When we try to remember whether we left a window open or closed, do we actually see the window in our mind? If we do, does this mental image play a role in how we think? For almost a century, scientists have debated whether mental images play a functional role in cognition. In The Case for Mental Imagery, Stephen Kosslyn, William Thompson, and Giorgio Ganis present a complete and unified argument that mental images do depict information, and that these depictions do play a functional role in human cognition. They outline a specific theory of how depictive representations are used in information processing, and show how these representations arise from neural processes. To support this theory, they seamlessly weave together conceptual analyses and the many varied empirical findings from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. In doing so, they present the conceptual grounds for positing this type of internal representation and summarize and refute arguments to the contrary. Their argument also serves as a historical review of the imagery debate from its earliest inception to its most recent phases, and provides ample evidence that significant progress has been made in our understanding of mental imagery. In illustrating how scientists think about one of the most difficult problems in psychology and neuroscience, this book goes beyond the debate to explore the nature of cognition and to draw out implications for the study of consciousness. Student and professional researchers in vision science, cognitive psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience will find The Case for Mental Imagery to be an invaluable resource for understanding not only the imagery debate, but also and more broadly, the nature of thought, and how theory and research shape the evolution of scientific debates.

The author shows how ancient and modern uses of imagery, backed by contemporary research and experience, can be applied to psychotherapy and bio medicine, including the field of psychoneuroimmunology. This introductory text traces the development of imaginative approaches and provides a guide to: the applications of imagery; indications and contraindications of its use; and guided imagery exercises directed to specific health issues.

Containing more than 2,100 original mental imagery exercises drawn from the work of the great 20th-century spiritual master and healer Colette Aboulker-Muscat, this manual of spiritual teaching and rich treasury of powerful healing images can be used as a daily source of inspiration, transformation, and healing.

Our ability to be conscious of the world around us is often discussed as one of the most amazing yet enigmatic processes under scientific investigation today. However, our ability to imagine the world around us in the absence of stimulation from that world is perhaps even more amazing. This capacity to experience objects or scenarios through imagination, that do not necessarily exist in the world, is perhaps one of the fundamental abilities that allows us successfully to think about, plan, run a dress rehearsal of future events, re-analyze past events and even simulate or fantasize abstract events that may never happen. Empirical research into mental imagery has seen a recent surge, due partly to the development of new neuroscientifc methods and their clever application, but also due to the increasing discovery and application of more objective methods to investigate this inherently internal and private process. As the topic is cross hosted in Frontiers in Perception Science and Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, we invite researchers from different fields to submit opinionated but balanced reviews, new empirical, theoretical, philosophical or technical papers covering any aspect of mental imagery. In particular, we encourage submissions focusing on different sensory modalities, such as olfaction, audition somatosensory etc. Similarly, we support submissions focusing on the relationship between mental imagery and other neural and cognitive functions or disorders such as visual working memory, visual search or disorders of anxiety. Together, we hope that collecting a group of papers on this research topic will help to unify theory while providing an overview of the state of the field, where it is heading, and how mental imagery relates to other cognitive and sensory functions.

Therapeutic Games and Guided Imagery is packed with tools for social workers counselors school professionals students and other helping professionals in the medical and mental health fields. The exercises included are both innovative and empirically tested; they aim to help clients increase the benefits of psychotherapy within a relatively short time. Professor Cheung has structured the books with tables and a cross-referenced index to facilitate easy and efficient navigation of the many step-by-step activities and exercises. The interactive exercises contained in Volume II are designed for children and adolescents with specific needs and in multicultural settings. Based on literature supporting the use of games and guided imagery for children with specific needs the materials included provide a basis for innovative and creative engagement with children and families enabling diverse solutions for diverse needs. The volume also includes a number of multilingual exercises and several examples of the guided imagery available at the associated website. Volume II features: Records of all of the guided imagery techniques are available for download and can be used in class or in practice sessionsemphasis on client and practitioner collaboration in designing more effective exercise modifications promotes creativity and flexibility in clinicianscites evidence-based literature to inform multicultural applications

This influential book shows how the systematic use of mental imagery can have a positive influence on the course of disease and can help patients to cope with pain. In Imagery in Healing, Jeanne Achterberg brings together modern scientific research and the practices of the earliest healers to support her claim that imagery is the world's oldest and most powerful healing resource. The book has become a classic in the field of alternative medicine and continues to be read by new generations of health care professionals and lay people. In Imagery in Healing, Achterberg explores in detail the role of the imagination in the healing process. She begins with an exploration of the tradition of shamanism, "the medicine of the imagination," surveying this time-honored way of touching the nexus of the mind, body, and soul. She then traces the history of the use of imagery within Western medicine, including a look at contemporary examples of how health care professionals have drawn on the power of the imagination through such methods as hypnosis, biofeedback, and the placebo effect. Ultimately, Achterberg looks to the science of immunology to uncover the most effective ground for visualization, and she presents data demonstrating how imagery can have a direct and profound impact on the workings of the immune system. Drawing on art, science, history, anthropology, and medicine, Imagery in Healing offers a highly readable overview of the profound and complex relationship between the imagination and the body.

When discussion began four years aga about launehing the American Association for the Study of Mental Imagery there was still a great deal of skepticism on the part of many academic and clinical psychologists. They held to the gradually diminishing view that mental imagery was too idiosyncratic a subject for intensive study. However, there were sufficient visionaries to recognize the undeniable importance of imagery for the functioning of life in memory and the transmission of information. Through the valiant efforts of these pioneers in psychology, art and movement therapy, and others in the field of human relations the organization has grown and flourished. Even more important is the burgeoning of knowledge about the ubiquitous nature of imagery and its impact on life. The third annual meeting of AASMI was held in 1981 at Yale University under the sponsorship of president-elect Jerome L. Singer. Sixty-five persons presented papers, workshops and theoretical studies. This volume represents the broad array of topics and approaches offered at the conference. While it is informative and stimulating to read and study the articles in this volume they can convey only a fraction of the excitement and the knowledge available to those who attended the conference. The reader will reap a two-fold benefit from this volume, for not only does it cover a vast array of topics related to imagery, but it also offers the strong possibility that the results of these works can be included in one's daily work as a clinician and/or researcher.