PhD Scientific Days 2026

Mental Health Sciences 3.

Mental Imagery Modulates Bistable Perception in a Modality-specific Manner

Előadó neve

Welker, Ágnes

Neptune code

DFZFE7

Előadó munkahelye

Semmelweis Doctoral School

Előadó telefonszáma

06309465439

Előadó e-mail címe

welker.agnes@phd.semmelweis.hu

Az előadás címe

Mental Imagery Modulates Bistable Perception in a Modality-specific Manner

Szerző(k) neve és munkahelye

Ágnes Welker¹

1: Semmelweis Doctoral School

Bemutatás módja

Szóbeli

Szekció

Mental Health Sciences 3.

Language of the presentation

English

Preferred session

Mental Health Sciences

Összefoglaló szövege

Introduction
Although it is now widely accepted that imagination is a multimodal phenomenon, most studies focus solely on visual imagination. To better understand visual imagination, several researchers have used the manipulation of binocular rivalry through imagination, but here we applied a no-report paradigm. We developed a similar paradigm based on an ambiguous auditory streams to investigate auditory imagery.
Aims
We aimed to objectively measure and compare mental imagery across the visual and auditory modalities.
Methods
The Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (PSI-Q) was used to measure the self-reported imagery vividness across modalities. We used bistable stimuli with sensory and imagery-based priming in both measured modalities - binocular rivalry in the visual and auditory streams in the auditory condition. The binocular rivalry paradigm is a no-report, optokinetic nystagmus-based paradigm, while in the auditory streams participants report their percept via button press.
Results
In binocular rivalry, both sensory-based and imagery-based priming had significant effects. In the case of sensory-based priming, motion aftereffect decreased the likelihood of a prime-congruent first percept, whereas imagery-based priming increased it. Furthermore, the strength of imagery-based priming in vision correlated with participants’ reported imagery vividness in the visual modality. In auditory streaming, sensory-based priming increased the likelihood of an early segregated percept, whereas imagery priming had no significant effect.
Conclusion
Our results, consistent with the literature, show that sensory-based priming influences the type of first perception in both binocular rivalry and auditory chains. However, imagery-based priming influenced subsequent perception only in rivalry, not in auditory streams. This result may suggest that the mechanisms of imagery differ across modalities; however, it may also reflect paradigm-specific factors, such as the dynamics of the auditory chains paradigm or the no-report versus button-press condition.
Funding
The funding for this research is from the K-143084 OTKA grant.

University

Semmelweis University

Supervisor

dr. Kovács Ilona

Publication of my abstract

I do not give consent to the publication of my abstract on the website of the congress.

phd.section.field

in doctoral studies before complex exam (PhD)

Kind

Szabad

Status

elfogadva

Accepted presentation method

szóbeli

Előadás fájl jóváhagyás

nem hagyta jóvá

Előadó

9785

Start

17:15

End

17:25