Imagination Influences Visual Perception

In new study out of Vanderbilt, reported in Science Daily "Mind's Eye' Influences Visual Perception," researchers Pearson, Tong, and Clifford report that what we imagine (see in our "mind's eye) directly impacts our visual perception. (The actual article appears in Current Biology). This is the first research that shows that the images we make up changes our vision both while we are imaging and also later on. This confirms previous research showing that mental imagery causes the visual areas of the brain light up. Pretty cool but not surprising.

Artists have worked for centuries to create images that force/allow us to see things in a new way. The researchers at Vanderbilt have just proved what cognitive psychologists have known for a long time: that our expectations of how things and events will unfold influence how we understand them. A cognitive therapy technique has individuals model new and desired behaviors for themselves by imagining situations where they pull it off successfully. Thanks to media technologies, we have access to a richer palette of visual images that provides a fuller menu for us to draw on as imaginery possibilities. Admittedly, both for better and for worse. But the breadth and diversity of information flows--if you're willing to look and think--ought to humanize the world and our expectations and demonstrate that there are no single "right" ways to do anything and are choices are as varied as, well, we are able to imagine.