IUBio

what exactly happens when we imagine stuff ?

A.F. Simpson AFS7 at le.ac.uk
Tue Feb 22 18:52:11 EST 2000


John Booth wrote:

> I put it to you, then, that the process of imagination involves
> selection of the relevant constituent memory traces of the thought in the
> appropriate areas of cortex, followed by a rapid scanning motion of
> consciousness between the different thought elements, in the same way as
> you're eyes scan back and forth over a large object that is too big to
> appreciate all at once. By this theory, the elements of a thought are never
> truly integrated, but by scanning rapidly between the different
> constituents, the overall appreciation is of unity.

How small do you consider the memory traces of the thoughts?  To take
your example of a goldfish pond, is 'a goldfish pond' a single iamage or
is that itself made up from a collection of memory traces.

Hmm...do imaginary scenes then create their own memory traces?  E.g.
once you've imagined swimming in a goldfishg pond a few times, does that
create a (separate) 'swimming in a goldfish pond' memory, which is
actually a false memory?

> John Booth

love
Anna




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