Helen Thomson of the BBC reported on aphantasia, which is a condition where a person is unable to form mental imagery, or imagine things. Aphantasia fits into cognitive neuroscience, because it related to people’s mental perceptions. Cognition plays a role, but more in a lack of there of sense because people with aphantasia have the inability to creat images with their mind. In the article, Thomson reports about a person named Philip, who had no idea that people had the ability to create mental images. He believed that everyone did not have an imagination, and if he was told to imagine something he thought that they were just using a figure of speech. To provide information on aphantasia, Thomson interviewed Adam Zeman and Joel Pearson. Zeman
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His main area of research is cognitive neuroscience, which includes visual perception, which most likely led him to research aphantasia and people’s perceptions. The research conducted was basic research, looking into manipulating people’s imagination. This was done by using binocular rivalry, which was also able measure mental images. Pearson also looked into brain mechanisms and how they function when a person is using their imagination to create mental images. Pearson’s research found that when the visual cortex is less active, than their imagination and mental images will be stronger. This led to further research based on the correlation between the visual cortex and the strength of the images. The technique Pearson and his team used was non-invasive brain stimulation and expanded on mental images to PTSD and anxiety, in hopes that decreasing mental imagery associated with it. Animals were not tested, but humans were, which is helpful due to the ability to receive self-reports from case studies. Pearson and his team first went into research aphantasia by trying to pinpoint any correlations, which is when they discovered the correlations with the visual cortex. This led to further research that led to the hypothesis that manipulating a person’s mental image can ease PTSD and related mental imagery. They also hypothesized that manipulating mental images can enhance a person’s
His main area of research is cognitive neuroscience, which includes visual perception, which most likely led him to research aphantasia and people’s perceptions. The research conducted was basic research, looking into manipulating people’s imagination. This was done by using binocular rivalry, which was also able measure mental images. Pearson also looked into brain mechanisms and how they function when a person is using their imagination to create mental images. Pearson’s research found that when the visual cortex is less active, than their imagination and mental images will be stronger. This led to further research based on the correlation between the visual cortex and the strength of the images. The technique Pearson and his team used was non-invasive brain stimulation and expanded on mental images to PTSD and anxiety, in hopes that decreasing mental imagery associated with it. Animals were not tested, but humans were, which is helpful due to the ability to receive self-reports from case studies. Pearson and his team first went into research aphantasia by trying to pinpoint any correlations, which is when they discovered the correlations with the visual cortex. This led to further research that led to the hypothesis that manipulating a person’s mental image can ease PTSD and related mental imagery. They also hypothesized that manipulating mental images can enhance a person’s