Seen and mental images in visual cortex

摘要 我们研究的长期目标是了解心理意象在计算中的作用， 人类认知，并将这种理解操作化，以提供新的工具， 心理健康对于大多数人来说，心理意象是作为视觉内容体验的， 独立于视觉，但对思想不可或缺。这一经验表明， 意象具有重要的认知功能;然而， 产生心理意象尚未揭示心理意象如何或是否有助于认知。在 这个建议，我们测试的假设，心理意象支持认知，允许 对比看不见的图像。对比可见和不可见的图像是一种常规 一种操作，例如，当一个人判断所看到的图像与 记忆图像，或者从想要检测的目标图像。为了验证这一假设， 将测量人们在想象和完成各种任务时的大脑活动， 要求他们将屏幕上显示的图片与他们被要求的图片进行比较， 回忆使用从人工智能（AI）借来的技术，我们将从 这些数据信息关于个人的心理图像，然后确定这些信息是否 可以预测大脑在执行任务时的活动和行为如果成功的话，这一提议将建立 图像的功能和计算作用。由于目前对它的了解很少， 心理意象的功能，我们的工作是理解心理意象如何发挥作用的重要一步。 意象与认知相互作用并支持认知，以及失调的心理意象如何破坏 心理健康

ABSTRACT The long term goal of our research is to understand the computational role of mental imagery in human cognition, and to operationalize this understanding to provide new tools for improving mental health. For most people, mental imagery is experienced as visual content that is independent of vision but indispensable for thought. This experience suggests that mental imagery serves an important cognitive function; however, studies of the brain systems that generate mental imagery have yet to reveal how or if mental images contribute to cognition. In this proposal, we test the hypothesis that mental imagery supports cognition by permitting the comparison of seen to unseen images. The comparison of seen and unseen images is a routine operation that occurs, for example, when one judges how a seen image differs from a remembered image, or from a target image that one wants to detect. To test this hypothesis we will measure brain activity in people as they imagine and as they complete a variety of tasks that require them to compare pictures displayed on a screen to pictures that they have been asked to remember. Using techniques borrowed from artificial intelligence (AI) we will extract from these data information about individual mental images, and then determine if this information can predict brain activity and behavior during the tasks. If successful, this proposal will establish a functional and computational role for imagery. Since very little is currently known about the function of mental imagery, our work is an essential step toward understanding how mental imagery interacts with and supports cognition, and how disregulated mental imagery can disrupt mental health.