Visual imagery vividness and mental rotation of characters: An event related potentials study

Binglei Zhao; Sergio Della Sala; Elena Gherri

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.014

Visual imagery vividness and mental rotation of characters: An event related potentials study

Binglei Zhao, Sergio Della Sala, Elena Gherri

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Recent behavioural evidence suggests that differences in the vividness of visual imagery (VVI) affect the way in which mental rotation (MR) tasks are accomplished. However, the role of VVI in MR tasks is still debated. We explored it using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) which allow to track the time course of MR processes with high temporal resolution. We assigned participants to two different groups based on their VVI and compared the rotation-related negativity (RRN), the electrophysiological correlate of MR. Accuracy did not differ in the two groups. However, the RRN offset was delayed in lower as compared to higher VVI individuals. The processing of MR as indexed by the RRN is longer in individuals with lower VVI, providing direct evidence for a role of VVI in
MR processing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	19-24
Journal	Neuroscience Letters
Volume	703
Early online date	11 Mar 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.014
Publication status	Published - 11 Jun 2019

Keywords

visual imagery vividness (VVI);
mental rotation
individual differences
rotation-related negativity (RRN)
RRN onset-offset

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10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.014

ZhaoEtalNL2019VisualImageryVividnessAccepted author manuscript, 544 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

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@article{56719c3d494e43c0b2338b5aa355e437,

title = "Visual imagery vividness and mental rotation of characters: An event related potentials study",

abstract = "Recent behavioural evidence suggests that differences in the vividness of visual imagery (VVI) affect the way in which mental rotation (MR) tasks are accomplished. However, the role of VVI in MR tasks is still debated. We explored it using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) which allow to track the time course of MR processes with high temporal resolution. We assigned participants to two different groups based on their VVI and compared the rotation-related negativity (RRN), the electrophysiological correlate of MR. Accuracy did not differ in the two groups. However, the RRN offset was delayed in lower as compared to higher VVI individuals. The processing of MR as indexed by the RRN is longer in individuals with lower VVI, providing direct evidence for a role of VVI inMR processing.",

keywords = "visual imagery vividness (VVI);, mental rotation, individual differences, rotation-related negativity (RRN), RRN onset-offset",

author = "Binglei Zhao and {Della Sala}, Sergio and Elena Gherri",

year = "2019",

month = jun,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.014",

language = "English",

volume = "703",

pages = "19--24",

journal = "Neuroscience Letters",

issn = "0304-3940",

publisher = "Elsevier Ireland Ltd",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Visual imagery vividness and mental rotation of characters

T2 - An event related potentials study

AU - Zhao, Binglei

AU - Della Sala, Sergio

AU - Gherri, Elena

PY - 2019/6/11

Y1 - 2019/6/11

N2 - Recent behavioural evidence suggests that differences in the vividness of visual imagery (VVI) affect the way in which mental rotation (MR) tasks are accomplished. However, the role of VVI in MR tasks is still debated. We explored it using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) which allow to track the time course of MR processes with high temporal resolution. We assigned participants to two different groups based on their VVI and compared the rotation-related negativity (RRN), the electrophysiological correlate of MR. Accuracy did not differ in the two groups. However, the RRN offset was delayed in lower as compared to higher VVI individuals. The processing of MR as indexed by the RRN is longer in individuals with lower VVI, providing direct evidence for a role of VVI inMR processing.

AB - Recent behavioural evidence suggests that differences in the vividness of visual imagery (VVI) affect the way in which mental rotation (MR) tasks are accomplished. However, the role of VVI in MR tasks is still debated. We explored it using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) which allow to track the time course of MR processes with high temporal resolution. We assigned participants to two different groups based on their VVI and compared the rotation-related negativity (RRN), the electrophysiological correlate of MR. Accuracy did not differ in the two groups. However, the RRN offset was delayed in lower as compared to higher VVI individuals. The processing of MR as indexed by the RRN is longer in individuals with lower VVI, providing direct evidence for a role of VVI inMR processing.

KW - visual imagery vividness (VVI);

KW - mental rotation

KW - individual differences

KW - rotation-related negativity (RRN)

KW - RRN onset-offset

U2 - 10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.014

DO - 10.1016/j.neulet.2019.03.014

M3 - Article

VL - 703

SP - 19

EP - 24

JO - Neuroscience Letters

JF - Neuroscience Letters

SN - 0304-3940

ER -

Visual imagery vividness and mental rotation of characters: An event related potentials study

Abstract

Keywords

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