Mental imagery

BACKGROUND: Motor Imagery (MI) is a cognitive process consisting in mental simulation of body movements without executing physical actions: its clinical use has been investigated prevalently in adults with neurological disorders. OBJECTIVES: Review of the best-available evidence on the use and efficacy of MI interventions for neurorehabilitation purposes in common and rare childhood neurological disorders. METHODS: systematic literature search conducted according to PRISMA by using the Scopus, PsycArticles, Cinahl, PUBMED, Web of Science (Clarivate), EMBASE, PsychINFO, and COCHRANE databases, with levels of evidence scored by OCEBM and PEDro Scales...

This study is crucial for improving unilateral spatial neglect (USN) treatments, focusing on comparing the effectiveness of computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation (CACR) against conventional rehabilitation (CR) methods. It aimed to address a significant research gap and improve patient outcomes by evaluating the impact of CACR versus CR on visuospatial perception, visual field and attention, and visual memory in patients with USN. This study was a randomized controlled trial. Forty-five consecutive patients with USN from a university rehabilitation center were divided into two groups: 22 patients received CACR with Rehacom software, focusing on saccadic eye movement, visual field, and visual-motor coordination, while 23 underwent CR that combined hemispheric activation approach, mental imagery training, and vibration therapy...

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Aphantasia is characterised by the inability to create mental images in one's mind. Studies investigating impairments in imagery typically focus on the visual domain. However, it is possible to generate many different forms of imagery including imagined auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, motor, taste and other experiences. Recent studies show that individuals with aphantasia report a lack of imagery in modalities, other than vision, including audition. However, to date, no research has examined whether these reductions in self-reported auditory imagery are associated with decrements in tasks that require auditory imagery...

Aphantasia is a condition that is often characterized as the impaired ability to create voluntary mental images. Aphantasia is assumed to selectively affect voluntary imagery mainly because even though aphantasics report being unable to visualize something at will, many report having visual dreams. We argue that this common characterization of aphantasia is incorrect. Studies on aphantasia are often not clear about whether they are assessing voluntary or involuntary imagery, but some studies show that several forms of involuntary imagery are also affected in aphantasia (including imagery in dreams)...

PURPOSE: The main purpose of the article is to present basic theoretical assumptions on Schema Therapy and its hypothetical application among adolescents suffering with anorexia nervosa. VIEWS: Anorexia nervosa is a very deadly mental disease, more frequently suffered by females than males, with the mean age of onset at approximately 14-15. Studies underline the relatively poor effectiveness of currently applied treatment methods and the need for new approaches that could be recommended for adolescent patients suffering with this disease...

Mounting evidence supports the efficacy of mental imagery for verbal information retention. Motor imagery, imagining oneself interacting physically with the object to be learned, emerges as an optimal form compared to less physically engaging imagery. Yet, when engaging in mental imagery, it occurs within a specific context that may affect imagined actions and consequently impact the mnemonic benefits of mental imagery. In a first study, participants were given instructions for incidental learning: mental rehearsal, visual imagery, motor imagery or situated motor imagery...

Digital, self-guided mental health programs are a promising avenue for mental health support for LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, Queer, intersex, asexual plus additional sexuality, gender, and romantic identities) people - however, healthcare providers (HCPs) perspectives on programs are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to explore these perspectives. A cross-sectional online survey was distributed across Australia, with a final sample of 540 HCPs from a range of disciplines. Most respondents (419, 81...

Motor imagery training is a common mental strategy used by tennis players and coaches to improve learning and performance; however, the effect of motor imagery training on service performance in tennis players is questionable. This review aims to consolidate existing research regarding the effects of motor imagery training on the service performance of tennis players. A systematic search was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines, using PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and SPORTDiscus to identify articles published until December 2023...

This study aims to explore the mediating role of mental imagery in the relationship between alexithymia and parental psychological control among Chinese university students. Conducted between March and April 2023, this descriptive study involved 282 volunteer participants from a university in southern China. Data collection included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), the Parental Psychological Control Scale (PPC), and the Vividness of Visual Mental Imagery questionnaire (VVIQ). The results revealed that: (1) based on established cut-off, 81 students were identified as highly alexithymic; (2) the alexithymia group scored higher on both the TAS and PPC and lower on the VVIQ compared to the non-alexithymia and possible-alexithymia groups; and (3) mediating analysis demonstrated a strong and positive correlation between parental psychological control and alexithymia for all participants, with visual mental imagery mediating this relationship...

In this scoping review, we aimed to comprehensively clarify the methodology of Mental practice (MP) by systematically mapping studies documenting the application of MP to post-stroke paralytic upper-extremity function. Specifically, when is an MP intervention most commonly applied after stroke onset? What is the corresponding MP load (intervention time, number of intervention days, and intervention period)? What are the most common methods of Motor Imagery (MI) recall and MI tasks used during the application of MP? Is MP often used in conjunction with individual rehabilitation? What are the paralyzed side's upper-limb and cognitive function levels at the start of an MP intervention? The research questions were identified according to PRISMA-ScR...

Hand gestures play an integral role in multimodal language and communication. Even though the self-oriented functions of gestures, such as activating a speaker's lexicon and maintaining visuospatial imagery, have been emphasized, gestures' functions in creative thinking are not well-established. In the current study, we investigated the role of iconic gestures in verbal divergent thinking-a creative thinking process related to generating many novel ideas. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that iconic gesture use would facilitate divergent thinking in young adults, especially those with high mental imagery skills...

This article examines empirical associations between qualities of the imagination, mental imagery, and cognitive abilities with special reference to autism. This study is the first to explore the empirical relationships between autistic-like traits and tests of imagery differences. Imaginative impairments and distinctive sensory characteristics in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) should be reflected in their interactions with mental imagery. However, the relationship between ASD and imaging traits remains unclear...

ABSTRACT Background: Many healthcare workers (HCWs) endured psychologically traumatic events at work during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. For some, these events are re-experienced as unwanted, recurrent, and distressing intrusive memories. Simple psychological support measures are needed to reduce such symptoms of post-traumatic stress in this population. A novel intervention to target intrusive memories, called an imagery-competing task intervention (ICTI), has been developed from the laboratory...

INTRODUCTION: Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings but expression of externally oriented thinking (EOT) and difficulty fantasizing is more variable. In two studies, we investigated whether links between EOT and fantasizing are mediated by sensory processing sensitivity (SPS). METHODS: University students completed measures of alexithymia, SPS, and fantasizing. RESULTS: In Study 1 ( N  = 700) we identified two clusters of SPS traits: a positive facet (sensitivity to subtle stimuli) and a negative facet (sensitivity to uncomfortable stimuli)...

How do people evaluate causal relationships? Do they just consider what actually happened, or do they also consider what could have counterfactually happened? Using eye tracking and Gaussian process modeling, we investigated how people mentally simulated past events to judge what caused the outcomes to occur. Participants played a virtual ball-shooting game and then-while looking at a blank screen-mentally simulated (a) what actually happened, (b) what counterfactually could have happened, or (c) what caused the outcome to happen...

For most untrained novices, talking about wine or imagining the smells and flavours of wine is difficult. Wine experts, on the other hand, have been found to have better imagery for wine, and are also more proficient in describing wine. Some scholars have suggested that imagery and language are based on similar underlying processes, but no conclusive evidence has been found regarding mental imagery and language production. In this study, we examined the relationship between imagery and language use in both novices and experts...

Whether the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) became psychotic after his mid-thirties is much debated. His recently published Black Books, a seven-volume journal, reveal new insights into this debate. Based on a phenomenological analysis of his self-reports in these books and in other writings, we here identify several types of anomalous perceptual experiences: hypnagogic-hypnopompic experiences, hyperphantasia, hallucinations, personifications, and sensed presence. We argue that these experiences were not indicative of a psychotic disorder, but rather stemmed from extremely vivid mental imagery, or hyperphantasia, a condition Jung's contemporaries and later biographers were unable to take into account because it had not yet been conceptualised...

Individuals with aphantasia report having difficulties or an inability to generate visual images of objects or events. So far, there is no evidence showing that this condition also impacts the motor system and the generation of motor simulations. We probed the neurophysiological marker of aphantasia during explicit and implicit forms of motor simulation, i.e. motor imagery and action observation, respectively. We tested a group of individuals without any reported imagery deficits (phantasics) as well as a group of individuals self-reporting the inability to mentally simulate images or movements (aphantasics)...

INTRODUCTION: Body-image disturbance is a major factor in the development of eating disorders, especially among young women. There are two main components: perceptual disturbance, characterized by a discrepancy between perceived and actual body size, and affective disturbance, characterized by a discrepancy between perceived and ideal body size. Interventions targeting body-image disturbance ask individuals to describe their own body without using negative expressions when either viewing it in a mirror or imagining it...