Vividness of Visual Imagery Depends on the Neural Overlap with Perception in Visual Areas
Open accessAbstract
Research into the neural correlates of individual differences in imagery vividness point to an important role of the early visual cortex. However, there is also great fluctuation of vividness within individuals, such that only looking at differences between people necessarily obscures the picture. In this study, we show that variation in moment-to-moment experienced vividness of visual imagery, within human subjects, depends on the activity of a large network of brain areas, including frontal, parietal, and visual areas. Furthermore, using a novel multivariate analysis technique, we show that the neural overlap between imagery and perception in the entire visual system correlates with experienced imagery vividness. This shows that the neural basis of imagery vividness is much more complicated than studies of individual differences seemed to suggest. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Visual imagery is the ability to visualize objects that are not in our direct line of sight: something that is important for memory, spatial reasoning, and many other tasks. It is known that the better people are at visual imagery, the better they can perform these tasks. However, the neural correlates of moment-to-moment variation in visual imagery remain unclear. In this study, we show that the more the neural response during imagery is similar to the neural response during perception, the more vivid or perception-like the imagery experience is.
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The degree of resemblance between brain activation during imagery and perception probably contributes to the experienced vividness.
“The degree of resemblance between brain activation during imagery and perception probably contributes to the experienced vividness”
From Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes (2024) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Dijkstra, N., Bosch, S. E., & van Gerven, M. A. J.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2017-01-10
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1367-1373
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6596858
- OpenAlex
- W2570802757
- Cited by
- 315
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 74 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8
- FWCI
- 11.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (639.072.513)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Keywords
- visual imagery, imagery vividness, within-person variability, early visual cortex, frontal cortex, parietal cortex, multivariate analysis, individual differences
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Imagination, Individuality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Nerve Net, Parietal Lobe, Visual Cortex, Visual Perception, Young Adult
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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