What is Vividness of Imagery? Characteristics of Vivid Visual Imagery

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine the characteristics of vivid visual imagery. In Exps. 1 and 2, analysis showed that the subjects' drawings of their imagery indicated more visual features for the vivid imagers than for the non-vivid imagers and no difference in sketching time between the two groups. Image-construction time was shorter for the vivid imagers than for the non-vivid ones in Exp. 2, but no difference was found in Exp. 1. On the basis of these results, the mechanism underlying individual differences in vividness of imagery was discussed in relation to the model of imagery processes proposed by Kosslyn (1980) and his colleagues.