Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology
2025. Vol. 15, no. 4, 702–715
ISSN: 2658-3607 / 2658-6010 (online)
Neural correlates of visual mental imagery in a task requiring visualization of a hidden part of an object (an fMRI study)
Abstract
It is more difficult to verify imagined color, texture, or shape than spatial relations, which hinders objective assessment of visual imagery tasks performance as well as research on neural correlates of the object mental imagery. For this reason, there are many self-report methods but not enough tests for assessing object mental imagery. We developed a modification of the animal tail task, in which participants report the length of an animal’s tail relative to its body. A control condition with a contour cue was added, which provides participants with enough information to solve the task without imagery. The tasks were tested in a behavioral online study (n = 26) and in an fMRI experiment (n = 13). The dependence of response time on the length of the animal’s tail in both experiments indicates that the task involves scanning of visual mental images. The neural correlates of mental scanning included areas located along the ventral visual pathway. At the same time, the animal tail task does not provide unequivocal data to distinguish between the neural correlates of object and spatial imagery. In our modification of the task, this confound may be attributed to active examination of the contour cues. The condition-specific activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex can be interpreted not only as a correlate of mental image generation but also as a clue to a possible distinction between the brain mechanisms involved in inspecting a mental image and a real visual scene. Clarifying this issue is promising for further research.
General Information
Keywords: visual imagery, object imagery, ventral visual pathway, animal tail task, fMRI
Journal rubric: Empirical and Experimental Research
Article type: scientific article
Funding. The study was supported by a Russian Science Foundation grant, project no. 23-28-0156.
Received 03.12.2024
Accepted
Published
For citation: Ivanushko, V.P., Vasilenko, V.S., Mershina, E.A., Pechenkova, E.V. (2025). Neural correlates of visual mental imagery in a task requiring visualization of a hidden part of an object (an fMRI study) . Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 15(4), 702–715. (In Russ.). URL: https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/vspu_psychology/archive/2025_n4/Ivanushko_Vasilenko_et_al (viewed: 03.03.2026)
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