Question

On Mental Imagery, Explain how the brain perceives the physical environment? Is this perception always accurate? Explain. Then, discuss why perception versus reality is important. How does this concept apply to your life?

Answer 1

It is assumed that there is association between imagery and creative imagination. Mental imagery is more or less a quasi-perceptual experience: an experience that significantly resembles perceptual experience (in any sense modality), but which occurs in the absence of appropriate external stimuli for the relevant perception. However there is conscious awareness about the quasi experience (else it qualify for the defenition of hallucination rather than mental imagery) . According to perceptual activity theory, through processes of controlled perceptual exploration brain collect the information that takes us from a vague, pre-attentive appreciation of something is out there, to a detailed understanding of what it is out there. A rapid sequence of microperceptions and microreactions occurs during this process. Through an attentive process of searching out the distinctive features and feature complexes of the things before us, we recognize and categorize them, to perceive them as whatever they are.Imagery is experienced when a schema that is not directly relevant to the exploration of the current environment is allowed at least partial control of the exploratory apparatus. Hence the accuracy of perception can be compromised by the charecteristics of the schema and extend to which it controls the perceptual process. So if it happens that the active schema manipulates the meaning much different from the reality, we have a mismatch of perception and reality. This percisting over time can result in lack of reality contact and hence compromising the mental health.