The Neuroscience of Imagery

Should We Take Images for Granted?

The 21st century is the most visual culture to date. We may see more images in our lifetimes than previous cultures and we may be able to assimilate more images per minute than any other culture.

This ability is said to be characteristic of late capitalist 1st world culture.

It has been suggested that we now think and experience mostly through visual means.

But there is relatively little work on the nature of images and how they influence us daily.

From the moment we open our eyes in the morning, we are bombarded with images. Usually familiar ones. But have you wondered how seeing all these images is possible?

Images represent things — usually people, places or objects in the physical world. Images stream through our iPhones and computers, from billboards and television and they don’t surprise us. They seem ordinary.

But how do we see them? The short answer:

Light enters our eyes and is absorbed by our retina. From there, the light is converted into electrical signals that evoke thoughts. These electrical signals are, in effect, the image we see.

This direct cascading of sensory input— e.g., light and electrical siginals — is one way we process the physical world.

Neuroscience points to a hierarchical staging in the brain:

Visual elements in the environment are mixed with memory, language, and emotions to produce an image.

These images appear static. But, time plays a significant role in how we see them.

It takes a couple of seconds for our brains to register an image and in this time -past experiences, memories, and even evolutionary changes over generations- enter into the final image we see.

This long reach into our past is critical to how we make sense of images. If we had no past history, we couldn’t recognize anything.

Let’s look at the physiology of sight:

• Everyone has a blind spot — a location on our retina where mental neurons break through our light-sensitive neurons. These neurons go directly to brain centers that deal with personal experiences and emotions.

In our blind spot we can’t see light but WE DON’T perceive darkness either. Our brains have accommodated this physical area and it is unconscious to us.

• Our best vision is in the very center of our gaze and our peripheral vision is less clear.
• We see people in the distance that look tiny but we don’t say to ourselves, “Those people are midgets.”

In each of these situations, our brain makes unconscious guesses about our world. These guesses are EDUCATED ones, not random one.

We anticipate and predict what is in front of us. This predictive game — about what we see — is a habit we’ve grown comfortable with over time.

Perceptual inferences is the term von Helmholtz, an early 20th century perceptual psychologist, used to describe this guessing game we do when viewing images.

You might think everyone sees images differently since each one of us have different past histories and different emotional make-ups. But the truth is, many things we see are universal because we share common beliefs and perceptions with others around the world.

I bring up the question: “What is an image?” because we use images so much in content creation and in art production.

Yet, in my experience, we don’t talk enough about 1) the selection of images for our articles and 2) the power certain images have on our audiences.

As I said before, we are a visual culture. I’m here to share with you more about our visual habits and opportunities.