Poinsot and the Mental Imagery Debate

Gerard J. Dalcourt;

doi:10.5840/schoolman19947211

Motion, space, and mental imagery

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x0243004x ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 203-204 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Romi Nijhawan ◽

Beena Khurana

Keyword(s):

Mental Imagery ◽

Spatial Representation ◽

Visual Motion ◽

Visual Space ◽

Mental Images ◽

Representation Of Space ◽

Imagery Debate

In the imagery debate, a key question concerns the inherent spatial nature of mental images. What do we mean by spatial representation? We explore a new idea that suggests that motion is instrumental in the coding of visual space. How is the imagery debate informed by the representation of space being determined by visual motion?

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Reading imaginatively: The imagination in cognitive science and cognitive literary studies

Journal of Literary Semantics ◽

10.1515/jls-2013-0009 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Emily T. Troscianko

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Science ◽

Mental Imagery ◽

Literary Texts ◽

Literary Studies ◽

Pictorial Representation ◽

Imagery Debate ◽

Cognitive Literary Studies

AbstractI argue that literary studies can contribute to the “imagery debate” (between pictorialist, propositionalist, and enactivist accounts of mental imagery). While imagery questionnaires are pictorially configured and conflate imagining and seeing with pictorial representation, literary texts can exploit language's capacity for indeterminacy and therefore elicit very different imaginative experiences, thus illuminating the non-pictorial qualities of mental imagery.

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Perspective-Taking: In Search of a Theory

Vision ◽

10.3390/vision4020030 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 30

Author(s):

Geoff G. Cole ◽

Abbie C. Millett ◽

Steven Samuel ◽

Madeline J. Eacott

Keyword(s):

Present Article ◽

Mental Imagery ◽

Perspective Taking ◽

Developmental Psychology ◽

Social Attention ◽

Formal Description ◽

The Past ◽

Imagery Debate

Perspective-taking has been one of the central concerns of work on social attention and developmental psychology for the past 60 years. Despite its prominence, there is no formal description of what it means to represent another’s viewpoint. The present article argues that such a description is now required in the form of theory—a theory that should address a number of issues that are central to the notion of assuming another’s viewpoint. After suggesting that the mental imagery debate provides a good framework for understanding some of the issues and problems surrounding perspective-taking, we set out nine points that we believe any theory of perspective-taking should consider.

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Unconscious Imagination and the Mental Imagery Debate

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00799 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Berit Brogaard ◽

Dimitria Electra Gatzia

Keyword(s):

Mental Imagery ◽

Imagery Debate

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Sign theory at work: The mental imagery debate revisited

Sign Systems Studies ◽

10.12697/sss.2015.43.4.13 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 584-596 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jelena Issajeva

Keyword(s):

Mental Imagery ◽

Traditional Approach ◽

Mental Image ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Sign Theory ◽

Sign System ◽

Different Types ◽

Imagery Debate ◽

The Subject ◽

Different Characteristics

This article attempts to give a plausible explanation to the long-debated question about the nature of mental imagery (MI). The traditional approach to this question is based on the representational paradigm, which, I claim, is misguided. Instead of representational aspects of mental imagery, I emphasize the functions of mental imagery, the variety of properties that images exhibit in experimental studies, and the relations between different characteristics of images, their functions and the subject of imagery. That is, I propose to account for mental imagery as a sign system, consisting of different types of signs. A mental image can contain important properties as parts of the complex sign. This approach to the explanation of the nature of MI is beneficial, since it suggests the phenomenon of mental imagery, which overcomes some long-standing controversies on the issue.

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