The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“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]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity observed with functional magnetic resonance imaging
Fox, M. D., & Raichle, M. E. (2007) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2201 · Cited by 6,700
Information-based functional brain mapping
Kriegeskorte, N., Goebel, R., & Bandettini, P. (2006) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0600244103 · Cited by 2,113
Kosslyn, S. M., Ganis, G., & Thompson, W. L. (2001) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/35090055 · Cited by 1,894
VISUAL IMAGERY DIFFERENCES IN THE RECALL OF PICTURES
MARKS, D. F. (1973) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1973.tb01322.x · Cited by 1,778
Decoding reveals the contents of visual working memory in early visual areas
Harrison, S. A., & Tong, F. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07832 · Cited by 1,347
Guclu, U., & van Gerven, M. A. J. (2015) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5023-14.2015 · Cited by 961
Frontal midline EEG dynamics during working memory
Onton, J., Arnaud Delorme, A., & Makeig, S. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.04.014 · Cited by 846
Less Is More: Expectation Sharpens Representations in the Primary Visual Cortex
Kok, P., Jehee, J. F. M., & de Lange, F. P. (2012) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2012.04.034 · Cited by 798
Brain areas underlying visual mental imagery and visual perception: an fMRI study
Ganis, G., Thompson, W. L., & Kosslyn, S. M. (2004) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.02.012 · Cited by 765
Romei, V., Brodbeck, V., Michel, C. M., Amedi, A., Pascual‐Leone, Á., & Thut, G. (2007) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm229 · Cited by 717
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery
Pearson, J. (2019) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0202-9 · Cited by 820
Shared Neural Mechanisms of Visual Perception and Imagery
Dijkstra, N., Bosch, S., & van Gerven, M. A. J. (2019) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2019.02.004 · Cited by 445
Self-citationDistinct Top-down and Bottom-up Brain Connectivity During Visual Perception and Imagery
Dijkstra, N., Zeidman, P., Ondobaka, S., van Gerven, M. A. J., & Friston, K. J. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05888-8 · Cited by 254
Self-citationEffects of Language on Visual Perception
Lupyan, G., Rahman, R. A., Boroditsky, L., & Clark, A. (2020) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.08.005 · Cited by 282
The neural correlates of visual imagery vividness – An fMRI study and literature review
Fulford, J., Milton, F., Salas, D., Smith, A., Simler, A., Winlove, C., & Zeman, A. (2018) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.09.014 · Cited by 211
Metadata
- 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 › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › 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
About these checks
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.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
