Can imagery be distinguished from other forms of internal representation? Evidence from studies of information retrieval times.

This paper provides support for the notion that images, once formed, are a distinct form of internal representation, processed differently than other forms of internal representation. In two experiments, subjects decided as quickly as possible whether or not named animals had given properties. When imagery was not used, people verified properties more quickly in accordance with how strongly associated the property was with the animal in question. When images of the whole animal were consulted, in contrast, subjects were faster in accordance with increasing size of the property, and not with increasing association strength. However, if subjects imaged only the local region where a property ought to be found, and did not consult an image of the whole animal, the size of a property no longer influenced verification time. These results and their implications for the debate over imagery vs. propositional representation were discussed.