pairs of cities• Which city is north (or east) of the other?• Many students showed a consistent
tendency to use the alignment heuristic.
Cognitive maps are especially likely to be biased when northern cities in North America are compared to southern cities in Europe.