COMMON MECHANISMS OF VISUAL-IMAGERY AND PERCEPTION

Detection of a visual target can be facilitated by flanking visual mas ks. A similar enhancement in detection thresholds was obtained when ob servers imagined the previously perceived masks. Imagery-induced facil itation was detected for as long as 5 minutes after observation of the masks by the targeted eye. These results indicated the existence of a low-level (monocular) memory that stores the sensory trace for severa l minutes and enables reactivation of early representations by higher processes. This memory, with its iconic nature, may subserve the inter face between mental images and percepts.