Abstract
Object imagery refers to the ability to construct pictorial images of objects. Individuals with high object imagery (high-OI) produce more vivid mental images than individuals with low object imagery (low-OI), and they encode and process both mental images and visual stimuli in a more global and holistic way. In the present study, we investigated whether and how level of object imagery may affect the way in which individuals identify visual objects. High-OI and low-OI participants were asked to perform a visual identification task with spatially-filtered pictures of real objects. Each picture was presented at nine levels of filtering, starting from the most blurred (level 1: only low spatial frequencies—global configuration) and gradually adding high spatial frequencies up to the complete version (level 9: global configuration plus local and internal details). Our data showed that high-OI participants identified stimuli at a lower level of filtering than participants with low-OI, indicating that they were better able than low-OI participants to identify visual objects at lower spatial frequencies. Implications of the results and future developments are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Bar M (2003) A cortical mechanism for triggering top-down facilitation in visual object recognition. J Cogn Neurosci 154:600–609
Blajenkova O, Kozhevnikov M, Motes M (2006) Object-spatial imagery: a new self-report imagery questionnaire. Appl Cogn Psychol 20:239–265
Braje WL, Tjan BS, Legge GE (1995) Human efficiency for recognizing and detecting low-pass filtered objects. Vision Res 3521:2955–2966
Collin CA (2006) Spatial-frequency thresholds for object categorisation at basic and subordinate levels. Perception 35:41–52
Collin CA, McMullen PA (2005) Subordinate-level categorization relies on high spatial frequencies to a greater degree than basic-level categorization. Percept Psychophys 67:354–364
De Beni R, Pazzaglia F, Gardini S (2007) The generation and maintenance of visual mental images: evidence from image type and aging. Brain Cogn 63:271–278
De Valois RL, De Valois KK (1980) Spatial vision. Oxford University Press, New York
Dror IE, Kosslyn SM (1994) Mental imagery and aging. Psychol Aging 9:90–102
Ekstrom RB, French JW, Harman HH (1976) Manual for kit of factor referenced cognitive tests. Educational Testing Service, Princeton
Farah MJ, Hammond KM, Levine DN, Calvanio R (1988) Visual and spatial mental imagery: dissociable systems of representation. Cognit Psychol 20:439–462
Feenan K, Snodgrass JG (1990) The effect of context on discrimination and bias in recognition memory for pictures and words. Mem Cognit 18:515–527
Gold J, Bennett PJ, Sekuler AB (1999) Identification of band-pass filtered letters and faces by human and ideal observers. Vision Res 3921:3537–3560
Grossman M, Galetta S, D’Esposito M (1997) Object recognition difficulty in visual apperceptive agnosia. Brain Cogn 33:306–342
Hayes A, Morrone MC, Burr DC (1986) Recognition of positive and negative band-pass filtered images. Perception 15:595–602
Hughes HC, Nozawa G, Kitterle F (1996) Global precedence, spatial frequency channels, and the statistics of natural images. J Cogn Neurosci 8:197–230
Humphrey GK, Goodale MA, Jakobson LS, Servos P (1994) The role of surface information in object recognition: studies of visual form agnosic and normal subjects. Perception 23:1457–1481
Kosslyn SM (1994) Image and brain: the resolution of the imagery debate. MIT Press, Cambridge
Kosslyn SM, Thompson WL (2003) When is early visual cortex activated during visual mental imagery? Psychol Bull 129:723–746
Kosslyn SM, Ganis G, Thompson WL (2001) Neural foundations of imagery. Nat Rev Neurosci 2:635–642
Kozhevnikov M, Hegarty M, Mayer RE (2002) Revising the visualizer/verbalizer dimension: evidence for two types of visualizers. Cogn Instr 20:47–77
Kozhevnikov M, Kosslyn SM, Shepard J (2005) Spatial versus object visualizers: a new characterization of visual cognitive style. Mem Cognit 33:710–726
Levine DN, Warach J, Farah MJ (1985) Two visual systems in mental imagery: dissociation of “what” and “where” in imagery disorders due to bilateral posterior cerebral lesions. Neurology 35:1010–1018
Logie R (1995) Visuo-spatial working memory. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., Howe
Marks DF (1973) The vividness of visual imagery questionnaire. Br J Psychol 64:17–24
Marr D (1982) Vision: a computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. WH Freeman, San Francisco
Mazard A, Tzourio-Mazoyer N, Crivello F, Mazoyer B, Mellet E (2004) A PET meta-analysis of object and spatial mental imagery. Eur J Cogn Psychol 16:673–695
Olds ES, Engel SA (1998) Linearity across spatial frequency in object recognition. Vision Res 3814:2109–2118
Oliva A, Schyns PG (1997) Coarse blobs or fine edges? Evidence that information diagnosticity changes the perception of complex visual stimuli. Cognit Psychol 34:72–107
Palladino P, De Beni R (2003) When mental images are very detailed: image generation and memory performance as a function of age. Acta Psychol 113:297–314
Parker DM, Lishman R, Hughes J (1996) Role of coarse and fine spatial information in face and object processing. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 22:1448–1466
Schyns PG, Oliva A (1999) Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile: when categorization flexibly modifies the perception of faces in rapid visual presentations. Cognition 69:243–265
Snodgrass JG, Corwin J (1988) Perceptual identification thresholds for 150 fragmented pictures from the Snodgrass and Vanderwart picture set. Percept Mot Skills 67:3–36
Snodgrass JG, Feenan K (1990) Priming effect in picture fragment completion: support for the perceptual closure hypothesis. J Exp Psychol Gen 119:276–296
Vannucci M, Viggiano MP (2000) Category effects on the processing of plane-rotated objects. Perception 29:287–302
Vannucci M, Mazzoni G (2006) Dissociative experiences and mental imagery in undergraduate students: when mental images are used to foresee uncertain future events. Pers Individ Diff 41:1143–1153
Vannucci M, Viggiano MP, Argenti F (2001) Identification of spatially filtered stimuli as function of the semantic category. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 12:475–478
Vannucci M, Cioli L, Chiorri C, Grazi A, Kozhevnikov M (2006a) Individual differences in visuo-spatial imagery: further evidence for the distinction between object and spatial imagers. Cogn Process 7(Suppl 5):144–145
Vannucci M, Grunwald T, Pezer N, Dietl T, Helmstaedter C, Schaller C, Viggiano MP, Elger CE (2006b) Hippocampus proper distinguishes between identified and unidentified real-life visual objects: an intracranial ERP study. Neurosci Lett 401:165–170
Viggiano MP, Vannucci M (2002) Drawing and identifying objects in relation to semantic category and handedness. Neuropsychologia 40:1482–1487
Viggiano MP, Costantini A, Vannucci M, Righi S (2004a) Hemispheric asymmetry for spatially filtered stimuli belonging to different semantic categories. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 20:519–524
Viggiano MP, Vannucci M, Righi S (2004b) A new standardized set of ecological pictures for experimental and clinical research on visual object processing. Cortex 40:491–509
Viggiano MP, Righi S, Galli G (2006) Category-specific visual recognition as affected by aging and expertise. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 42:329–338
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Irving Kirsch for his comments on the revision of the paper. We also would like to thank the guest editor and the reviewers for their comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vannucci, M., Mazzoni, G., Chiorri, C. et al. Object imagery and object identification: object imagers are better at identifying spatially-filtered visual objects. Cogn Process 9, 137–143 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-008-0203-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-008-0203-5