Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (MindTap Course List)
Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (MindTap Course List)
4th Edition
ISBN: 9781285763880
Author: E. Bruce Goldstein
Publisher: Cengage Learning
Question
Book Icon
Chapter 10.2, Problem 1TY
Summary Introduction

Introduction

There have been various neurological studies conducted in order to find out if the neurological processes and mechanisms involved in imagery and perception are the same.

Expert Solution & Answer
Check Mark

Explanation of Solution

Answer and explanation

a. Brain imaging – In 1993, Samuel Le Bihan and coworkers, through a research study that involved brain imaging, found that visual cortex activity was observed while the participants were engaged in an active imagination as well as when they were visually perceiving the thing. It was found that the striate cortex in the visual cortex showed an increase during both the visual perception and mental imagination of a stimulus.

b. Deactivation of a part of the brain – A study was conducted that involved a patient with a rare case of epilepsy, wherein the occipital lobe of the patient was removed in order to treat them. Before the removal of the occipital lobe, the patient took a mental walk test, wherein they were asked to imagine that they were walking toward an animal, and they had to measure the distance between the animal and themselves when the animal covered their visual field. After the right occipital lobe of the patient was removed, the same procedure was followed and the results showed that, before the removal of this part of the brain, the distance was estimated to be 15 feet before the image covered the field entirely and, after the surgery, the distance between the patient and the animal was 35 feet. Removing the occipital lobe affected the patient's capacity to judge the visual field.

c. Neuropsychology – Neuropsychological studies have found that damage caused to any part of the brain that is responsible for visual perception and imagery might affect the two processes depending on where the damage had occurred. For example, a case study of a patient named R.M. revealed that, due to suffering from damage to occipital and parietal lobes, his ability to process images was impaired; however his perceptual abilities were intact. Due to this, he could recognize objects, but could not mentally visualize those objects.

d. Recording from single neurons in the brain – A study was conducted by Gabriel Kreiman and colleagues wherein they placed electrodes in different regions of the medial temporal lobe (hippocampus and amygdala) of the participants. It was meant to find out if the single neuron in the brain were activated when the participants were asked to see or visualize an image. This showed that some neurons responded to some images while not to others. Similarly, those neurons responded in the same way while visualizing those images. For instance, the neural activity was similar when participants saw the picture of a baseball and when they imagined the image of a baseball. These neurons came to be known as imagery neurons.

Want to see more full solutions like this?

Subscribe now to access step-by-step solutions to millions of textbook problems written by subject matter experts!
Knowledge Booster
Background pattern image
Recommended textbooks for you
Text book image
Ciccarelli: Psychology_5 (5th Edition)
Psychology
ISBN:9780134477961
Author:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White
Publisher:PEARSON
Text book image
Cognitive Psychology
Psychology
ISBN:9781337408271
Author:Goldstein, E. Bruce.
Publisher:Cengage Learning,
Text book image
Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and ...
Psychology
ISBN:9781337565691
Author:Dennis Coon, John O. Mitterer, Tanya S. Martini
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Text book image
Psychology in Your Life (Second Edition)
Psychology
ISBN:9780393265156
Author:Sarah Grison, Michael Gazzaniga
Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company
Text book image
Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research a...
Psychology
ISBN:9781285763880
Author:E. Bruce Goldstein
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Text book image
Theories of Personality (MindTap Course List)
Psychology
ISBN:9781305652958
Author:Duane P. Schultz, Sydney Ellen Schultz
Publisher:Cengage Learning