In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some psychologists believed in Aristotle's idea that "thought is impossible without an image" , while others disagree. Most evidence pointed to thought being possible without imagery and by the 1910s, imagery was not a heavily studied topic in psychology.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The ability to (mentally) recreate the sensory world in the absence of external stimuli. People can imagine tastes, smells and experiences

Mental Imagery

- Heuristics and biases
- Imageless thought debate
- Dual systems approach
- Causal attribution

Focuses of Research on Thought

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

When the mind creates visual representations in the absence of external visual stimuli. 

Visual imagery

Imageless thought debate 

It is easier to remember concrete nouns (tree or boat) than abstract nouns (truth or justice) that are hard to imagine. It is hypothesized that this is because the images provide something for the word to "hang on" to like a peg.

Conceptual peg hypothesis

Subjects are asked to create mental images and asked to scan them in their minds.

Mental scanning

- Spatial representations
- Propositional representations

Types of imagery representations

Humans use two distinct cognitive systems:
- System 1 is fast, intuitive, unconscious and automatic.
- System 2 is slow, reflective, conscious and controlled.

Dual systems of cognition

People try to explain others' behavior through causation. A common though might be "What caused X to do Y".

Causal Attribution

"Rules of thumb" and mental "shortcuts" that help us to reason under uncertainty. They are very economical and typically effective, however they cause systematic and predictable errors. When employed in cognitive tasks, they lead to biases in  judgement and decisions. 

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