The critical role of mental imagery in human emotion: insights from fear-based imagery and aphantasia
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One proposed function of imagery is to make thoughts more emotionally evocative through sensory simulation, which can be helpful both in planning for future events and in remembering the past, but also a hindrance when thoughts become overwhelming and maladaptive, such as in anxiety disorders. Here, we report a novel test of this theory using a special population with no visual imagery: aphantasia. After using multi-method verification of aphantasia, we show that this condition, but not the general population, is associated with a flat-line physiological response (skin conductance levels) to reading and imagining frightening stories. Importantly, we show in a second experiment that this difference in physiological responses to fear-inducing stimuli is not found when perceptually viewing fearful images. These data demonstrate that the aphantasic individuals' lack of a physiological response when imaging scenarios is likely to be driven by their inability to visualize and is not due to a general emotional or physiological dampening. This work provides evidence that a lack of visual imagery results in a dampened emotional response when reading fearful scenarios, providing evidence for the emotional amplification theory of visual imagery.
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Three sets of objective correlates with subjective reports of aphantasia have emerged in recent work.
“Three sets of objective correlates with subjective reports of aphantasia have emerged in recent work”
From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [42]
The Methods section describes an objective binocular-rivalry measure used to verify self-reported aphantasia. The General discussion identifies reduced physiological responses to fearful imagery as a potential new objective measure. Our copy does not identify a third set of objective correlates, so it does not support the claimed count of three. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPeople with aphantasia do not show a hike in galvanic skin response when listening to extremely scary stories.
“whereas normal participants listening to (extremely) scary stories show a hike in their galvanic skin response (GSR) (they sweat!), people with aphantasia do not”
From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [42]
The Introduction says participants read frightening stories; they did not listen to them. The Results report a significant skin-conductance increase in controls but no statistically significant increase in the aphantasic group. Thus the response pattern is supported, but the claim changes how the stories were presented. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPeople with aphantasia show a normal galvanic skin response to aversive pictures.
“By contrast, people with aphantasia show a normal GSR in response to aversive pictures, demonstrating that they generally do not lack this capacity.”
From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [42]
People with aphantasia show a lack of a somatic response to frightening stories.
“The lack of a somatic response to frightening stories in people with aphantasia [42”
From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [42]
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- Authors
- Wicken, M., Keogh, R., & Pearson, J.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Keogh, Rebecca
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2021-03-10
- Volume
- 288
- Issue
- 1946
- Pages
- 20210267
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC7944105
- OpenAlex
- W3135251459
- Cited by
- 182
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 15.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1024800, APP1046198, APP1049596, APP1085404)
- Australian Research Council (DP140101560)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- mental imagery, aphantasia, fear, sensory simulation, skin conductance, anxiety, visual imagery, emotional responses
- MeSH terms
- Emotions, Fear, Humans, Imagination, Problem Solving, Imagery, Psychotherapy
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