Visual Imagery, PSY 101

1:14 AM Michael 0 Comments

I posted this on blackboard a little while ago as a part of my psychology discussion. We're learning a little bit about intelligence and our ability to visualize. I think the last bit might be worth sharing :

Visual imagery is our awesome ability to envision different ideas and concepts about other thoughts, or objects or people. They are influenced by our experiences with the world. When I create visual images with my eyes closed it is like I am using my memory to refer to items and creatively make scenes. The experience of imagery is typically more general than when seeing an actual object. I can image the details, but they are much more pronounced in reality. The exterior of my house is off white with white trims. The steps are grey blue. There is a porch with a white wooden railing and a mailbox and light against the wall. I thought of describing color first. I feel like color is a general describing term perhaps because we learn colors and which colors we like so early in development. Knowledge representation is selective. It is much easier for me to envision the house in my mind than to represent this vision verbally.

Really odd but on topic, yesterday maybe subconsciously thinking about what we are studying now or solely because it stood out to me, Apollo Anton Ohno the speedskater tweeted, and I now retweet,
"
Mental imagery - use it to manifest success. Create the plan, do the work, be relentless in your pursuit & leave little chance of failure."
How crazy in line is that? It is much like the example in the text about the girls envisioning themselves working and studying to get an A and then scoring well. Really weird how we can almost shift our external reality a little bit by concentrating hard enough and internally visualizing how we want to act and behave and it can happen. It makes a lot of sense because what is stopping us from doing anything other than what we believe we can do. That's why my definition of visual imagery is our awesome ability.