A computational theory of visuo-spatial mental imagery

Abstract

The thesis develops a new theory of visuo-spatial mental imagery: the perceptual instantiation theory. The theory is concretized in a formal framework and implemented as a computational model. The theory and its model are evaluated against a set of empirical phenomena and compared to the contemporary theories of mental imagery. The new theory is shown to provide explanations for the considered phenomena that partly go beyond those of the contemporary theories.