A Simulation of Visual Imagery*

TLDR

The simulation was inspired by experimental findings on how people encode and retrieve information from visual images. The paper presents an operational computer simulation of human visual mental imagery. The model comprises a spatial, quasi‑pictorial surface representation and a deeper perceptual‑propositional representation, and it implements a theory of how surface images are generated from deep representations and processed during information access. The simulation accounts for a range of imagery transformations.

Abstract

This paper describes an operational computer simulation of visual mental imagery in humans. The structure of the simulation was motivated by results of experiments on how people represent information in, and access information from, visual images. The simulation includes a “surface representation,” which is spatial and quasi‐pictorial, and an underlying “deep representation,” which contains “perceptual” information encoding appearance plus “propositional” information describing facts about an object. The simulation embodies a theory of how surface images are generated from deep representations, and how surface images are processed when one accesses information embedded in them. The simulation also offers an account of various sorts of imagery transformations.