Imagery and imagination in psychological science

Abstract

Imagery and imagination are different mental abilities but the boundaries between them are not always clear. From a psychological perspective, imagery and imagination partially share the same underlying neural structures although referring to different mental processes. In both cases, the underlying ability is to create a internal representation, like a picture or a film that is “projected” in our mind. Seeing with the mind’s eye, as it has been defined. However, while imagination preferentially refers to dream-like processes, imagery have stronger cognitive grounds and may be defined as the ability to generate, transform and manipulate mental representations involving visual and/or spatial characteristics.