Abstract
People often report using mental images to access visuo-spatial information held in long-term memory. A theory of how such information is accessed and the processes involved in reading information off mental images are described. The theory is based on an important distinction in the representation of visual information, that between viewer-centred and object-centred reference frames. Objects are represented in long-term memory in terms of both types of system; mental images correspond to viewer-centred representations and structural descriptions are object-centred. Mental images are often used to access information about spatial relations and visual form because such information is not directly available within structural descriptions. Instead, this information has to be derived from viewer-centred images by means of visual routines.
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© 1988 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
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Slack, J.M. (1988). Reading Mental Images. In: Denis, M., Engelkamp, J., Richardson, J.T.E. (eds) Cognitive and Neuropsychological Approaches to Mental Imagery. NATO ASI Series, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1391-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1391-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-247-3659-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1391-2
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