# MentalImagery
🚨 #Preprint alert 🚨 A multilab study led by Claire Vanbuckave investigated whether the strength of pupil responses to imagined brightness/ darkness reflect differences in vividness of mental imagery. We found … 👇 1/3 🧵 #psychology #aphantasia #pupillometry #mentalimagery
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Pupil size reflects moment-to-moment fluctuations in mental imagery, but not (or hardly) individual differences in imagery
Previous research has shown that the eyes' pupils are larger when imaging dark as compared to bright objects or scenes. Based on this, it has been claimed that pupil size is a sensitive marker of ment...
doi.org
January 15, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Also some telling quotes from people who lost #mentalimagery suddenly (acquired #aphantasia): They all sound like before the loss they could "see" things when they closed their eyes - but now it's only black. And at least the original case implies that their imagery used to look like visual #dreams
October 2, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Thrilled to share our latest #musicscience paper on the neuro-oscillatory profiles of static and dynamic music-induced visual imagery:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#mentalimagery
The neuro-oscillatory profiles of static and dynamic music-induced visual imagery
Visual imagery, i.e., seeing in the absence of the corresponding retinal input, has been linked to visual and motor processing areas of the brain. Mus…
www.sciencedirect.com
March 12, 2024 at 8:28 AM
This is exactly the problem inherent with so much #mentalimagery research: without any objective external reference to validate this, it is no better (& most likely worse...) than simply asking people how clear & detailed their imagery is. Because it is literally the same question in disguise.
Aphantasics often report N=0 or 1, Hyperphantasics can go 10+. This correlates with VVIQ, but N is an actual performance metric, not a feeling.

Bonus: As you do this, you might feel the urge to "pick up" and "eat" one of the nuggets. You might even "taste" it.

That's it. That's the whole point.
October 5, 2025 at 10:28 AM
'A huge man is bursting out of a rock' - new #musicscience study led by M. Antović shows that listeners' associations and imagery with music is full of creative references to moving bodies which share underlying embodied, image-schematic structures. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
#mentalimagery
January 31, 2024 at 9:58 AM
Please check the ad for our postdoc position! One day I'll remember to add the feed hashtags on the first try I swear. #compneurosky #neuroskyence #mentalimagery #cogpsyc #psychscisky #NeuroAI
October 26, 2023 at 2:30 AM
Very much enjoying the start of #EABCT2024 in Belgrade and looking forward to taking part in 2 symposia on #mentalimagery today! First at 12:00 in Room MR35:
September 5, 2024 at 9:06 AM
Fantastic to see this new paper out: Music listening evokes story-like visual imagery with both idiosyncratic and shared content. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... #musicscience #mentalimagery
Music listening evokes story-like visual imagery with both idiosyncratic and shared content
There is growing evidence that music can induce a wide range of visual imagery. To date, however, there have been few thorough investigations into the specific content of music-induced visual imagery,...
journals.plos.org
October 27, 2023 at 7:23 AM
Publication for Christmas in Collabra @ucpress.bsky.social!

The Impact of Aphantasia on Mental Healthcare Experiences online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...

Thanks again to the Aphantasia Network for their role in this project!

#aphantasia #mentalhealth #mentalimagery
The Impact of Aphantasia on Mental Healthcare Experiences
Approximately 4% of the population has aphantasia, which is defined as impoverished, or absent, sensory mental imagery. Previous research suggests that people with aphantasia (aphants) may have a high...
online.ucpress.edu
December 24, 2024 at 11:39 AM
If you have 10-20 minutes (depends on how fast you are), would you please consider doing this online study on #mentalimagery? It contains a survey & an experiment where you look at pictures and you respond what you see:
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #visionscience

tstbl.co/820-917
July 7, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Congratulations on the article and on bringing this ambition to fruition. I hope that this approach inspires other fields to pool data on a large scale and across labs, especially when the phenomena studied are difficult to access. A nod to my field of research, #aphantasia and #mentalimagery...
💤🧠🧪 New article! 🧪🧠💤

After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com

**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
August 19, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Long time in the making: our preprint of survey study on the diversity with how people seem to experience #mentalimagery. Suggests #aphantasia should be redefined as absence of depictive thought, not merely "not seeing". Some more take home msg:
#psychskysci #neuroscience

doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 2, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposting this - still looking for more participants! Especially if you (think you) have #aphantasia or #hyperphantasia, we are very interested in hearing from you... Also if you have experience of #prophantasia (cc @kerblooee.bsky.social)
#mentalimagery #visionscience #psychscisky
Here is a new, shorter version of our mental imagery survey. Please if you can spare a few minutes we would appreciate if you could take this & pass it along to others who might be interested. Thanks! tstbl.co/763-452
#neuroskyence #visionscience #psychscisky #aphantasia #mentalimagery
May 8, 2025 at 2:25 AM
@cerenayyildiz.bsky.social from the @smmb-lab.bsky.social just did a wonderful interview on live TV discussing our recent research looking at 'Can Music be good company'.
#musicscience #mentalimagery @sydney.edu.au
August 9, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Intrusive thoughts and images are common, but for those with health #anxiety, they're more frequent, distressing, and tied to negative emotions. Addressing these in therapy, like CBT, could improve outcomes. Important findings for mental health care. #HealthAnxiety #CBT #Psychology #mentalimagery
November 18, 2024 at 9:33 AM
Here is a new, shorter version of our mental imagery survey. Please if you can spare a few minutes we would appreciate if you could take this & pass it along to others who might be interested. Thanks! tstbl.co/763-452
#neuroskyence #visionscience #psychscisky #aphantasia #mentalimagery
February 20, 2025 at 11:53 PM

Second #EABCT2024 #mentalimagery symposium today focuses on schema therapy and imagery rescripting at 16:00 also in Room MR35:
September 5, 2024 at 9:06 AM
Highly important and relevant study by Borgohain et al. provides novel empirical, transcultural, and historical insights into visual mental imagery induced by Hindustani classical music. A must-read for anyone interested in #musicscience and #mentalimagery: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Visual Mental Imagery Evoked in Indian Classical Music: A Listener-Oriented Study - Junmoni Borgohai...
Music and visual mental imagery (VMI) are closely associated. The visual depiction of musical instruments and musical settings is central to music iconography a...
journals.sagepub.com
November 3, 2023 at 11:48 AM
And it's a wrap! We’re delighted to announce the publication of our editorial "Music and Mental Imagery" in Music & Science.
Big thanks to my wonderful co-editors, Liila Taruffi and @solangeglasser.bsky.social!

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

#musicscience #mentalimagery
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journals.sagepub.com
December 10, 2024 at 8:54 AM
First, we review some studies that suggest (to some of us anyway) that many #mentalimagery researchers assume their participants can literally* "see" imagined stimuli: they might talk about mental images appearing "gradually" or suggest that a mental image of black lines appears light grey...
October 2, 2025 at 6:43 PM
An imagery test you can't fake: pupils shrink when you imagine light—unless you're aphantasic. The lab tool turning mind's eye into measurable data. #Aphantasia #MentalImagery #Neuroscience #Pupillometry #VisionScience
The eye test for minds without pictures is getting real
Close your eyes and picture a desk lamp flicking on in a dark room. For most people, the pupils pinch, as if a real bulb just flared to life. For others, nothing happens. No reflex, no ghostly light, no inner stage. That second group has a name now, and increasingly, a measurable signature: aphantasia, the near-total absence of visual imagery.
www.credara.info
December 27, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Interesting new paper exploring intrusive thoughts and mental images in the context of health anxiety:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#mentalimagery
Intrusive Thoughts and Images in Health Anxiety: Rates, Characteristics, and Responses
Objectives Intrusive thoughts and images in Health Anxiety are poorly understood. The current study aims to explore the rates and nature of health-related intrusive thoughts and images in people wit...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 18, 2024 at 9:01 AM