Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Reply to: Assessing the causal role of early visual areas in visual mental imagery

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Pearson, J. The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 20, 624–634 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bartolomeo, P., Hajhajate, D., Liu, J. & Spagna, A. Assessing the causal role of early visual areas in visual mental imagery. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0348-5 (2020).

  3. de Gelder, B., Tamietto, M., Pegna, A. J. & Van den Stock, J. Visual imagery influences brain responses to visual stimulation in bilateral cortical blindness. Cortex 72, 15–26 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chatterjee, A. & Southwood, M. H. Cortical blindness and visual imagery. Neurology 45, 2189–2195 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Moro, V., Berlucchi, G., Lerch, J., Tomaiuolo, F. & Aglioti, S. M. Selective deficit of mental visual imagery with intact primary visual cortex and visual perception. Cortex 44, 109–118 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bartolomeo, P. The neural correlates of visual mental imagery: An ongoing debate. Cortex 44, 107–108 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Zeman, A., Dewar, M. & della Sala, S. Lives without imagery — congenital aphantasia. Cortex 73, 378–380 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Keogh, R. & Pearson, J. The blind mind: no sensory visual imagery in aphantasia. Cortex 105, 53–60 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Thorudottir, S. et al. The architect who lost the ability to imagine: the cerebral basis of visual imagery. Brain Sciences 10, 59–15 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bartolomeo, P. et al. Multiple-domain dissociation between impaired visual perception and preserved mental imagery in a patient with bilateral extrastriate lesions. Neuropsychologia 36, 239–249 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Pearson, J. New directions in mental-imagery research: the binocular-rivalry technique and decoding fMRI patterns. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 23, 178–183 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Bergmann, J., Genc, E., Kohler, A., Singer, W. & Pearson, J. Smaller primary visual cortex is associated with stronger, but less precise mental imagery. Cerebral Cortex 26, 3838–3850 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Keogh, R., Bergmann, J. & Pearson, J. Cortical excitability controls the strength of mental imagery. elife 9, e50232 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joel Pearson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pearson, J. Reply to: Assessing the causal role of early visual areas in visual mental imagery. Nat Rev Neurosci 21, 517–518 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0349-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0349-4

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing