Schedule of Events | Search Abstracts | Invited Symposia | Symposia | Poster Sessions | Data Blitz

Sketchpad Series 

Imagery and meaning: How individual differences in visual imagery affect conceptual knowledge

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Nathan Lautz^1,2 (), Diqing Li¹, Fanola Dede³, Eiling Yee^1,2; ¹University of Connecticut, ²Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, ³New England College of Optometry

Conceptual knowledge is grounded in simulation in neural systems for perception and action. Mental imagery is also thought to rely on simulation in these same systems, yet it remains unclear whether individual differences in imagery experience affect how concepts are represented. This planned study tests whether people with more vivid visual imagery rely more on perceptual simulation during conceptual processing. Participants (target N = 210) will judge whether word pairs are similar in shape (e.g., ruler–bookmark) or color (e.g., crow–coal), while concurrently maintaining either abstract shapes or color gradients in working memory, or performing no secondary task. We predict that judgments will be selectively disrupted when the working-memory content engages the same perceptual modality as the conceptual feature being judged (e.g., shape judgments will be most disrupted by holding abstract shapes in working memory). We also predict that this feature-specific interference will be stronger for participants with more vivid imagery. Such findings would suggest that vivid imagers depend more on simulation using visual resources to access conceptual knowledge about visual features, highlighting how imagery experience may influence the cognitive and neural bases of meaning.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Semantic