Question 1

Suppose that you are reading a book that describes how the inside of the U.S. Supreme Court looks from a lawyer's point of view. Based on the discussion of neuroscience research and visual imagery, what would you predict about your visual system's reaction to this description?

Accepted Answer

The description of the U.S. Supreme Court from a lawyer's point of view likely involves vivid and complex visual imagery, which can stimulate the visual cortex and increase blood flow to that area. This would suggest that option B is the best choice. Option A is possible, but it depends on the specific details of the scene being described. Option C is not likely, as the description is primarily visual and not auditory. Option D is incorrect, as there is an established relationship between visual imagery and brain activity.

Question 2

The research on visual imagery and interference shows that

Accepted Answer

Research indicates that visual imagery can interfere with the perception of visual stimuli, such as having difficulty seeing a blue arrow when imagining a tree, because both tasks compete for visual processing resources.

Question 3

Reed conducted research demonstrating that people had difficulty locating a parallelogram in their mental image of a six-sided star. This research

Accepted Answer

The answer of Reed conducted research demonstrating that people had...

Question 4

Researchers have conducted studies on a variety of vision-like processes that are unfamiliar to the general public. This research demonstrates that a mental image has roughly the same effect that an actual visual stimulus has, for example, in producing the masking effect. On the basis of this research, we can conclude that

Accepted Answer

If a mental image has the same effect as an actual visual stimulus, then demand characteristics, which are cues that participants may use to infer the purpose of the study and change their behavior accordingly, are unlikely to explain the results.

Question 5

The neuropsychology evidence on the imagery question shows that

Accepted Answer

The neuropsychology evidence suggests that during mental imagery, there is activation in some areas of the visual-processing regions of the cortex, indicating that there is some overlap between the processes involved in imagery and perception. This supports choice B as the correct answer. Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because they do not accurately reflect the results of the neuropsychology research on imagery.

Question 6

Why do researchers in the area of mental imagery need to be concerned about demand characteristics?

Accepted Answer

Demand characteristics refer to cues or clues within an experiment that may reveal the experimenter's expectations to the participant, therefore influencing their behavior. In the case of mental imagery research, demand characteristics may be particularly important as experimenters may unintentionally convey their hypotheses to participants, which could affect their performance on the task.

Question 7

According to the research on mental imagery and interference, which of the following tasks would be most difficult?

Accepted Answer

The answer of According to the research on mental imagery...

Question 8

From the research on mental imagery for the positions of the hands on a clock, we can conclude that

Accepted Answer

The research on mental imagery for the positions of the hands on a clock suggests that individuals with high mental imagery ability perform this task faster than those with low mental imagery ability, indicating that mental imagery plays a role in this task. There is no evidence to suggest that propositional codes or decision-making about image shapes are factors in this research, and while the difficulty of the task may vary for individuals, there is no indication that so few people can construct this kind of mental image as to require concern about the limits of imagery research.

Question 9

Which of the following students' statements provides the best summary of the section on visual imagery and interference?

Accepted Answer

The section on visual imagery and interference discusses how interference is greater when the mental image and physical stimulus are in the same mode. Option A discusses the change in evidence over time, while option B discusses the role of experimenter expectancy. Option D references the propositional code, but this is not the main focus of the section.

Question 10

Suppose that you are reading an article about visual imagery. The researchers point out that demand characteristics might have influenced the results of this study. One example of this possibility would be:

Accepted Answer

Demand characteristics refer to any cues within a study that convey the researchers' hypothesis to the participants, potentially influencing the participants' responses. Therefore, option C is the best choice as it directly relates to this possibility. Option A describes a situation where participants intentionally sabotage the study, which is not related to demand characteristics. Option B is related to participant motivation but does not relate to demand characteristics. Option D is unrelated to demand characteristics as it refers to the researchers' explanation, not the participants' responses.

Question 11

Your textbook described a study in which people saw an ambiguous figure, for instance, a sketch that could represent either a rabbit or a duck. When the figure was removed, the people were asked to create a mental image of the figure. The results showed that

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is that people were able to create a mental image of the figure but could not reinterpret the mental image once it was formed. This suggests that while people can form mental images, the flexibility to reinterpret these images may be limited.

Question 12

Which of the following students provides the best summary of the research on imagery and distance?

Accepted Answer

Kristen's statement accurately summarizes the research findings that there is a relationship between the size of mental distances and the time it takes to mentally scan them, reflecting the analog nature of mental imagery.

Question 13

Paivio conducted a study on mental imagery for the faces of clocks. His study demonstrated that

Accepted Answer

Paivio's study on mental imagery, particularly involving the visualization of clock faces, found that individuals who could more vividly imagine (high-imagery people) had faster reaction times in tasks requiring mental manipulation of these images, compared to those who had less vivid mental imagery (low-imagery people). This suggests that the ability to generate clear mental images can enhance cognitive processing speed in tasks involving visual manipulation.

Question 14

Your textbook discusses research showing that people have better acuity for mental images that are visualized in the center of the retina, rather than in the periphery of the retina. The reason that this research is significant is that

Accepted Answer

The research showing that people have better acuity for mental images that are visualized in the center of the retina, rather than in the periphery of the retina, is significant because it demonstrates that the results obtained when people perceive actual visual stimuli are similar, indicating that mental imagery may rely on similar neural mechanisms as actual perception. This supports the idea that mental images are not just propositional representations, as suggested by the propositional approach. It also does not address experimenter expectancy and individual differences in visual imagery, making options B and D incorrect.

Question 15

Imagine that you read about research in which students study a map of an imaginary college campus. Then they are instructed to mentally travel between two points on this map. According to their results, the mental travel time increases as the distance increases between the two points. These results seem to support

Accepted Answer

The results support the analog code because they suggest that mental representations of spatial information are similar to the physical space being represented. The finding that mental travel time increases with physical distance implies that the mental representation is analogous to the actual spatial layout, which is a key aspect of the analog code theory.

Question 16

The research on mental imagery and ambiguous figures suggests that

Accepted Answer

Research on mental imagery and ambiguous figures indicates that the way we process and represent images in our minds can vary; some tasks may rely on a propositional code (abstract, language-like representations), while others use an analog code (visual, picture-like representations). This suggests a flexibility in cognitive processing rather than a strict adherence to one type of coding system.

Question 17

Which of the following everyday examples would be most similar to the research findings on visual images and interference?

Accepted Answer

The research findings suggest that forming a visual image can interfere with our ability to detect faint visual stimuli, which is similar to the example given in choice A.

Question 18

Which of the following students provides the most accurate statement about the research on mental imagery?

Accepted Answer

Shirin's statement accurately describes research on mental imagery, specifically the finding that mental images are processed similarly to physical stimuli. The other statements have either inaccuracies or are too broad.

Question 19

According to the research on mental imagery and shape, people take longer to make a judgment when two mental images have similar shapes than when they have different shapes. This finding tends to support

Accepted Answer

This finding supports the idea of the analog-code approach, which proposes that mental imagery involves a mental representation that closely resembles the physical object being imagined. If the two mental images have similar shapes, it would take longer to distinguish between them since they are more similar in the analog code representation. This finding is not related to experimenter expectancy, introspection approach, or bottom-up processing.

Question 20

Nishimura and colleagues used magnetoencephalography techniques to investigate individual differences in mental imagery. They found that, when asked to visualize famous landmarks,

Accepted Answer

Based on the research conducted by Nishimura and colleagues, visualizers showed more activity in the occipital regions of the cortex, which are responsible for visual processing, whereas verbalizers showed more activity in the frontal cortical areas, which are associated with language processing and production. Therefore, choice C is the correct answer.

Quiz 7: Mental Imagery and Cognitive Maps