The Role of Vividness of Visual Mental Imagery on Different Dimensions of Creativity

Although research demonstrated that people can mentally manipulate and synthesize visual elements into a creative object, the role that vividness of visual imagery plays on creative imagery is still unclear. This study explored the relationships between vividness of visual imagery and 3 dimensions of creative imagery: originality, practicality, and mental spatial transformations of visual elements. Fifty-three participants performed the creative mental synthesis task and completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Results revealed a positive relationship between vividness and the practicality dimension of objects. No relationship was found either between vividness and originality or between vividness and transformational complexity. The association vividness–practicality seems to reflect the ability to use pictorial information of imagery when people generate functional objects that belong to specific categories. Future research directions are discussed.     

The Effects of a PETTLEP Imagery Intervention on Learners' Coincident Anticipation Timing Performance

Little research has examined how imagery effects learners' acquisition of motor tasks requiring coincident anticipation timing (CAT). CAT is a fundamental component of hitting, passing, and receiving required in several sports. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a PETTLEP imagery intervention on learners' CAT performance using a Bassin Anticipation Timer. Fifty-six participants (M = 20.61 years, SD = 2.48) were randomly assigned into one of four training groups: physical practice (PP), imagery practice (IP), imagery practice + physical practice (IP +PP), or a control (CON) group. The study consisted of three phases: pretest, intervention, and a posttest. Results revealed that the PP and IP+PP groups had significantly lower absolute timing error compared to the CON group on the posttest. The IP+PP group was the only group to have lower variable error compared to the CON group on the posttest. Results extend prior research by demonstrating that imagery combined with physical practice can benefit the learning of a CAT task and that imagery alone may not assist learners in acquiring tasks requiring CAT. Results are congruent with prior research demonstrating that imagery is most effective when combined with physical practice.     

The Effects of Combining PETTLEP Imagery and Action Observation on Bicep Strength: A Single-Case Design

We investigated the effects of PETTLEP imagery combined with action observation on bicep curl performance. Using a single-case design, four participants completed a baseline phase followed by PETTLEP imagery with and without an observational aid. Results indicated that using an observational aid in conjunction with PETTLEP imagery can improve bicep curl performance, but not to a greater degree than PETTLEP imagery alone. This indicates that observational aids may not be an essential addition to imagery interventions. The study highlights further the benefit of using PETTLEP imagery for enhancing strength performance, which should be considered by practitioners delivering resistance training programs.     

Action Observation and Imagery Training Improve the Ease With Which Athletes Can Generate Imagery

Imagery can improve sport performance, although its efficacy is mediated by the ease with which athletes can generate images. Establishing techniques that improve this imagery ability factor is desirable to enhance the effectiveness of imagery interventions. Twenty-seven club-level female golfers were assigned to imagery, action observation, or physical practice training groups (n = 9). Changes in image generation ease were assessed using the Revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire over an 8-week period. Imagery and action observation training were both effective in improving aspects of imagery ability. Action observation can provide sport psychologists with an effective tool for improving visual imagery ability in athletes.     

Assessing vividness of mental imagery: The Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire

Mental imagery may occur in any sensory modality, although visual imagery has been most studied. A sensitive measure of the vividness of imagery across a range of modalities is needed: the shorter version of Bett's Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery (Sheehan, 1967 , J. Clin. Psychology, 23, 386) uses outdated items and has an unreliable factor structure. We report the development and initial validation of the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (Psi‐Q) comprising items for each of the following modalities: Vision, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch, Bodily Sensation, and Emotional Feeling. An exploratory factor analysis on a 35‐item form indicated that these modalities formed separate factors, rather than a single imagery factor, and this was replicated by confirmatory factor analysis. The Psi‐Q was validated against the Spontaneous Use of Imagery Scale (Reisberg et al., 2003 , Appl. Cogn. Psychology, 17, 147) and Marks' ( 1995 , J. Mental Imagery, 19, 153) Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire‐2 (VVIQ‐2). A short 21‐item form comprising the best three items from the seven factors correlated with the total score and subscales of the full form, and with the VVIQ‐2. Inspection of the data shows that while visual and sound imagery is most often rated as vivid, individuals who rate one modality as strong and the other as weak are not uncommon. Findings are interpreted within a working memory framework and point to the need for further research to identify the specific cognitive processes underlying the vividness of imagery across sensory modalities.     

Using an Imagery Intervention to Train Visual Exploratory Activity in Elite Academy Football Players

Football players adapt their movements to opportunities within the surrounding environment by engaging in visual exploratory activity (VEA) to pick up information. This study adds to the extant literature by using a 6-week PETTLEP imagery intervention to train VEA and improve performance with the ball. A single-case, multiple baseline across participants' design was conducted with 5 elite academy football players. Results indicated that a PETTLEP imagery intervention improved VEA, particularly in center midfielders. In addition, indications of improvements in performance with the ball were present within some participants. Future researchers could examine the processes underpinning VEA to enhance applied interventions for this skill.     

It's All in the Mind: PETTLEP-Based Imagery and Sports Performance

Two studies examined the effects of PETTLEP-based imagery compared to more traditional imagery interventions. PETTLEP imagery aims to produce a realistic and more functionally equivalent imagery experience than traditional imagery methods through factors such as wearing the correct clothing or imaging in the correct environment. In Study 1, 48 varsity hockey players were divided into four groups: “Sport-specific” imagery, “clothing” imagery, “traditional” imagery, and control. Imagery participants imaged 10 penalty flicks daily for six weeks, and controls spent an equivalent time reading hockey literature. In the post-test, the sport-specific group scored significantly higher than the clothing group, who scored significantly higher than the traditional imagery group. In Study 2, 40 junior gymnasts attempted a turning jump on the beam. They were split into four groups: A physical practice group, a PETTLEP imagery group, a stimulus only imagery group, and a control (stretching) group. Each group performed their task three times per week for six weeks. Both the physical practice and PETTLEP groups improved significantly from pre-test to post-test, with no significant difference between them, but the stimulus and control groups did not improve significantly. Taken together the results from Study 1 and 2 provide support for the efficacy of PETTLEP-based imagery over more traditional imagery interventions.     

Kinaesthetic imagery ability moderates the effect of an AO+MI intervention on golf putt performance: A pilot study

BackgroundPrevious research has established that motor imagery (MI) and action observation (AO) independently enhance the performance and learning of motor skills. Recent studies have demonstrated that combining AO and MI (AO + MI) elicits increased activity in motor regions of the brain and enhances performance more than either AO or MI alone. Kinesthetic imagery (KI) ability refers to the ease with which one can sense their own body and imagine how a movement feels during a task (Malouin et al., 2007). KI ability may be of particular importance when engaging with AO + MI as the provision of an external visual stimulus through AO renders the visual component of MI redundant.ObjectiveThe current study aims to add to the emerging body of behavioural evidence demonstrating the performance benefits of AO + MI by exploring the effect of an AO + MI intervention on golf putting performance, as well as exploring the role that KI ability represents in AO + MI effectiveness.MethodRight-handed male golfers (N = 44) of varying skill level performed twenty 15-foot putts before and after a 3.5 min AO + MI intervention (AO + MI group; mean handicap = 7.5, SD = 4.3) or a similarly timed passive reading task (Control group; mean handicap = 11.5, SD = 5.4). Using the MIQ-3 questionnaire, participants in both experimental groups were classified according to kinesthetic imagery ability where: a mean score ≥6 were classified as good imagers. Performance accuracy was measured using mean radial error (MRE), precision was quantified via bivariate error (BVE) and putter kinematics were recorded by SAM Puttlab.ResultsResults from a series of ANCOVAs indicate that good kinesthetic imagers who received the AO + MI intervention were significantly more precise (BVRE) on the putting task than good kinesthetic imagers in the Control group (p = 0.041, d = 0.678). Good kinesthetic imagers in the intervention group also significantly outperformed good kinesthetic imagers in the control group on a measure of speed control (SD of error scores along the axis of progression) in golf putting (p = 0.041).ConclusionsOur results suggest that the presence of AO with MI increases the relevance of kinesthetic cues, that good kinesthetic imagers are able to utilise for subsequent performance benefits during the putting task. We discuss the increased importance of kinesthetic awareness/feel following the intervention as an explanation for such improvements in performance.     

Personality differences in mental imagery and the effects on verbal memory

This study examined the effects of extraversion and neuroticism on participants’ reported vividness of visual imagery and on their memory performance for concrete and abstract nouns. Groups of extraverts (n = 15) and introverts (n = 15) were selected from a larger original sample and asked to remember a series of concrete and abstract nouns, including a set of lexically ambiguous concrete homonyms (e.g., earth = 1. planet, 2. soil). Extraverts reported more vivid imagery than introverts but this did not translate into better recall for extraverts, even for concrete stimuli. Recall was best for unambiguous concrete nouns, followed by concrete homonyms, then abstract nouns. While initial analyses suggested that there was an interaction between extraversion and the type of word presented, later analyses revealed that neuroticism was the main driver in differences in recall between different word types. While differences in recall were best explained by context availability theory (Schwanenflugel, 1991) rather than dual coding theory (Paivio, 1991), questions remain about the power of either theory to explain the role of individual differences in personality on recall, particularly given that imagery vividness effects were related to extraversion while differences in recall were related to neuroticism. The implications of these findings for future research and theoretical development are discussed.     

Effects of visualized PETTLEP imagery on the basketball 3-point shot: A comparison of internal and external perspectives

By adopting Holmes and Collins’(2001) PETTLEP imagery approach, we used participants’ individual videos of successful basketball shooting to examine the effects of internal and external imagery on basketball players’ 3-point shot. We sampled 49 intermediate level college basketball players (males = 26, Mage = 21; females = 23, Mage = 20) and assigned them into internal imagery (n = 15), external imagery (n = 14) and control groups (n = 20). Using a quasi-experimental design, experimental groups participated in an 8-week visualized PETTLEP imagery training plus physical training, but the control group only participated in physical training. The two-way ANOVA mixed design statistical analyses found the two visualized PETTLEP groups not only performed better than pretest, but also performed better than the control group after training. However, there was no difference between internal imagery and external imagery on basketball 3-point shot performance. We concluded that the characteristics of the motor task and participants’ skill level may influence the efficacy of the imagery perspective on performance. Theoretical implications, limitations, future research directions, and applications are discussed.     

Fantasy proneness, mental imagery and reality monitoring

Individual differences in fantasy proneness and vividness of mental imagery have been suggested to be related to source memory confusions. To test this hypothesis, two groups scoring either high or low on a measure of fantasy proneness (selected from a group of 231 subjects) were compared on measures of self report vividness of mental imagery, objective imagery ability and reality monitoring performance. The two groups differed significantly on ratings of imagery vividness (p<0.01), but not on the imagery performance tasks, nor on reality monitoring performance. Our results indicate that, although fantasy proneness is associated with experiences of vivid mental imagery, it does not necessarily lead to reality monitoring errors.     

Category-specific naming and modality-specific imagery

Some attempts to explain category-specific disorders have stressed how different modality knowledge bases (i.e., visual knowledge vs motoric/functional knowledge) may underlie the distinction between living and nonliving things. This study examined 60 normal subjects for the relationship between picture naming in four subcategories (animals, fruit/vegetables, praxic and nonpraxic objects) and imagery vividness in seven modalities. Participants made more nonliving than living errors; and females made more nonliving errors than males. There was a significant correlation between naming of animals and fruits/vegetables and visual imagery vividness; however, this association was also significant for praxic and nonpraxic object naming. There was no evidence of associations between kinesthetic imagery and praxic object naming or gustatory/olfactory imagery and fruit/vegetable naming. These findings accord with the notion of a general association between visual imagery and picture naming, but provide no support for more specific links between modality-specific imagery vividness and naming in different categories.     

Positive mental imagery and mental health amongst university students in Pakistan

Mental health problems amongst university students pose a major public health challenge, and this is particularly the case in Pakistan. Alongside broader societal and cultural pressures, cognitive factors likely also play a role in the development of and resilience to mental health problems and may provide a feasible target for interventions. The current study built on previous research in primarily European samples investigating the relationship between one cognitive factor, positive future-oriented mental imagery, and mental health, extending this to a sample of university students in Pakistan (N = 1838). In a cross-sectional design, higher vividness of positive future-oriented mental imagery was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms and higher levels of positive mental health amongst participants completing questionnaire measures on paper (N = 1430) or online (N = 408). In the sample completing the measures on paper, these relationships remained statistically significant even when controlling for socio-demographic and mental health-related variables. The results provide a foundation for further investigating positive mental imagery as a potential mechanism of mental health and intervention target amongst university students in Pakistan.     

A Quantitative Analysis of Athletes’ Voluntary Use of Slow Motion,Real Time,and Fast Motion Images

The current study examined athletes’ reported intentional use of slow-motion, real-time, and fast-motion images. Athletes (N = 604; 298 males and 306 females; M_age = 21.73 years, SD = 4.54) completed the Image Speed Questionnaire, an instrument created to assess the frequency with which athletes reported employing the three image speeds. Despite the applied sport psychology guideline of imaging only at real time speed, athletes reported employing all three image speeds to varying degrees depending on the function of imagery being employed and the stage of learning of the athlete. Gender and competitive level were found not to influence athletes’ reported voluntary image speed use. Athletes reported employing slow-motion images most often when learning or developing a skill or strategy. Real-time images were consistently used most often by athletes regardless of imagery function or stage of learning, and fast-motion images were used most often when imaging skills or strategies that had been mastered. Findings are discussed within the context of the stages of learning (Fitts & Posner, 1967 Fitts, P. M. and Posner, M. I. 1967. Human performance, Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.  [Google Scholar]) and the PETTLEP (Physical; Environmental; Task; Timing; Learning; Emotional, and Perspective) approach to motor imagery (Holmes & Collins, 2001 Holmes, P. S. and Collins, D. J. 2001. The PETTLEP approach to motor imagery: A functional equivalence model for sport psychologists. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 13: 60–83. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Implications for imagery practitioners and future directions for image speed research are also offered.     

Individual differences in visual imaging and the voluntary control of heart rate.

The role of visual imagery in the bidirectional control of heart rate (HR) was explored in 24 subjects. While voluntary HR increases were reliably demonstrated with and without HR feedback, appropriate HR decreases were modest and inconsistent. Changes in respiration rate (RR) generally paralleled the alterations in HR. Eighteen of the subjects reported conventionally using visual imagery to effect HR changes. For these subjects, vividness of visual imagery scores and the extent of HR change showed indications of a direct relationship in the HR increase condition. However, in the HR decrease condition, it was concomitant RR changes which were associated with the vividness and the control of imagery production. The remaining six subjects, who reported not employing visual imagery, demonstrated superior HR acceleration to the imaging subjects. Further, while the imaging subjects did not benefit from the introduction of feedback, the six non-imaging subjects showed reliably greater HR acceleration as a result of feedback introduction.     

初级视觉皮层在表象表征方式研究中的作用

表象的信息表征方式一直是心理学研究的热点问题,脑成像技术在该问题的研究中发挥了巨大作用。本文以初级视觉皮层(V1)在表象表征方式研究中的作用为主线,系统梳理了基于脑成像技术开展的表象实质争论的核心问题,归纳分析了相关争论问题演绎发展的内在逻辑脉络,在此基础上指出了表象研究中需要进一步解决的关键问题,以期能够促进相关研究问题的进一步开展。     

The Influence of Motor Imagery on Postural Sway: Differential Effects of Type of Body Movement and Person Perspective

The present study examined the differential effects of kinesthetic imagery (first person perspective) and visual imagery (third person perspective) on postural sway during quiet standing. Based on an embodied cognition perspective, the authors predicted that kinesthetic imagery would lead to activations in movement-relevant motor systems to a greater degree than visual imagery. This prediction was tested among 30 participants who imagined various motor activities from different visual perspectives while standing on a strain gauge plate. The results showed that kinesthetic imagery of lower body movements, but not of upper body movements, had clear effects on postural parameters (sway path length and frequency contents of sway). Visual imagery, in contrast, had no reliable effects on postural activity. We also found that postural effects were not affected by the vividness of imagery. The results suggest that during kinesthetic motor imagery participants partially simulated (re-activated) the imagined movements, leading to unintentional postural adjustments. These findings are consistent with an embodied cognition perspective on motor imagery.     

Visual mental image generation does not overlap with visual short-term memory: A dual-task interference study

Visual mental imagery and working memory are often assumed to play similar roles in high-order functions, but little is known of their functional relationship. In this study, we investigated whether similar cognitive processes are involved in the generation of visual mental images, in short-term retention of those mental images, and in short-term retention of visual information. Participants encoded and recalled visually or aurally presented sequences of letters under two interference conditions: spatial tapping or irrelevant visual input (IVI). In Experiment 1, spatial tapping selectively interfered with the retention of sequences of letters when participants generated visual mental images from aural presentation of the letter names and when the letters were presented visually. In Experiment 2, encoding of the sequences was disrupted by both interference tasks. However, in Experiment 3, IVI interfered with the generation of the mental images, but not with their retention, whereas spatial tapping was more disruptive during retention than during encoding. Results suggest that the temporary retention of visual mental images and of visual information may be supported by the same visual short-term memory store but that this store is not involved in image generation.     

执行控制资源损耗对自传体记忆生动性和情绪的影响

旨在探究健康个体执行控制资源损耗对自传体记忆生动性及情绪的影响。实验一采用Stroop任务探讨了一般执行控制资源损耗的影响,结果发现损耗组自传体记忆生动性和情绪强度显著低于控制组。实验二进一步探讨不同的执行控制资源损耗的影响,结果显示中央执行的资源损耗对生动性和情绪强度影响最大,而视空间模板与语音环之间没有显著差异。实验结果支持了自传体记忆的执行控制资源受损理论和资源有限理论,并对临床治疗具有实际应用价值。