Power of Mental Imagery | Page 2

MENTAL IMAGES
[Sidenote: Visual Imagery]
When we speak of "images" in connection with Imagination and
Recognition we do not refer merely to mental pictures of things seen.
Mental images are representations of past mental experiences of any
and every kind. They include past sensations of sound, taste, smell,

feeling, pain, motion and the other senses, as well as sensations of sight.
One may have a mental image of the voice of a friend, of the perfume
of a flower, just as he may have mental images of their appearance to
the eye. Indeed, the term "image" is perhaps unfortunately used in this
way, since it must be made to include not only mental pictures in a
visual sense, but all forms of reproductive mental activity.
Our recollection of past experiences may be either full and distinct or
hazy and inadequate. Some persons are entirely unable to reproduce
certain kinds of sensory experiences. Somehow they are aware of
having had these experiences, but they cannot reproduce them. Every
one of us has his own peculiarities.
[Sidenote: Auditory Imagery]
This morning I called upon a friend in his office. I was there but a short
time. Yet I can easily call to mind every detail of the surroundings. I
can see the exterior of the building, its form, size, color, window-boxes
with flowers, red tile roof, formal gardens in the open court, and even
many of the neighboring buildings. I can plainly recall the color of the
carpet on his office floor, the general tone of the paper on the wall, the
size, type and material of his desk, and many other elements going to
make up an almost perfect mental duplicate of the scene itself. I can
even see my friend sitting at his desk, and can distinctly remember the
color, cut and texture of his clothing and just how he looked when he
smiled.
[Sidenote: Imagery of Taste and Smell]
Last evening we entertained a number of friends at dinner. One of the
ladies was an accomplished musician, and later in the evening she
delighted us with her exquisite playing upon the piano. The airs she
played were familiar to me. I am fond of music and I enjoyed her
playing. I can sit here today and in imagination I can see her seated
before the piano and remember just how her hands looked as she
fingered the keys. But I find it difficult to recall the air of the selection
or the tones of the piano. My mental images of the notes as they came
from the piano are faint and uncertain and not nearly so distinct and

clear as my recollection of the scene.
[Sidenote: Muscular and Tactual Imagery]
I find it easy to recall the appearance of the food that was served me for
breakfast this morning. I can also faintly imagine the odor and taste of
the coffee and toast, but I find that these images of taste and smell are
not nearly so realistic as my mental images of what I saw and heard
during the course of the meal.
When I was in college I was very fond of handball and was a member
of the handball team. It has been many years since I played the game,
yet I can distinctly feel the peculiar tension of the right arm and
shoulder muscles that accompanied the "service." Nor do I feel the
slightest difficulty in evoking a distinct mental image of the prickly
sensations that so annoyed me as a boy when I would first put on
woolen underwear in the fall of the year.
[Sidenote: Personal Differences in Mental Imagery]
From these examples, it is apparent that we can form mental images of
past sensations of sight, sound, taste, smell and feeling, and indeed of
every kind, including the muscular or motor sense and the sense of heat
and cold.
But there is the greatest possible difference in individuals in this
respect. Some persons have distinct images of things they have seen,
are good visualizers. Others are weak in this respect, but have clear
auditory images. And so as to all the various kinds of sensory images.
This is a fact of comparatively recent discovery. The first proponent of
the idea was Fechner, but no statistical work was done in this line until
Galton entered the field, in 1880. In his "Inquiries into Human
Faculties," he says:
[Sidenote: Investigations of Doctor Galton]
"To my astonishment, I found that the great majority of the men of

science to whom I first applied protested that mental imagery was
unknown to them, and they looked on me as fanciful and fantastic in
supposing that the words 'mental imagery' really expressed what I
believed everybody supposed them to mean. They had no more notion
of its true nature than a