Welcome to the Web Page of T. Birch

NEW! Stating the Homunculus Problem
NEW! Image Processing in the Visual Arts - Entering the Imagosphere. Slide show with sound commentary. Note: This is a prototype; the "speech" is more or less spontaneous. There are a few cases where the last item on the slide is not fully explained. I was limited to 60 seconds per slide. The sound starts simultaneously with each slide. Disable popup blockers if you do not hear sound. Feedback welcome for this experimental talk.
The documents on this page are introductory texts assume some knowledge of philosophy or psychology.
It is hoped that these texts will provide a useful starting point for anyone interested in the topic.
Some of the problems and fundamental distinctions involved in the contemporary imagery debate are introduced here. Although they lend support to the approach I take in The Nature of Visual Mental Images, these texts are intended to be informative and thought-provoking rather than argumentative.
For an academic, research-oriented, linear approach, read the texts below in sequence, starting with What are Mental Images? The on-line experiments demonstrate the empirical base that sparked the imagery debate, but some researchers will find that taking time to perform the on-line experiments is not necessary.
Readers with more casual interests often find the on-line experiments interesting -- and sometimes worrisome!
Information on citing these worksIf you cite any of these materials in an academic paper, I would appreciate an e-mail. This will help me judge their usefulness and help me improve the texts.
Tools for UnderstandingDiagrams and texts for understanding the approach explored at this site. Except for philosophers, who may wish to read the Overview first, these are not recommended as starting points. After you have reviewed some of the material in Starting Points or Related Commentary below, come back to this area.
Recent Changes: Mental Images and the Causal Chain revised for greater clarity. Image links for this section started.
NOTE: Conceptual Subway Map has links to all texts on this page, showing their interrelation according to their emphasis on experimental, traditional, cognitive, or philosophical psychology (the four separate "lines" of the subway).
Mental Images and the Causal Chain ------------->
Overview of Metaphysics of Mental Images
What is Memory? - A Philosophical Poem
Freud - Experimental page. In progress.
Wundt and the Foundational Period: 1860-1901
Conceptual Subway Map ------------------------------>
Starting Points
What Are Mental Images?Discusses how one might initially answer this question. Introduces notion of imagery types and need to describe our experiences.
On-line Experiments
Imagery Types:
After-images Eidetic Hallucinogenic MemoryImagination Imagination/Memory Projected ThoughtOther Experiments:Is color real? Perceptual Data Test Strong Eideticism
Types of Mental ImageryFurther discussion of imagery types introduced above. Uses a chart to introduce properties of general types of mental images.
After-imagesDescribes the common experience of after-images.
EideticExplains why eidetic images are problematic for psychology. Explains how they are to be differentiated from after-images.
HallucinogenicA brief introduction to a fascinating topic. Includes a proposed break-down of subtypes, including dreams and drug-induced imagery. Closes with a brief discussion of the place of Cartesian arguments in psychology.
MemoryExplains how memory images are to be distinguished from imagination images. Very brief, since it is assumed that everyone is familiar with memory images.
ImaginationImagination images are often thought to be essential to creativity. Einstein's use of an imagination image is probably the most famous example of this century. Imagination images differ from memory images in a specific way.
ProjectedProjected images are included in the inventory of types for philosophic reasons. Inspired by Wittgenstein's discussion of what it is like to imagine an object in physical space.
ThoughtAlong with memory images, the most controversial and least understood kind of mental imagery. Brief introduction lists some of the central historical problems.
Intentionality and Mental PhenomenaDefines intentionality and explains how this applies to mental phenomena in general.
Definition and Approach of Traditional PsychologyAttempts to define mental images as they are understood by traditional psychology.
Definition and Approach of Cognitive ScienceShows how contemporary cognitive science attempts to understand mental images. Indicates the current disagreement in cognitive science on the issue of the status of mental images.
Kosslyn's ApproachAttempts to compress the essential points of Kosslyn's on-going research in mental images.
Pylyshyn's ApproachExplains briefly why Pylyshyn argues against Kosslyn and why he regards mental images as the epiphenomenal results of other processes.
Related Commentary and Introduction to Philosophic Problems
Difficulties for the Theory of IntentionalityQuick outline of two theories of intentionality: the object theory and the content theory. States why both need a full defence and detailed exposition.
Mental Images and Content: Philosophic ApproachExplains why many philosophers think mental images have no content.
Mental Images and Content: Empirical PsychologyExplains why contemporary psychology can develop arguments for content in mental images.
Introduction to PictorialismIntroduction to Pictorialism. Kosslyn and others have argued that mental images have distinctively pictorial properties in cognitive processes. Uses interesting examples to illustrate how this idea can be developed.
Introduction to DescriptivismShows how thought has been understood to be inextricably linked to language or descriptions rather than images by such diverse thinkers as Blanshard and Dennett. Gives background arguments and attempts to summarize essential claims of descriptivism.
Introduction to the Contemporary Imagery DebateShows how the fundamental dispute between descriptive and pictorial accounts arises from fundamental problems in human memory.
Richardson: In Defense of the Imagism of Traditional PsychologyIntroduces the work of Alan Richardson and suggests why the approach of traditional psychology may have advantages over the other contemporary approaches based on cognitive science.