Internal consistency and construct validity of two versions of the Revised Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire

Vividness of visual imagery is associated with the effect of relaxation response meditation training in elderly people with nonorganic insomnia: A randomized, double-blind, multi-center clinical trial

BACKGROUND

This study aims to explore the efficacy of Relaxation Response Meditation Training (RRMT) on elderly individuals with different levels of vividness of visual imagery.

METHODS

In this randomized controlled, double-blind, multi-center clinical trial, we recruited a total of 136 elderly individuals who were over 60 years with nonorganic sleep disorders to participate in a 4-week RRMT intervention from October 2020 to October 2022. The intervention occurred twice a week, totaling eight times. These individuals were divided into high and low groups based on the vividness of visual imagery, and then randomly assigned to either the control or intervention groups, as follows: low-visualizers intervention group (LI group); low-visualizers control group (LC group); high-visualizers intervention group (HI group); high-visualizers control group (HC group). Their social and psychological parameters were assessed before and after the intervention by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Revised Piper's fatigue scale (RPFS), General well-being scale (GWB), and Satisfaction rating. The alpha waves of patients were also collected through electroencephalogram to assess their level of relaxation.

RESULTS

Compared to the LI group, the HI group had a greater reduction rate in the PSQI score [25.2 % (18.8 % to 31.7 %), P < 0∙001], shorter sleep latency (P = 0.001), lower frequency of sleep medication (P < 0.001), lower PSQI scores (P < 0.001), and higher GWB scores (P < 0.001). There were significant differences in all indicators in the HI group vs. HC group and in the LI group vs. LC group. In the first five relaxation training sessions, there was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of α waves between the LI group and the LC group; however, from the sixth session onward, we observed a statistically significant difference (t = 2.86, P = 0.019)，while The HI group and HC group showing significant differences in the first relaxation training session (t = 4.464, P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in subjective satisfaction between the intervention group and the control group (x2 = 49.605, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

In this study, we found that most elderly people benefitted from RRMT regardless of their vividness of visual imagery. However, low-visualizers experienced slower and less effective results, so these patients may benefit more from alternative approaches.

Apophenia, absorption and anxiety: Evidence for individual differences in positive and negative experiences of Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder

Background and Aims

Little is known about individual differences in Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder (HPPD). This study investigated visual processing style and personality across two HPPD types (HPPD I and HPPD II) and a Non-HPPD group.

Methods

An online survey was delivered to participants sourced from online HPPD and psychedelic user groups and forums (N = 117). Using one-way ANOVA, respondents were compared across four measures of individual difference. Using logistic regression, a range of visual symptoms and experiences were investigated as potential predictors of group categorisation.

Results

The HPPD I group had higher absorption and visual apophenia scores than the other groups and was predicted by higher drug use. The HPPD II group showed significantly higher trait anxiety than both other groups. Across the HPPD groups, HPPD II categorisation was also predicted by increased negative precipitating experiences, lack of prior knowledge and pre-existing anxiety diagnoses.

Conclusions

Anxiety, negative precipitating experiences and lack of prior knowledge are associated with negative experiences of persistent visual symptoms following hallucinogen use, whilst higher absorption and visual apophenia are associated with positive or neutral experiences. Together these findings indicate that differences in personality may play a role in determining an individual's experience of HPPD, highlighting the role of individual difference research in expanding knowledge around HPPD.

How Vivid Is Your Mental Imagery?

Abstract. Across five studies (total N > 3,600), we report the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ-2PL). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a unidimensional structure of this instrument; measurement invariance concerning participants’ gender was established as well. The VVIQ-2PL showed excellent test-retest reliability, high internal consistency, and adequate construct validity. As predicted, art students scored significantly higher in visual mental imagery than the non-artist group. We discuss these findings alongside future research directions and possible modifications of VVIQ-2PL.

Imagery ability assessments: a cross-disciplinary systematic review and quality evaluation of psychometric properties

BACKGROUND

Over the last two centuries, researchers developed several assessments to evaluate the multidimensional construct of imagery. However, no comprehensive systematic review (SR) exists for imagery ability evaluation methods and an in-depth quality evaluation of their psychometric properties.

METHODS

We performed a comprehensive systematic search in six databases in the disciplines of sport, psychology, medicine, education: SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC. Two reviewers independently identified and screened articles for selection. COSMIN checklist was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the studies. All included assessments were evaluated for quality using criteria for good measurement properties. The evidence synthesis was summarised by using the GRADE approach.

RESULTS

In total, 121 articles reporting 155 studies and describing 65 assessments were included. We categorised assessments based on their construct on: (1) motor imagery (n = 15), (2) mental imagery (n = 48) and (3) mental chronometry (n = 2). Methodological quality of studies was mainly doubtful or inadequate. The psychometric properties of most assessments were insufficient or indeterminate. The best rated assessments with sufficient psychometric properties were MIQ, MIQ-R, MIQ-3, and VMIQ-2 for evaluation of motor imagery ability. Regarding mental imagery evaluation, only SIAQ and VVIQ showed sufficient psychometric properties.

CONCLUSION

Various assessments exist to evaluate an individual's imagery ability within different dimensions or modalities of imagery in different disciplines. However, the psychometric properties of most assessments are insufficient or indeterminate. Several assessments should be revised and further validated. Moreover, most studies were only evaluated with students. Further cross-disciplinary validation studies are needed including older populations with a larger age range. Our findings allow clinicians, coaches, teachers, and researchers to select a suitable imagery ability assessment for their setting and goals based on information about the focus and quality of the assessments.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS REGISTER

PROSPERO CRD42017077004 .

Exploring the vividness of mental imagery and eidetic imagery in people with intellectual disability (ID) in comparison with typically developing (TD) individuals

Background

Mental imagery (MI) has been described as the “ability to simulate in the mind information that is not currently being perceived by the sense organs” (Moran, 2012, p. 166). The vividness of mental imagery has been defined as the clarity, brightness, or intensity of an image as reported by the individual (Marks, 1973). There are many studies conducted on vividness in typically developing (TD) individuals, however, no attempt has been made either to assess the vividness of mental imagery in people with intellectual disability (ID) or compare it with that of typically developing (TD) adults.

Metods

A vividness of imagery test (comprising a modified version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire 2, (VVIQ-2; Marks, 1995), and two items of the Age Projection Test, (APT; Ahsen, 1988) were administered to participants with mild, moderate, and severe ID. Their performance on the vividness scale was compared with typically developing individuals. Measures for cognitive and adaptive functioning were administered to ascertain the ID level of participants.

Results

The results of this study reveal a non-significant group difference between people with mild ID, moderate ID, and TD on the vividness of mental imagery and eidetic imagery. People with severe ID performed significantly lower than the other three groups.

Conclusion

Despite their cognitive impairment, a non-significant difference between the performance of people with mild and moderate ID and typically developing individuals on imagery vividness scale is noteworthy.

Spanish Version of the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire

Objective

The current interest in mental imagery in fields such as sport and physical training, health, education, underscore the need for designing general measures of imagery vividness that include different sensorial modalities such as the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (Psi-Q; Andrade et al., 2014). The Psi-Q measures imagery vividness in seven sensorial modalities with a factorial structure of seven factors corresponding to the sensorial modalities, and has good internal consistency. The aim of the present study was to translate the Psi-Q into Spanish and to assess its psychometric properties.

Methods

The questionnaire was back-translated, and administered to 394 fine arts undergraduates. Moreover, this test was compared to other questionnaires measuring different types de imagery.

Results

A confirmatory factor analysis found that the Psi-Q had seven factors (vision, sound, smell, taste, touch, bodily sensation, and emotional feeling) with results similar to the original test. Values suggested a better fit for the model of the short version. The internal consistency values were 0.93 for the long and 0.89 for the short test. The Psi-Q subscales correlated significantly (p < 0.01) with the total of the Betts' QMI subscales, and the VVIQ, with the highest significance observed between the Psi-Q Touch and Betts' QMI Cutaneous (r = -0.57), and between the Psi-Q Olfactory and Betts' QMI Smell (r = -0.56). Owing to its novelty, the high correlation and significance (p < 0.01) between Psi-Q Vision and the OSIVQ Object (r = 0.36) is worth noting.

Conclusion

The Spanish version of the Psi-Q was an adequate measure for evaluating different sensorial modalities of imagery vividness, and exhibited similar psychometric properties to those of the original version. The growing interest in mental imagery in different fields of application justifies the need for adapting the Psi-Q for the Spanish speaking population. This questionnaire is a valuable tool for the understanding of imagery as a psychological process, and as a variable influencing other processes.

The Architect Who Lost the Ability to Imagine: The Cerebral Basis of Visual Imagery

While the loss of mental imagery following brain lesions was first described more than a century ago, the key cerebral areas involved remain elusive. Here we report neuropsychological data from an architect (PL518) who lost his ability for visual imagery following a bilateral posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke. We compare his profile to three other patients with bilateral PCA stroke and another architect with a large PCA lesion confined to the right hemisphere. We also compare structural images of their lesions, aiming to delineate cerebral areas selectively lesioned in acquired aphantasia. When comparing the neuropsychological profile and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the aphantasic architect PL518 to patients with either a comparable background (an architect) or bilateral PCA lesions, we find: (1) there is a large overlap of cognitive deficits between patients, with the very notable exception of aphantasia which only occurs in PL518, and (2) there is large overlap of the patients' lesions. The only areas of selective lesion in PL518 is a small patch in the left fusiform gyrus as well as part of the right lingual gyrus. We suggest that these areas, and perhaps in particular the region in the left fusiform gyrus, play an important role in the cerebral network involved in visual imagery.

A look into hallucinations: the relationship between visual imagery and hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease

Introduction: We investigated the relationship between visual hallucinations and vividness of visual imagery in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Method: We recruited 28 patients with AD and 30 healthy control participants, matched for age and education. We evaluated proneness towards hallucinations with the Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale, which includes items assessing visual and auditory hallucinations. We also evaluated vividness of visual imagery with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire on which participants had to imagine four images (i.e., imagining the face of a friend, the rising sun, a familiar shop-front, and a country scene) and report the vividness of the images they generated. Results: Analysis demonstrated significant positive correlations between visual hallucinations and vividness of visual imagery in AD patients, however, no significant correlations were observed between auditory hallucinations and vividness of visual imagery in these participants. No significant correlations were observed between hallucinations and vividness of visual imagery in healthy control participants, probably due to the lack of hallucinations in these participants. Discussion: These results demonstrate a selective relationship between the occurrence of visual (but not auditory) hallucinations and the ability to generate vivid visual images in AD.

The role of imagery in threat-related perceptual decision making

Visual perception is heavily influenced by "top-down" factors, including goals, expectations, and prior knowledge about the environmental context. Recent research has demonstrated the beneficial role threat-related cues play in perceptual decision making; however, the psychological processes contributing to this differential effect remain unclear. Since visual imagery helps to create perceptual representations or "templates" based on prior knowledge (e.g., cues), the present study examines the role vividness of visual imagery plays in enhanced perceptual decision making following threatening cues. In a perceptual decision-making task, participants used threat-related and neutral cues to detect perceptually degraded fearful and neutral faces presented at predetermined perceptual thresholds. Participants' vividness of imagery was measured by the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire-2 (VVIQ-2). Our results replicated prior work demonstrating that threat cues improve accuracy, perceptual sensitivity, and speed of perceptual decision making compared to neutral cues. Furthermore, better performance following threat and neutral cues was associated with higher VVIQ-2 scores. Importantly, more precise and rapid perceptual decision making following threatening cues was associated with greater VVIQ-2 scores, even after controlling for performance related to neutral cues. This association may be because greater imagery ability allows one to conjure more vivid threat-related templates, which facilitate subsequent perception. While the detection of threatening stimuli is well studied in the literature, our findings elucidate how threatening cues occurring prior to the stimulus aid in subsequent perception. Overall, these findings highlight the necessity of considering top-down threat-related factors in visual perceptual decision making. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Visual imagery of faces and cars in face-selective visual areas

Neuroimaging provides a unique tool to investigate otherwise difficult-to-access mental processes like visual imagery. Prior studies support the idea that visual imagery is a top-down reinstatement of visual perception, and it is likely that this extends to object processing. Here we use functional MRI and multi-voxel pattern analysis to ask if mental imagery of cars engages the fusiform face area, similar to what is found during perception. We test only individuals who we assumed could imagine individual car models based on their above-average perceptual abilities with cars. Our results provide evidence that cars are represented differently from common objects in face-selective visual areas, at least in those with above-average car recognition ability. Moreover, pattern classifiers trained on data acquired during imagery can decode the neural response pattern acquired during perception, suggesting that the tested object categories are represented similarly during perception and visual imagery. The results suggest that, even at high-levels of visual processing, visual imagery mirrors perception to some extent, and that face-selective areas may in part support non-face object imagery.

Domain-specific reports of visual imagery vividness are not related to perceptual expertise

Just as people vary in their perceptual expertise with a given domain, they also vary in their abilities to imagine objects. Visual imagery and perception share common mechanisms. However, it is unclear whether domain-specific expertise is relevant to visual imagery. Although the vividness of visual imagery is typically measured as a domain-general construct, a component of this vividness may be domain-specific. For example, individuals who have gained perceptual expertise with a specific domain might experience clearer mental images within this domain. Here we investigated whether perceptual expertise for cars relates to visual imagery vividness in the same domain, by assessing the correlations between a widely used domain-general measure of visual imagery vividness (the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire; Marks in British Journal of Psychology, 64, 17-24, 1973), a new measure of visual imagery vividness specific to cars, and behavioral tests of car expertise. We found that domain-specific imagery relates most strongly to general imagery vividness and less strongly to self-reported expertise, while it does not relate to perceptual or semantic expertise.

The Fantasy Questionnaire: A Measure to Assess Creative and Imaginative Fantasy

This article reports the construction and validation of a comprehensive self-report measure of fantasy. Unlike previous measures of fantasy, which focus on psychopathology, we conceive fantasy as a trait with positive connotation. Principal component analysis (N = 318) and confirmatory factor analyses (N = 345) were conducted using 2 sociodemographically diverse samples. The results provided support for a 2-factor conceptualization of the construct, with the dimensions imaginative fantasy and creative fantasy. Imaginative fantasy refers to vivid imagination and absorption in these images and daydreams. Creative fantasy refers to the activity of using fantasy to create new ideas. The trait measure showed good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, discriminant and convergent construct validity, as well as incremental validity. Moreover, in 3 behavioral studies, we put fantasy scores in relationship with behavioral data to provide further proof of validity. A comprehensive measure of fantasy can contribute to our understanding of individual differences in inner experiences, creative processes, and problem solving.

Object Recognition in Mental Representations: Directions for Exploring Diagnostic Features through Visual Mental Imagery

One of the fundamental goals of object recognition research is to understand how a cognitive representation produced from the output of filtered and transformed sensory information facilitates efficient viewer behavior. Given that mental imagery strongly resembles perceptual processes in both cortical regions and subjective visual qualities, it is reasonable to question whether mental imagery facilitates cognition in a manner similar to that of perceptual viewing: via the detection and recognition of distinguishing features. Categorizing the feature content of mental imagery holds potential as a reverse pathway by which to identify the components of a visual stimulus which are most critical for the creation and retrieval of a visual representation. This review will examine the likelihood that the information represented in visual mental imagery reflects distinctive object features thought to facilitate efficient object categorization and recognition during perceptual viewing. If it is the case that these representational features resemble their sensory counterparts in both spatial and semantic qualities, they may well be accessible through mental imagery as evaluated through current investigative techniques. In this review, methods applied to mental imagery research and their findings are reviewed and evaluated for their efficiency in accessing internal representations, and implications for identifying diagnostic features are discussed. An argument is made for the benefits of combining mental imagery assessment methods with diagnostic feature research to advance the understanding of visual perceptive processes, with suggestions for avenues of future investigation.

The Vivid Present: Visualization Abilities Are Associated with Steep Discounting of Future Rewards

Humans and other animals discount the value of future rewards, a phenomenon known as delay discounting. Individuals vary widely in the extent to which they discount future rewards, and these tendencies have been associated with important life outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated that imagining the future reduces subsequent discounting behavior, but no research to date has examined whether a similar principle applies at the trait level, and whether training visualization changes discounting. The current study examined if individual differences in visualization abilities are linked to individual differences in discounting and whether practicing visualization can change discounting behaviors in a lasting way. Participants (n = 48) completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and delay discounting task and then underwent a 4-week intervention consisting of visualization training (intervention) or relaxation training (control). Contrary to our hypotheses, participants who reported greater visualization abilities (lower scores) on the VVIQ were higher discounters. To further examine this relationship, an additional 106 participants completed the VVIQ and delay discounting task. In the total sample (n = 154), there was a significant negative correlation between VVIQ scores and discount rates, showing that individuals who are better visualizers are also higher discounters. Consistent with this relationship but again to our surprise, visualization training tended, albeit weakly, to increase discount rates, and those whose VVIQ decreased the most were those whose discount rates increased the most. These results suggest a novel association between visualization abilities and delay discounting.

Vividness and transformation of mental images in karate and ballet

While imagery research has become popular in recent years, little research has specifically investigated differences in imagery ability between open- and closed-skill sport activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the type of task, open or closed, affects vividness and controllability differently. Thirty female classic dancers (closed skill), 30 female karate athletes (open skill), and 30 female non-athlete students, between 14 and 20 years of age (M = 17.0, SD = 1.6), participated. They completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire, the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire, and the Subtraction of Parts Task. There was no difference in imagery ability between open- and closed-skill sport groups. Furthermore, dancers and karatekas had higher mean scores on imagery ability than the non-athlete group. A positive correlation was observed between the two questionnaires, supporting findings on the componential basis of imagery. This study contributed to increase the research in the specific area of open- and closed-skill sports and imagery ability.