In two experiments, we used a temporal integration task to investigate visual mental images based on information in short-term memory or generated from information stored in long-term memory (LTM). We specifically asked whether the two sorts of images rely on depictive representations. If mental images rely on depictive representations, then it should be possible to combine mental images and vi...

Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic (1937-2003) transformed the study of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the neural basis of mental representation, the basic building block of abstract thought. Her pioneering research first identified the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) region essential for spatial working memory, and the extensive circuits of spatial cognition. She discovered the cellular basis of working memo...

Is the encoding of content and format necessary for representing beliefs? In three experiments using ”false-representation” tasks, we explored whether beliefs were processed like non-mental representations, under the assumption that non-mental representations require both content and format to be processed. First, beliefs were compared to sentences (linguistic medium) while keeping representati...

Based on the MEC model of Spatial Presence, an experiment (N = 34) was conducted that explores the development of Spatial Presence in readers of text. Two techniques for text writing that may facilitate Spatial Presence were derived from the model and implemented in the stimulus production: the number of verbal spatial descriptions (cues) was varied (low versus high), and one text version inclu...

behaviour as a result of experience. It is a prerequisite for episodic memory, which is selectively impaired in clinical amnesia. Primate models of amnesia are valid only if monkeys possess the capacity for secondary mental representation and only if the tests employed depend critically on its use. It is not self-evident that the conventional test of amnesia in monkeys (impaired performance on ...

An observer’s memory for the final position of a previously viewed moving target is often displaced forward in the direction of target motion. This displacement has been suggested to reflect the implied momentum of the target and has been referred to as representational momentum (Freyd & Finke, 1984; for a sampling of recent research, see Thornton & Hubbard, 2002). Momentum is one of several ph...

Patients with representational unilateral neglect were impaired in immediate recall of novel material on the neglected side as presented (viewed and removed or verbally described) or following mental rotation. Transforming material from the neglected (left) side to the non-neglected (right) side resulted in no additional loss; patients were unimpaired in directing attention to the neglected sid...

In 3 experiments, the question of viewpoint dependency in mental representations of dynamic scenes was addressed. Participants viewed film clips of soccer episodes from 1 or 2 viewpoints; they were then required to discriminate between video stills of the original episode and distractors. Recognition performance was measured in terms of accuracy and speed. The degree of viewpoint deviation betw...