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High‐Level Simulational Mindreading

Alvin I. Goldman

in Simulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading

Simulation is first examined in the domains of visual and motor imagery, where brain imaging confirms that many of the same regions are activated in both visual imagery and vision, and in motor ... More

Simulation is first examined in the domains of visual and motor imagery, where brain imaging confirms that many of the same regions are activated in both visual imagery and vision, and in motor imagery and motor execution. An analogous use of simulation characteristically occurs in high-level mindreading. Since an important stage of simulation for mindreading requires reflection on one’s own current states, it is confirming evidence that neuroimaging studies find loci of activation in mindreading tasks that are also found in self-reflective thought. A distinctive feature of simulation is that it invites the risk that one’s own genuine states will contaminate the process; so it is further confirming evidence that mindreading studies consistently find pronounced egocentric errors. High-level mindreading involves assignment of contentful states, and content assignment follows the procedure predicted by simulation theory, viz., default use of one’s own concepts and combinatorial operations in assigning contents to others.Less

Mental Imagery and the Visual System

Michael McCloskey

in Visual Reflections: A Perceptual Deficit and Its Implications

This chapter offers a contribution to the body of evidence bearing on the role of the visual system in visual imagery. It reports AH's performance on two imagery tasks, both of which had the same ... More

This chapter offers a contribution to the body of evidence bearing on the role of the visual system in visual imagery. It reports AH's performance on two imagery tasks, both of which had the same rationale: If visual imagery requires the level(s) of the visual system at which AH's perceptual errors arise, then her visual images, like her perceptions, should misrepresent locations and orientations. Furthermore, the misrepresentations in imagery should take the same form as AH's errors in perception: left-right and up-down reflections. The chapter studies these hypotheses.Less

Visual Mental Images in the Brain: Overview of a Theory

Stephen M. Kosslyn, William L. Thompson, and Giorgio Ganis

in The Case for Mental Imagery

This chapter outlines a neurologically plausible theory of visual mental imagery that posits depictive representations. The goal is not to review the theory in detail, but rather to provide enough ... More

This chapter outlines a neurologically plausible theory of visual mental imagery that posits depictive representations. The goal is not to review the theory in detail, but rather to provide enough information to show that depictive representations can in fact function effectively within a plausible information-processing system. It also demonstrates that neuroscientific data are in fact relevant to settling the question as to whether depictive representations are used in imagery.Less

Depictive Representations in the Brain

Stephen M. Kosslyn, William L. Thompson, and Giorgio Ganis

in The Case for Mental Imagery

This chapter begins by summarizing the arguments against the idea that topographically organized areas are used in visual mental imagery and the arguments that even if they are used, they play no ... More

This chapter begins by summarizing the arguments against the idea that topographically organized areas are used in visual mental imagery and the arguments that even if they are used, they play no essential role. It then addresses each argument in turn, considering counterarguments and evidence to the contrary. It discusses a meta-analysis of studies of visual mental imagery. This meta-analysis untangles what might at first appear to be inconsistencies in the literature, and provides strong support for the claim that topographically organized areas support depictive representations during visual mental imagery.Less

Imagery: Capacities and Mechanisms

Gregory Currie

in Recreative Minds

This chapter focuses on mental imagery. It discusses the ways that imagery in various modes — particularly visual and motor imagery — are systematically related to their perceptual counterparts. It ... More

This chapter focuses on mental imagery. It discusses the ways that imagery in various modes — particularly visual and motor imagery — are systematically related to their perceptual counterparts. It argues that motor imagery is a form of perceptual imagery.Less

Multimodal images in the brain

Stephen M. Kosslyn, Giorgio Ganis, and William L. Thompson

in The neurophysiological foundations of mental and motor imagery

This chapter provides a review of the main results of neuroimaging experiments that have examined the neural underpinning of mental imagery and ... More

This chapter provides a review of the main results of neuroimaging experiments that have examined the neural underpinning of mental imagery and its comparison with visual perception. It explores how visual, auditory, and motor imagery work. It focuses on a new research area, the use of imagery in stimulating the social world.Less

The Image and Memory in Reading Prose Poetry

Paul Hetherington and Cassandra Atherton

in Prose Poetry: An Introduction

This chapter describes the use of visual imagery in prose poetry. It examines how such imagery relates to evocations of memory, and the continuing connection of some of prose poetry's effects to ... More

This chapter describes the use of visual imagery in prose poetry. It examines how such imagery relates to evocations of memory, and the continuing connection of some of prose poetry's effects to those generated by photographs and ekphrastic responses to a range of art forms. Importantly, the connection between prose poetry and photography is also historical. The combination of nostalgia, modernity, and fragmentation found in Charles Baudelaire's prose poems is not unlike the qualities evident in many photographs from the period. Ever since Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, many prose poems have been dependent on striking visual imagery, enabling readers to “see” what they are invoking — and this remains true into the twenty-first century. Indeed, some contemporary prose poets connect photography and prose poetry in descriptions of their creative practice, or in references to photographs in their works.Less

Conceptualizing Simulation Theory

Alvin I. Goldman

in Simulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading

This chapter clarifies the notion of simulation and explores the relationship between simulating and theorizing. Generic simulation is the resemblance or imitation of one thing by another, so mental ... More

This chapter clarifies the notion of simulation and explores the relationship between simulating and theorizing. Generic simulation is the resemblance or imitation of one thing by another, so mental simulation is the resemblance or imitation of one mental process by another. For example, visual imagery may simulate vision by using much of the same neural machinery that vision uses. The main empirical question here is whether third-person mindreading is substantially based on attempts to simulate selected processes and states in the head of a target. The possibility of limited compatibility between simulation and theorizing undercuts arguments that mental simulation inevitably “collapses” into theorizing, and the prospects for simulation-theory hybrids are explored.Less

Imaginative Contagion

Tamar Szabó Gendler

in Intuition, Imagination, and Philosophical Methodology

This chapter presents and discusses a number of cases of imaginative contagion: cases where merely imagining or pretending P has effects that we would expect only believing or perceiving P to have. ... More

This chapter presents and discusses a number of cases of imaginative contagion: cases where merely imagining or pretending P has effects that we would expect only believing or perceiving P to have. The examples range from cases involving visual imagination—where merely imagining a figure of a certain size and shape may produce a corresponding afterimage—to cases involving the activation of social categories—where merely imagining being in the presence of others may instigate corresponding behavioral tendencies. Other cases discussed involve motor imagery and automaticity. The chapter suggests that imaginative contagion arises because certain features of our mental architecture are source‐indifferent, in the sense that they process internally and externally generated content in similar ways—even when the content in question is explicitly “marked” as reality‐insensitive.Less

Dreaming as Quasi-Perceptual Experience: The Traditional View

Jennifer M. Windt

in Dreaming: A Conceptual Framework for Philosophy of Mind and Empirical Research

Now that a solution to the problem of dream reporting is in place, the subsequent chapters works towards a positive characterization of dream experience. Chapter 5 investigates the widespread and ... More

Now that a solution to the problem of dream reporting is in place, the subsequent chapters works towards a positive characterization of dream experience. Chapter 5 investigates the widespread and currently popular view that dreams are quasi-perceptual experiences and can be modeled on waking perception and hallucination. The chapter reconstructs different versions of this view from the historical and contemporary philosophical literature, the strongest of which claims that dreaming literally replicates the phenomenology of standard wake states in all of its detail. These different versions of the quasi-perceptual view are then investigated in light of the empirical evidence, for instance on the comparison between dreaming and waking perception, the putative neural correlates of dream imagery, evidence from the study of visual hallucinations, and external stimulus incorporation in dreams. An important result is that the attempt to model the phenomenology of dreaming on that of waking perception is oversimplified: the quasi-perceptual view, while pretheoretically attractive, runs the risk of hindering rather than facilitating an answer to the conceptualization problem. A substantive theory about the nature of dream experience of the type implicit in the quasi-perceptual view should form the endpoint, not the starting point, of an analysis of dreaming.Less

. An Entire Cosmology

Anne Marie Oliver and Paul F. Steinberg

in The Road to Martyrs' Square: A Journey into the World of the Suicide Bomber

This chapter describes a display suggesting an entire cosmology, composed of 20 to 30 hand-colored mimeographs that have been taped together end on end. Two men in the central panel of the display ... More

This chapter describes a display suggesting an entire cosmology, composed of 20 to 30 hand-colored mimeographs that have been taped together end on end. Two men in the central panel of the display are shown crouching atop a blue Star of David, the major symbol of the state of Israel, loading their pistols, while in the row of panels above them, the theme of promised vanquishment is repeated again in the form of more armed men standing victoriously atop the star, which is cracked and bleeding. Visual imagery such as this abounded in all the media of the intifada — images of spitting, shaking, shuddering, riding, cutting, writhing, stabbing, and bleeding.Less

The Divergent Evolution of Coinage in Eastern and Western Eurasia

Walter Scheidel

in The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans

Coinage was independently created on no more than two occasions in history — in the Graeco-Lydian Aegean perhaps as early as the late 7th century BC, and in the Great Plain of China around two ... More

Coinage was independently created on no more than two occasions in history — in the Graeco-Lydian Aegean perhaps as early as the late 7th century BC, and in the Great Plain of China around two centuries later — and has consequently followed two distinct trajectories. A so-called ‘Aegean’ type of coinage was characterized by solid, round (albeit occasionally rectangular or oblong) objects endowed with varied visual imagery and manufactured from a number of different metals, most notably — in terms of aggregate value — gold and silver. Chinese coins, on the other hand, were cast rather than struck, equipped with a (usually square) hole in the centre, lacked visual imagery beyond a few letters, and were not normally minted from precious metals: they consisted primarily of bronze (and sometimes iron), whereas gold and silver money circulated in the forms of ingots. This chapter presents a brief survey of divergent monetary development at the opposing ends of the Eurasian land mass, followed by some preliminary observations on the probable causes of this process that focus on the historically specific circumstances of the creation of these two types of currency.Less

Inner Eye and Inner Space

Markus Knauff

in Space to Reason: A Spatial Theory of Human Thought

This chapter provides a brief historical introduction to the fields of rationality and logical reasoning and imagination, along with a discussion of experimental findings on the types of mental ... More

This chapter provides a brief historical introduction to the fields of rationality and logical reasoning and imagination, along with a discussion of experimental findings on the types of mental representations that are likely to be used in reasoning. It emphasizes that belief in the role of visual imagery in human thought has been shaped by the introspective reports of scientists since the beginning of the humanities and science. The chapter presents the experimental and scientific evidences from different fields of the cognitive sciences establishing and supporting the terminological differences between visual images and spatial representations in human thought. It also focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of visual imagery in human cognition and explains the difference between the concept of the “inner eye” and “inner space” in human reasoning.Less

Dreaming as Imaginative Experience: The Rival View

Jennifer M. Windt

in Dreaming: A Conceptual Framework for Philosophy of Mind and Empirical Research

The chapter analyzes the closest rival to the quasi-perceptual view, namely the view that dreams are imaginative experiences, and again distinguishes different variants. Of particular interest is the ... More

The chapter analyzes the closest rival to the quasi-perceptual view, namely the view that dreams are imaginative experiences, and again distinguishes different variants. Of particular interest is the claim that the phenomenology of dreaming is comparable to that of waking imagination and daydreams, which is often related to attempts to draw a sharp distinction between imagining and perceiving more generally. From this discussion, it becomes clear that dreaming is an important test case for theories of perception, hallucination, and imagination. In the second half of the chapter, I relate the philosophical debate on dreaming and imagination to attempts, in the psychological literature, to describe dreaming as a quasi-linguistic form of thinking, but also to emphasize the continuity of dream content with waking experiences and waking concerns. I argue that the attempt to model the phenomenology of dreaming on that of imaginative wake states fails for similar reasons as the quasi-perceptual view. Still, the imagination view is instructive because it focuses on the ordered nature of dreaming and its narrative structure. The chapter closes by tentatively suggesting that the comparison between dreaming and waking mind wandering might help resolve the philosophical debate between the quasi-perceptual and the imagination view.Less

A Computational Theory of the Mental Imagery Medium

Steven Pinker

in Language, Cognition, and Human Nature

Does it make sense to think of a mental image as a picture in the head? And if it does, how are three-dimensional objects and scenes represented in mental “pictures”? This chapter suggests that these ... More

Does it make sense to think of a mental image as a picture in the head? And if it does, how are three-dimensional objects and scenes represented in mental “pictures”? This chapter suggests that these questions can be answered using the theoretical principles of computational cognitive science, analyzing the imagery system in terms of the data structures and processes that manipulate information during imaginal thinking. In particular, it outlines a theory in which images are patterns of activation in a 3D array of cells, accessed via two overlaid coordinate systems: a fixed viewer-centered spherical coordinate system, and a movable object-centered or world-centered coordinate system. By inserting information into the array using one system, and accessing it using the other, a variety of 3D spatial information processes, such as generating, inspecting, and transforming images, recognizing shapes, and at tending to locations, can be handled within a single framework.Less

Reasoning and Imageability

Markus Knauff

in Space to Reason: A Spatial Theory of Human Thought

This chapter, which begins with a discussion of the findings of previous studies on the role of visualization in logical reasoning, shows that clear conclusions cannot be drawn from these findings as ... More

This chapter, which begins with a discussion of the findings of previous studies on the role of visualization in logical reasoning, shows that clear conclusions cannot be drawn from these findings as there is a confounding of materials citing visual imagery and materials citing spatial representations. It equates various experiments to compare the hypothesis with the orthodox view that visual imagery improves reasoning, and emphasizes that the process of reasoning can be hindered by visual images which are evoked by visual features that are irrelevant to the inference. The visual impedance hypothesis formulated in the chapter asserts that visual images are not important for reasoning, and it is suggested that the use of spatial layout models in reasoning is beneficial.Less

Seeing in the Mind’s Eye: Visual Imagery

Patrik N. Juslin

in Musical Emotions Explained: Unlocking the Secrets of Musical Affect

This chapter considers the psychological mechanism known as visual imagery. Visual imagery is defined as a process whereby an emotion is evoked in the listener because he or she conjures up inner ... More

This chapter considers the psychological mechanism known as visual imagery. Visual imagery is defined as a process whereby an emotion is evoked in the listener because he or she conjures up inner images while listening to the music. Images might come about in three ways. First, mental imagery may occur when listeners conceptualize the musical structure through a nonverbal mapping between the metaphorical ‘affordances’ of the music and image-schemata grounded in bodily experience. A second type of imagery might occur when a listener brings to a listening experience certain types of knowledge or myths about the circumstances surrounding the creation of the piece or about the artist in question. Thirdly, a music listener can create images based on how certain aspects of the music mirror aspects of the listener's current life experience.Less

The Scientific Image-ination

in Image and Reality: Kekule, Kopp, and the Scientific Imagination

The philosopher of mind Colin McGinn has argued for the importance of what is known as the image-ination, or the ability to form and manipulate mental images having no direct correlation with visual ... More

The philosopher of mind Colin McGinn has argued for the importance of what is known as the image-ination, or the ability to form and manipulate mental images having no direct correlation with visual perception itself. He concludes that images and percepts are two coequal species of visual apprehension, and also suggests that the creative imagination (an image-generating mental power) is even constitutive for understanding and generating language. The subject of visual thinking in physics has been examined in detail by Arthur I. Miller, whose work on imagery and the visual imagination deals with the work of twentieth-century physicists, but also has implications for research on chemistry in the nineteenth century. Miller's evidence for the importance of visual mental imagery in scientific thought was largely taken from a close study of Albert Einstein, who acknowledged many times that his thinking took place mainly in the form of visual imagery.Less

Memory, Imagination, and Thought

Alex Byrne

in Transparency and Self-Knowledge

This chapter further extends the transparency approach to memory, imagination, and thought. The kind of memory that is chiefly treated is episodic memory which, it turns out, is closely connected to ... More

This chapter further extends the transparency approach to memory, imagination, and thought. The kind of memory that is chiefly treated is episodic memory which, it turns out, is closely connected to the other two topics. Imagery is the key to a transparent epistemology of memory, and also to imagination and thought. That completes the defense of this book’s theory of self-knowledge. The theory needs controversial claims, most notably the idea that knowledge can be obtained by reasoning from inadequate evidence, or from no evidence at all, and that perception and imagery constitutively involve belief. Those controversial claims were backed by independent argument, but are hardly beyond dispute. The ambition has simply been to establish the transparency account as a leading hypothesis, deserving of further examination.Less