Mental Imagery

When we try to remember whether we left a window open or closed, do we actually see the window in our mind? If we do, does this mental image play a role in how we think? For almost a century, scientists have debated whether mental images play a functional role in cognition. In The Case for Mental Imagery, Stephen Kosslyn, William Thompson, and Giorgio Ganis present a complete and unified argument that mental images do depict information, and that these depictions do play a functional role in human cognition. They outline a specific theory of how depictive representations are used in information processing, and show how these representations arise from neural processes. To support this theory, they seamlessly weave together conceptual analyses and the many varied empirical findings from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. In doing so, they present the conceptual grounds for positing this type of internal representation and summarize and refute arguments to the contrary. Their argument also serves as a historical review of the imagery debate from its earliest inception to its most recent phases, and provides ample evidence that significant progress has been made in our understanding of mental imagery. In illustrating how scientists think about one of the most difficult problems in psychology and neuroscience, this book goes beyond the debate to explore the nature of cognition and to draw out implications for the study of consciousness. Student and professional researchers in vision science, cognitive psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience will find The Case for Mental Imagery to be an invaluable resource for understanding not only the imagery debate, but also and more broadly, the nature of thought, and how theory and research shape the evolution of scientific debates.

Containing more than 2,100 original mental imagery exercises drawn from the work of the great 20th-century spiritual master and healer Colette Aboulker-Muscat, this manual of spiritual teaching and rich treasury of powerful healing images can be used as a daily source of inspiration, transformation, and healing.

Imagery can be used to improve memory, perceptual skills, even creativity. Numerous experiments carried out over the past 20 years have probed the nature of mental imagery and unlocked its powers. Principles of Mental Imagery offers a broad, balanced, and up to date introduction to the major findings of this research and identifies 5 general principles that can account for most of them. It considers the development of experimental techniques that have solved many of the challenging methodological problems inherent in imagery research and includes recent experimental findings not covered in other imagery books.Principles of Mental Imagery brings together work by all of the key imagery researchers, among them Roger Shepard, Stephen Kosslyn, Allen Paivio, Lynn Cooper, Steven Pinker and the author. Chapters present new research on the role that imagery plays in human memory, new findings on how mental imagery influences perception (one of the dominant issues in modern imagery research), recent studies on "representational momentum" experimental demonstrations of how imagery can be used to make creative, visual discoveries, and recent work on imagery deficits in brain damaged patients. And, a new argument is made for why the study of mental imagery should be motivated by general principles, rather than formal models. Each chapter concludes with convenient summaries and suggestions for further exploration.Ronald A. Fluke is Associate Professor of Psychology at Texas A & M University. A Bradford Book

Mental Imagery: Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience is about mental imagery and the important work it does in our mental life. It plays a crucial role in the vast majority of our perceptual episodes. It also helps us understand many of the most puzzling features of perception (like the way it is influenced in a top-down manner and the way different sense-modalities interact). But mental imagery also plays a very important role in emotions, action execution, and even in our desires. In sum, there are very few mental phenomena that mental imagery doesn't show up in—in some way or other. The hope is that if we understand what mental imagery is, how it works and how it is related to other mental phenomena, we can make real progress on a number of important questions about the mind. This book is written for an interdisciplinary audience. As it aims to combine philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to understand mental imagery, the author has not presupposed any prior knowledge in any of these disciplines, so any reader can follow the arguments.

In Using Mental Imagery to Enhance Creative and Work-Related Processes, Valerie Thomas explores the productive use of mental imagery skills to engage with the processes of creativity. Practical and original, the book offers detailed guidance for a highly effective method that can provide rich insights into the development of a range of creative enterprises, including artistic and work-related projects. In this accessible and innovative book, Thomas pays equal attention to the theory and application of mental imagery. First, she explains how imagination-based methods have been developed and theorised within the discipline of creative behaviour, especially with regard to dual-processing theories of creativity. The book then considers mental imagery as a dialogical method informed by contemporary post-Cartesian theories of embodied cognition that reprise an earlier premodern understanding of imagination as a mediator between body and mind. Thomas introduces a particular approach to mental imagery that, informed by a functional research-informed framework (the Interactive Communicative model of mental imagery), can be applied very effectively to creative processes. The second half of the book provides detailed guidance on how to apply this particular method and is copiously illustrated with case vignettes. It includes chapters on using imagery theorised as conceptual metaphors such as the plant image for representing creative capabilities and the building image for representing creative and work-related projects. It also explains how to use imagery to represent and work with the conceptual processes of undertaking qualitative research projects. This original and wide-ranging book advances the scope and use of creative image-work in diverse settings. It will be an essential resource for everyone who is interested in developing their own mental imagery skills for creative real-world applications and for all professionals such as coaches, therapists and research educators who want to facilitate creativity in others.

The therapeutic potential of working with clients' mental images is widely acknowledged, yet there is still little in the counselling and psychotherapy literature on more inclusive approaches to the clinical applications of mental imagery. Using Mental Imagery in Counselling and Psychotherapy is a unique, accessible guide for counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to develop their expertise in this important therapeutic practice. Contemporary practitioners have at their disposal a large repertoire of imagery methods and procedures comprising the contributions from different therapeutic schools and clinical innovators. Valerie Thomas identifies some of the common features in these approaches and offers a transtheoretical framework that supports integrative practitioners in understanding and using mental imagery to enhance therapeutic processes. The book: Examines the development of the theory and practice of mental imagery within a wider context of the history of imagination as a healing modality; Describes the different ways that mental imagery has been incorporated into therapeutic practice and evaluates recent developments; Reviews explanations of the therapeutic efficacy of mental imagery and considers how recent theoretical concepts provide a means of understanding the role that mental images play in processing experience; Includes reflections on ways to develop more inclusive theory and proposes a model that can inform integrative practice. Using a wide range of clinical vignettes to illustrate theory and cutting-edge research, Valerie Thomas proposes a new integrated model of practice. Providing clear and detailed guidance on applying the model to clinical practice, the book will be essential reading for psychotherapists and counsellors, both in practice and training, who wish to harness the therapeutic efficacy of mental imagery.

The therapeutic potential of working with clients' mental images is widely acknowledged, yet there is still little in the counselling and psychotherapy literature on more inclusive approaches to the clinical applications of mental imagery. Using Mental Imagery in Counselling and Psychotherapy is a unique, accessible guide for counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to develop their expertise in this important therapeutic practice. Contemporary practitioners have at their disposal a large repertoire of imagery methods and procedures comprising the contributions from different therapeutic schools and clinical innovators. Valerie Thomas identifies some of the common features in these approaches and offers a transtheoretical framework that supports integrative practitioners in understanding and using mental imagery to enhance therapeutic processes. The book: Examines the development of the theory and practice of mental imagery within a wider context of the history of imagination as a healing modality; Describes the different ways that mental imagery has been incorporated into therapeutic practice and evaluates recent developments; Reviews explanations of the therapeutic efficacy of mental imagery and considers how recent theoretical concepts provide a means of understanding the role that mental images play in processing experience; Includes reflections on ways to develop more inclusive theory and proposes a model that can inform integrative practice. Using a wide range of clinical vignettes to illustrate theory and cutting-edge research, Valerie Thomas proposes a new integrated model of practice. Providing clear and detailed guidance on applying the model to clinical practice, the book will be essential reading for psychotherapists and counsellors, both in practice and training, who wish to harness the therapeutic efficacy of mental imagery.