imagery

   Also known as visual imagery. The term imagery comes from the Latin verb imaginari,which means to copy, to imitate, to picture. It tends to be used in a rather loose sense to denote a recollection or fantasy presenting itself as 'a picture in the mind' or as 'an experience appearing in inner subjective space'. Conceptually, imagery is sometimes designated as a residual trace of sense perceptions. However, it is generally acknowledged that imagery lacks the phenomenologi-cal qualities that characterize actual " percepts. Therefore, imagery has also been relegated to the class of symbols or nonverbal thoughts. It has been suggested that the propensity to hallucinate might be higher in individuals with vivid imagery, but this notion is insufficiently endorsed by empirical studies. Although the vividness of mental images is sometimes subjectively associated with mild hallucinatory experiences, the degree of vividness of mental images would not seem to play a major role in the mediation of hallucinations.

   References

   Aleman, A., Nieuwenstein, M., Böcker, K.B.E., de Haan, E.H.F. (2000). Mental imagery and perception in hallucination-prone individuals. Journal ofNervous and Mental Disease, 188, 830-836.

   Piaget, J., Inhelder, B. (1997). Mental imagery in the child. Translated by Chilton, P.A. London: Routledge.

   Roeckelein, J.E. (2004). Imagery in psychology: A reference guide. Westport, CT: Praeger.