Smaller Primary Visual Cortex Is Associated with Stronger, but Less Precise Mental Imagery
Abstract
Despite mental imagery's ubiquitous role in human perception, cognition and behavior, one standout question remains unanswered: Why does imagery vary so much from one individual to the next? Here, we used a behavioral paradigm that measures the functional impact of a mental image on subsequent conscious perception and related these measures to the anatomy of the early visual cortex estimated by fMRI retinotopic mapping. We observed a negative relationship between primary visual cortex (V1) surface area and sensory imagery strength, but found positive relationships between V1 and imagery precision (spatial location and orientation). Hence, individuals with a smaller V1 tended to have stronger, but less precise imagery. In addition, subjective vividness of imagery was positively related to prefrontal cortex volume, but unrelated to V1 anatomy. Our findings present the first evidence for the importance of the V1 layout in shaping the strength of human imagination.
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An inverse relationship between the area of primary visual cortex and imagery strength estimated using the binocular rivalry technique has been reported.
“an inverse relationship between the area of primary visual cortex and imagery strength estimated using the binocular rivalry technique has been reported [92”
From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [92]
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- Authors
- Bergmann, J., Genç, E., Kohler, A., Singer, W., & Pearson, J.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (DE)
- Osnabrück University (DE)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Bergmann, Johanna
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-08-18
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 3838-3850
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- OpenAlex
- W1733003206
- Cited by
- 177
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 6.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian NHMRC (APP1024800, APP1046198, DP140101560)
- Career Development Fellowship (APP1049596)
- International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and a Brain Sciences
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Keywords
- mental imagery, primary visual cortex, retinotopic mapping, individual differences, imagery vividness, conscious perception
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Cognition, Female, Humans, Imagination, Male, Nerve Net, Task Performance and Analysis, Visual Cortex, Visual Perception, Young Adult
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