ABSTRACT
Visual mental imagery occurs when visual information is retained or when stored visual information is activated, creating a short-term memory representation that is accompanied by the experience of "seeing with the mind's eye." In this chapter we review key issues surrounding, and much of the. recent empirical findings about, visual mental imagery. However, we have chosen not to review the findings exhaustively; the literature on visual mental imagery has been surveyed many times in the recent past, notably by Farah (1988), Finke (1989), and Finke and Shepard (1986); prior to this, Paivio (1971), Kosslyn (1980), and Shepard and Cooper (1982) provided detailed reviews of the earlier literature. We have no desire to duplicate previous efforts; hence, we focus on major current issues about the brain mechanisms that underlie imagery, and review only findings that have a direct relation to these issues.
