PSYC 2650 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Autobiographical Memory, Mental Rotation, Lisa Lopes
12 Apr 2020
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Chapter 11 – Visual Knowledge
- Chronometric Studies: time measuring studies – imagery experiments require people to
do something with their images (usually make a judgement based on the image), and
researchers can then examine how fast people are in making these judgements, and use
the measurements to test hypotheses
- Results from image-scanning procedures reveal that participants scan across images at a
constant rate, so doubling the scanning distance doubles the time require to scan, and
tripling the distance triples the time required
- Zooming follows this same rule
- Mental rotation – the farther you have to have to imagine a form rotating, the longer
the evaluation takes
- Demand Character: cues that might signal how someone is supposed to behave in a
given situation
- Visualizing one thing helps perception in things that are similar to what you are
visualizing
- Supports the idea that visualizing and perceiving draw on similar mechanisms, so one of
these activities can prime the other
- Binocular Rivalry: Occurs when 2 different visual stimuli are presented, one to each eye
– for example, green vertical stripes to your left eye and red horizontal stripes to your
right eye. Your visual system is sometimes unable to combine the inputs, and you end
up being aware of just one of the stimuli for a few moments, then the other for a bit,
then the first again, etc.
- Area V1 is important for both the processing of visual information and for the creation
of visual imagery
- Unilateral Neglect Syndrome: can only pay attention to the right half of the visual world
- Differences in Imagery
- Evidence suggests that there are 2 types of imagery – visual and spatial
- Most people have the capacity for both types
- Some people can imagine images in their mind (vivid imagery) but some people cannot,
no matter how hard they try
- Visual imagery seems to play a role in autobiographical memory – non-imagers are less
likely to feel as if they can “relive” their memories
- Eidetic Imagery
- Exquisitely detailed imagery that can truly be described as “photographic”
- This form of imagery is sometimes found in people with autism
