VISUAL-IMAGERY - EFFECTS OF SHORT-TERM-MEMORY AND LONG-TERM-MEMORY

Visual imagery and perception share several functional properties and apparently share common underlying brain structures. A main approach t o the scientific study of visual imagery is exploring the effects of m ental imagery on perceptual professes. Previous studies have shown tha t visual imagery interferes with perception (Perky effect). Recently w e have shown a direct facilitatory effect of visual imagery on visual perception. In an attempt to differentiate the conditions under which visual imagery interferes or facilitates visual perception, we designe d new experimental paradigms, using detection tasks of a Gabor target. We found that imagery-induced interference and facilitation are memor y-dependent: Visual recall of common objects from long-term memory can interfere with perception, while on short-term memory tasks facilitat ion can be obtained. These results support the distinction between low -level and structure representations in visual memory.