Distinguished Lecture Series: Stephen M. Kosslyn (Harvard)
PLEASE NOTE: “Meet the Speaker” for M&B doctoral candidates on Thursday, 17 June, 10.00-11.00, room 122 (Luisenstraße 56, ground floor). Abstract: The “imagery debate” has waxed and waned for over 30 years. This debate focuses on the nature of the format (i.e., the type of code) of the representations that underlie mental images; one camp claims that these representations are no different in kind from those that underlie language, and another camp claims that at least some of these representations serve to depict – not merely describe – information. For many years, this debate relied on a combination of introspective reports and behavioral data, and bogged down when such data could not resolve the issue. However, the debate has been revitalized with the introduction of neuroscientific data. This presentation will summarize the state of the current debate about mental imagery, and will use neuroscientific data to defend the position that imagery does in fact involve, at least in part, depictive representations: When we visualize, it makes sense to claim that we do have mental “images.” Stephen M. Kosslyn, Dean of Social Science, John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in Memory of William James, Harvard University
