A Zoom Lens before the Eyes during Imagery: Individual Differences and Strange, Unexpected Responses
| Autor: | Vezio Ruggieri |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1994 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Light genetic structures media_common.quotation_subject Individuality Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Subliminal Stimulation Contrast Sensitivity Discrimination Learning Perception medicine Humans Attention Meaning (existential) Size Perception media_common Communication Zoom lens White (horse) Movement (music) business.industry Sensory Systems medicine.anatomical_structure Pattern Recognition Visual Lens (anatomy) Imagination Female sense organs business Psychology Accommodation Color Perception Mental image Cognitive psychology |
| Zdroj: | Perceptual and Motor Skills. 78:451-454 |
| ISSN: | 1558-688X 0031-5125 |
| DOI: | 10.2466/pms.1994.78.2.451 |
| Popis: | Summary.-The research examined some aspects of an hypothetical involvement of the eyes in the process of imagery and the individual differences in the modulation of the Lnagery-perception interaction of 59 (7 male and 52 female) undergraduate students in psychology. The subjects were asked to image with open eyes and to project, looking through a zoom lens, the "menral" image onto a white screen. While the subject was imaging, the experimenter moved the lever of the zoom lens in the duection of an hypothetical enlargement. This movement evoked different classes of responses: 46% of the subjects had a loss, even if for a short time, of the image, 37% of the subjects observed a strange and unexpected enlargement of the mental image, 7% &d not observe any change in imagery, and 10% had other responses. A psychophys~ological discussion concerned the strange phenomena observed in this research that have not yet been explored enough. In previous researches (Ruggieri, 1991, 1993) some aspects of the interactions between imagery and perception have been examined. Data have indicated that, when a subject imaged with open eyes, a modification in the external stimulation of the retina strongly modified the imaginative activity. The researches showed also the presence of individual differences in the form of the imaginative modification. Another research (Ruggieri & Alfieri, 1992) demonstrated that, during imagery, as in "actual" perception, a mechanism of accommodation of the crystalline lens is present: imaging a "near" or a "far" figure, the bending of the crystalline lens, respectively, increases and reduces. Now it is necessary to investigate the physiological meaning of this involvement of the eyes during imagery. Are the observed modifications only peripheral correlates of central processes or could they have a particular function in the imaginative activity? To examine this question it is important to explore more deeply how, at the level of the retina, processes of imagery and perception interact when a subject is imaging with open eyes, projecting the so-called mental image onto a white screen. In other words, it is interesting to observe how the process of imagery, which I hypothesize involves the retina, interacts with the activity evoked by external luminous beams coming from outside. In earlier investigations the modification of the imaginative activity was produced by covering the eyes of the subjects, i.e., through an interruption of the external luminous stimulation (Ruggieri, 1991, 1993). In the present experiment the exploration of the interaction between mental imagery and external stimula |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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