Previous work on mental synthesis has suggested that verbal presentation of stimuli may encourage considerable reliance on verbal rehearsal, as well as the generation of images from long-term memory. An experiment is reported which contrasts verbal and visual presentation of stimuli on synthesis performance, as well as the effect of having the presented stimuli continuously visible. The results demonstrate significant effects of stimulus modality and working memory load on participants' performance. These findings are interpreted in terms of cognitive differences between images generated directly from visual traces, and images generated from long-term memory in response to verbal cues.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
MillerA. I., Imagery in Scientific Thought: Creating 20th Century Physics, Birkhauser, Boston, 1984.
2.
PurcellA. T.GenoJ. S., Drawings and the Design Process, Design Studies, 19:4, pp. 389–430, 1998.
3.
ReedS. K., Imagery and Discovery, in Imagery, Creativity and Discovery: A Cognitive Perspective, Roskos-EwoldsenB.Intons-PetersonM. J.AndersonR. (eds.), North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 287–312, 1993.
4.
FinkeR., Creative Imagery: Discoveries and Inventions in Visualization, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1990.
5.
KaufmannG., Mental Imagery and Problem Solving, in Cognitive and Neuropsychological Approaches to Mental Imagery, DenisM.EngelkampJ.RichardsonJ. T. E. (eds.), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 231–240, 1988.
6.
FinkeR.SlaytonK., Explorations of Creative Visual Synthesis in Mental Imagery, Memory and Cognition, 16, pp. 252–257, 1988.
7.
PearsonD. G.De BeniR.CornoldiC., The Generation, Maintenance, and Transformation of Visuo-Spatial Mental Images, in Imagery, Language, and Visuo-Spatial Thinking, DenisM.LogieR. H.CornoldiC.De VegaM.EngelkampJ. (eds.), The Psychology Press, Hove, United Kingdom, pp. 1–27, 2001.
8.
PearsonD. G.LogieR. H.GilhoolyK., Verbal Representations and Spatial Manipulation during Mental Synthesis, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11:3, pp. 295–314, 1999.
9.
BaddeleyA. D.HitchG. J., Working Memory, in The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. VIII, BowerG. (ed.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 47–90, 1974.
10.
BaddeleyA. D., Working Memory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986.
11.
BaddeleyA. D.LogieR. H., Working Memory: The Multiple Component Model, Models of Working Memory, in MiyakeA.ShahP. (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 28–61, 1999.
12.
BaddeleyA. D.LewisV. J., Inner Active Processes in Reading: The Inner Voice, the Inner Ear and the Inner Eye, in Interactive Processes in Reading, LesgoldA. M.PerfettiC. A. (eds.), LEA, Hillsdale, New Jersey, pp. 107–129, 1981.
13.
PearsonD. G., Imagery and the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, in Working Memory in Perspective, AndradeJ. (ed.), The Psychology Press, Hove, United Kingdom, pp. 33–59, 2001.
14.
CornoldiC.De BeniR.GiusbertiF.MassironiM., Memory and Imagery: A Visual Trace is Not a Mental Image, in Theories of Memory, Vol. II, ConwayM. A.GathercoleS. E.CornoldiC. (eds.), The Psychology Press, Hove, United Kingdom, pp. 87–110, 1998.
15.
HitchG. J.BrandimonteM. A.WalkerP., Two Types of Representations in Visual Memory: Evidence from the Effects of Stimulus Contrast on Image Combination, Memory and Cognition, 21, pp. 147–154, 1995.
16.
Intons-PetersenM. J., Linguistic Effects in a Visual Manipulation Task, Psychologische Beitrage, 38:3/4, pp. 251–278, 1996.
17.
ReisbergD., The Nonambiguity of Mental Images, in Stretching the Imagination: Representation and Transformation in Mental Imagery, CornoldiC.LogieR. H.BrandimonteM. A.KaufmannG.ReisbergD. (eds.), Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 119–172, 1996.
18.
PearsonD. G.LogieR. H.GreenC., Mental Manipulation, Visual Working Memory, and Executive Processes, Psychologische Beitrage, 38, pp. 324–342, 1996.
19.
AndersonR. E.HelstrupT., Visual Discovery in Mind and on Paper, Memory and Cognition, 21, pp. 283–293, 1993.
20.
PearsonD. G.AlexanderC.WebsterR., Working memory and expertise differences in design, in Visual and Spatial Reasoning in Design II, GeroJ. S.TverskyB.PurcellT. (eds.), Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, Sydney, Australia, pp. 237–252, 2001.
