Visuospatial tasks suppress craving for cigarettes.

The Elaborated Intrusion (EI) theory of desire posits that visual imagery plays a key role in craving. We report a series of experiments testing this hypothesis in a drug addiction context. Experiment 1 showed that a mental visual imagery task with neutral content reduced cigarette craving in abstaining smokers, but that an equivalent auditory task did not. The effect of visual imagery was replicated in Experiment 2, which also showed comparable effects of non-imagery visual working memory interference. Experiment 3 showed that the benefit of visual over auditory interference was not dependent upon imagery being used to induce craving. Experiment 4 compared a visuomotor task, making shapes from modeling clay, with a verbal task (counting back from 100), and again showed a benefit of the visual over the non-visual task. We conclude that visual imagery supports craving for cigarettes. Competing imagery or visual working memory tasks may help tackle craving in smokers trying to quit

Measuring athlete imagery ability: the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire

Based on literature identifying movement imagery, observation, and execution to elicit similar areas of neural activity, research has demonstrated movement imagery and observation to successfully prime movement execution. To investigate whether movement and observation could prime ease of imaging from an external visual imagery perspective, an internal visual imagery perspective, and kinaesthetic modality, 36 participants (M$_{age}$ = 20.58; SD = 3.11; 18 female, 18 male) completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 under four modes of delivery (movement prime, external observation prime, internal observation prime, and image-only). Results revealed ease of imaging was significantly greater during the movement and observation prime conditions compared to the image-only condition (p < .05). Specifically when priming external visual imagery and internal visual imagery, observation only facilitated ease of imaging when the perspective was congruent with the imagery perspective. Results support the utilization of movement and observation to facilitate ease of imaging, but highlight the importance of considering visual perspective when using observation

Insensitivity of visual short-term memory to irrelevant visual information

Several authors have hypothesised that visuo-spatial working memory is functionally analogous to verbal working memory. Irrelevant background speech impairs verbal short-term memory. We investigated whether irrelevant visual information has an analogous effect on visual short-term memory, using a dynamic visual noise (DVN) technique known to disrupt visual imagery (Quinn & McConnell, 1996a). Experiment 1 replicated the effect of DVN on pegword imagery. Experiments 2 and 3 showed no effect of DVN on recall of static matrix patterns, despite a significant effect of a concurrent spatial tapping task. Experiment 4 showed no effect of DVN on encoding or maintenance of arrays of matrix patterns, despite testing memory by a recognition procedure to encourage visual rather than spatial processing. Serial position curves showed a one-item recency effect typical of visual short-term memory. Experiment 5 showed no effect of DVN on short-term recognition of Chinese characters, despite effects of visual similarity and a concurrent colour memory task that confirmed visual processing of the characters. We conclude that irrelevant visual noise does not impair visual short-term memory. Visual working memory may not be functionally analogous to verbal working memory, and different cognitive processes may underlie visual short-term memory and visual imagery

A Comparison Between Visual Imagery Strategy and Conventional Strategy in The Teaching of English For Science

The main purpose of the study was to investigate and compare the effectiveness between visual imagery strategy and conventional strategy in the teaching of English for Science and Technology. A total of 89 students (n=89) were assigned to two groups, where each group underwent three phases of the experiment - 1) Pre-test Phase, 2) Treatment Phase, and 3) Post-test Phase. In this study, visual imagery strategy was a teaching procedure that incorporated the use of visuals and the forming of images that suggested the kind of representations students need to conjure within the context of the topic being taught. Conventional strategy was the teaching method prescribed by the English teacher in which students' attention were directed to important facts and concepts pertaining to the topic. Evaluation to ascertain students' le'ariing achievement was based on their pre-test and post-test scores obtained as participants performed the Language Achievement test, which included evaluation on reading comprehension and writing skills. Analysis was also done on their language functions, vocabulary tasks, reading comprehension, and essay writing skills from the science- and technical-based lessons taught to the students. The results of the study was reported in accordance with the hypotheses developed which compared the effectiveness between visual imagery strategy and conventional strategy on dependent variables such as reading comprehension achievement, writing skills and vocabulary achievement, as well comparing the effectiveness between the two strategies used among low English proficiency and high English proficiency students. Data analysis indicated that visual imagery strategy produced significant main effect on students' total reading comprehension and writing achievement, as compared to conventional strategy (F(1,84) = 17.55, p < .000), but there was no significant interaction effect between proficiency level and type of treatment applied (F(1,84) = .895, p > .347, with a very small effect size (eta squared = .011). Based on reading comprehension scores alone, it was found that visual imagery strategy produced significant main effect on students' reading comprehension achievement, as compared to conventional strategy (F(1,84) = 14.03, p < .000; eta squared = .143), but again, there was no significant interaction effect between proficiency level and type of treatment applied (F(1,84) = .002, p > .620; eta squared = .010). Based on writing scores alone, it was found that visual imagery did not produce significant main effect on students' writing achievement as compared to conventional strategy(F(l,84) = 1.27, p = .261). However, there was significant interaction effect between proficiency level and the treatments applied in determining students' writing achievement (F(1,84) = 1.06, p < .041, with a small effect size (eta squared = .012). Data analysis also indicated that visual imagery strategy (M=9.93, SD=2.98) did not produce significant differential effect on students' vocabulary skills performance during the treatment phase, as compared to the conventional strategy: (M=9.37, SD=3.51; t(87)=.802, p=.425). Students' responses regarding their knowledge and perception of visual imagery strategy and its application on teaching reading comprehension and writing skills in English for Science and Technology also favored the use of visuals and imagery instructions. Lastly, it was found that students agree that visual imagery strategy should be incorporated in English for Science and Technical lessons as it helped students understand scientific and technical passages better during reading-instruction. The implication of the study suggests that visual imagery strategy can be beneficial for students learning English for Science and Technology as the strategy promoted the recall of previous knowledge and provided interaction with the content. Visual imagery strategy as a teaching method should be utilized to its full potential, as it can be beneficial in facilitating the teaching and learning of English for science and technical reading comprehension and other language skills

Direct and generative retrieval of autobiographical memories : the roles of visual imagery and executive processes

Two experiments used a dual task methodology to investigate the role of visual imagery and executive resources in the retrieval of specific autobiographical memories. In Experiment 1, dynamic visual noise led to a reduction in the number of specific memories retrieved in response to both high and low imageability cues, but did not affect retrieval times. In Experiment 2, irrelevant pictures reduced the number of specific memories but only in response to low imageability cues. Irrelevant pictures also increased response times to both high and low imageability cues. The findings are in line with previous work suggesting that disrupting executive resources may impair generative, but not direct, retrieval of autobiographical memories. In contrast, visual distractor tasks appear to impair access to specific autobiographical memories via both the direct and generative retrieval routes, thereby highlighting the potential role of visual imagery in both pathways

Modeling Camera Effects to Improve Visual Learning from Synthetic Data

Recent work has focused on generating synthetic imagery to increase the size and variability of training data for learning visual tasks in urban scenes. This includes increasing the occurrence of occlusions or varying environmental and weather effects. However, few have addressed modeling variation in the sensor domain. Sensor effects can degrade real images, limiting generalizability of network performance on visual tasks trained on synthetic data and tested in real environments. This paper proposes an efficient, automatic, physically-based augmentation pipeline to vary sensor effects --chromatic aberration, blur, exposure, noise, and color cast-- for synthetic imagery. In particular, this paper illustrates that augmenting synthetic training datasets with the proposed pipeline reduces the domain gap between synthetic and real domains for the task of object detection in urban driving scenes

Do synaesthesia and mental imagery tap into similar cross-modal processes?

Synaesthesia has previously been linked with imagery abilities, although an understanding of a causal role for mental imagery in broader synaesthetic experiences remains elusive. This can be partly attributed to our relatively poor understanding of imagery in sensory domains beyond vision. Investigations into the neural and behavioural underpinnings of mental imagery have nevertheless identified an important role for imagery in perception, particularly in mediating cross-modal interactions. However, the phenomenology of synaesthesia gives rise to the assumption that associated cross-modal interactions may be encapsulated and specific to synaesthesia. As such, evidence for a link between imagery and perception may not generalize to synaesthesia. Here, we present results that challenge this idea: first, we found enhanced somatosensory imagery evoked by visual stimuli of body parts in mirror-touch synaesthetes, relative to other synaesthetes or controls. Moreover, this enhanced imagery generalized to tactile object properties not directly linked to their synaesthetic associations. Second, we report evidence that concurrent experience evoked in grapheme-colour synaesthesia was sufficient to trigger visual-to-tactile correspondences that are common to all. Together, these findings show that enhanced mental imagery is a consistent hallmark of synaesthesia, and suggest the intriguing possibility that imagery may facilitate the cross-modal interactions that underpin synaesthesic experiences. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia'

Neural Substrates of Visual Percepts, Imagery, and Hallucinations

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (F49620-01-1-0397); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409); Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0624)

Scanpath Eye Movements during Visual Mental Imagery in a Simulated Hemianopia Paradigm

Several studies have shown that eye movements (EM) are functionally involved in visual imagery. In this study we investigate the impact of a simulated homonymous hemianopia paradigm (SH) with and without foveal masking on scanpath eye movements during visual mental imagery. EM of twenty subjects were recorded under SH condition during viewing and subsequent visual imagery of complex pictures. Using evaluated string editing methods viewing and imagery scanpaths were compared. Our results show that scanpath EM are involved in visual mental imagery and reflect the picture content even under SH. In contrast, additional foveal masking significantly reduces the similarity between viewing and imagery scanpath. This points toward a detrimental effect of foveal masking on subsequent visual imagery performance