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Kronemer SI, Holness M, Morgan AT, Teves JB, Gonzalez-Castillo J, Handwerker DA, Bandettini PA. Visual imagery vividness correlates with afterimage conscious perception. Neurosci Conscious 2024; 2024:niae032. [PMID: 39101126 PMCID: PMC11294681 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niae032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 07/11/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Afterimages are illusory, visual conscious perceptions. A widely accepted theory is that afterimages are caused by retinal signaling that continues after the physical disappearance of a light stimulus. However, afterimages have been reported without preceding visual, sensory stimulation (e.g. conditioned afterimages and afterimages induced by illusory vision). These observations suggest the role of top-down brain mechanisms in afterimage conscious perception. Therefore, some afterimages may share perceptual features with sensory-independent conscious perceptions (e.g. imagery, hallucinations, and dreams) that occur without bottom-up sensory input. In the current investigation, we tested for a link between the vividness of visual imagery and afterimage conscious perception. Participants reported their vividness of visual imagery and perceived sharpness, contrast, and duration of negative afterimages. The afterimage perceptual features were acquired using perception matching paradigms that were validated on image stimuli. Relating these perceptual reports revealed that the vividness of visual imagery positively correlated with afterimage contrast and sharpness. These behavioral results support shared neural mechanisms between visual imagery and afterimages. However, we cannot exclude alternative explanations, including demand characteristics and afterimage perception reporting inaccuracy. This study encourages future research combining neurophysiology recording methods and afterimage paradigms to directly examine the neural mechanisms of afterimage conscious perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharif I Kronemer
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Micah Holness
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - A Tyler Morgan
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Core Facility, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Joshua B Teves
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Javier Gonzalez-Castillo
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Daniel A Handwerker
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Peter A Bandettini
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Core Facility, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
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Fries I, Smith GJ. Influence of physiognomic stimulus properties on afterimage adaptation. Percept Mot Skills 1970; 31:267-71. [PMID: 5454495 DOI: 10.2466/pms.1970.31.1.267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
The study compares results from a process-oriented afterimage experiment in 3 groups of 24 psychiatric patients each. The fixation stimuli were a blank oval, a sad and a happy face—one for each group. Results show that the sad stimulus produces mote distinct adaptive patterns in a sequence of repeated measurements than do the other stimuli.
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