ABSTRACT

The nature of mental images and their relation to language has caused controversy amongst psychologists for years, and the so-called "imagery debate" is still unresolved. Fresh light is now being shed on this topic using recent findings in neuroscience and the development of behavioural studies. Reviewing state-of-the-art research in the field of imagery, visuo-spatial memory, spatial representation and language, with special emphasis on their interactions, the volume shows how, and to what extent, findings from the studies on imagery can positively influence and enrich other psychological areas such as:

  • Working memory
  • Space and time representation
  • Language and embodiment

Chapter 9, written by Michel Denis, to whom this book is dedicated, analyses more than three decades of research, and outlines the shared scientific journey of friendship and discovery that has developed across various cognitive topics, all of which are linked to, and inspired by, imagery conceptualization.

This is the only book to present a critical outline of research on these topics in a single volume, and as such will be invaluable to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in such fields as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, computer science and neuropsychology.

 

part I|15 pages

Events and representations

chapter 1|13 pages

Telling tales, or journeys

part II|58 pages

Visual imagery and imagery processes

chapter 2|24 pages

Scanning visual mental images

Some structural implications, revisited

chapter 3|32 pages

Visual imagery in the brain

Modality-specific and spatial, but perhaps without space

part III|49 pages

Working memory and imagery

chapter 4|29 pages

Working memory

An ensemble of functions in on-line cognition

chapter 5|18 pages

Theories and debate in visuo-spatial working memory

The questions of access and rehearsal

part IV|75 pages

Language, space, and action

chapter 6|35 pages

Individual differences in spatial text processing

Francesca Pazzaglia, Valérie Gyselinck, Cesare Cornoldi, and Rossana De Beni

chapter 7|15 pages

Language of Space

A comparison between blind and sighted individuals

chapter 8|23 pages

Language and action

An approach to embodied cognition

part V|54 pages

Interconnections

chapter 9|52 pages

Decades of images

Reminiscences of a shared scientific journey