Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T03:06:58.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Emotional Mental Imagery

from Part II - Imagery-Based Forms of the Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2020

By
Simon E. Blackwell
Edited by
Anna Abraham
Anna Abraham
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Get access

Summary

The experience of mental imagery is a common part of everyday life for most people, and much of this mental imagery has an emotional tone. For example, we may enjoy anticipating an upcoming holiday in our imagination, or an unpleasant image we saw on the television the previous evening may suddenly flash into our mind and bring with it a feeling of sadness or disgust. Scientific research into mental imagery has demonstrated its capacity to evoke emotion, and this is likely to play a role in the important functions that mental imagery appears to have in everyday life. However, the experience of emotional mental imagery is not always helpful, and dysfunctions in emotional mental imagery are observed across a range of areas of mental health, such as depression and anxiety disorders. At the same time, the properties of emotional mental imagery can be deliberately harnessed, for example in psychological therapies. The research presented in this chapter highlights the importance of being aware of the capacity of mental imagery to evoke emotion and the properties of emotional mental imagery when studying the imagination, and raises a number of suggestions for furthering interdisciplinary research in this area.

Keywords

Mental imagerymental time travelmemoryemotionepisodic simulation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination , pp. 241 - 257
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arntz, A. (2012). Imagery Rescripting as a Therapeutic Technique: Review of Clinical Trials, Basic Studies, and Research Agenda. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 3, 121–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aynsworth, C., Nemat, N., Collerton, D., Smailes, D., and Dudley, R. (2017). Reality Monitoring Performance and the Role of Visual Imagery in Visual Hallucinations. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 97, 115–122.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., and Andrade, J. (2000). Working Memory and the Vividness of Imagery. Journal of Experimental Psychology-General, 129, 126–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barsics, C., van der Linden, M., and D’Argembeau, A. (2016). Frequency, Characteristics, and Perceived Functions of Emotional Future Thinking in Daily Life. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69, 217–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berntsen, D., and Jacobsen, A. S. (2008). Involuntary (Spontaneous) Mental Time Travel into the Past and Future. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1093–1104.Google Scholar
Blackwell, S. E. (2019). Mental Imagery: From Basic Research to Clinical Practice. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 29(3), 235–247.Google Scholar
Blackwell, S. E., and Holmes, E. A. (2010). Modifying Interpretation and Imagination in Clinical Depression: A Single-Case Series Using Cognitive Bias Modification. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 338–350.Google Scholar
Carrera, P., Caballero, A., and Muñoz, D. (2012). Future-Oriented Emotions in the Prediction of Binge-Drinking Intention and Expectation: The Role of Anticipated and Anticipatory Emotions. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 53, 273–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chan, C. K. Y., and Cameron, L. D. (2012). Promoting Physical Activity with Goal-Oriented Mental Imagery: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 35, 347–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, S. N., Staugaard, S. R., and Berntsen, D. (2016). Inducing Involuntary and Voluntary Mental Time Travel using a Laboratory Paradigm. Memory & Cognition, 44, 376–389.Google Scholar
Conroy, D., and Hagger, M. S. (2018). Imagery Interventions in Health Behavior: A Meta-Analysis. Health Psychology, 37, 668–679.Google Scholar
Conway, M. A., Meares, K., and Standart, S. (2004). Images and Goals. Memory, 12, 525–531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conway, M. A., Singer, J. A., and Tagini, A. (2004). The Self and Autobiographical Memory: Correspondence and Coherence. Social Cognition, 22, 491–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cumming, J., and Williams, S. E. (2012). The Role of Imagery in Performance. In Murphy, S. M. (ed.), Handbook of Sport and Performance Psychology. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 213–232.Google Scholar
D’Argembeau, A., Renaud, O., and van der Linden, M. (2011). Frequency, Characteristics and Functions of Future-Oriented Thoughts in Daily Life. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 96–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Simplicio, M., Renner, F., Blackwell, S. E., et al. (2016). An Investigation of Mental Imagery in Bipolar Disorder: Exploring “the Mind’s Eye”. Bipolar Disorders, 18, 669–683.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, D. (2007). Restructuring Implicational Meaning through Memory-Based Imagery: Some Historical Notes. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 38, 306–316.Google Scholar
Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M., Hackmann, A., McManus, F., and Fennell, M. (2005). Cognitive Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Development and Evaluation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 413–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fritzsche, A., Schlier, B., Oettingen, G., and Lincoln, T. M. (2016). Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions Increases Goal-Attainment in Individuals with Mild to Moderate Depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 40, 557–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golla, F., Hutton, E. L., and Walter, W. G. (1943). The Objective Study of Mental Imagery. Journal of Mental Science, 89, 216–223.Google Scholar
Görgen, S. M., Joormann, J., Hiller, W., and Witthöft, M. (2015). Implicit Affect after Mental Imagery: Introduction of a Novel Measure and Relations to Depressive Symptoms in a Non-Clinical Sample. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 6, 1–23.Google Scholar
Gregory, W. L., Cialdini, R. B., and Carpenter, K. M. (1982). Self-Relevant Scenarios as Mediators of Likelihood Estimates and Compliance – Does Imagining Make it So? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 89–99.Google Scholar
Hales, S. A., Blackwell, S. E., Di Simplicio, M., et al. (2014). Imagery-Based Cognitive Behavioral Assessment. In Brown, G. P. and Clark, D. A. (eds.), Assessment in Cognitive Therapy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hales, S. A., Deeprose, C., Goodwin, G. M., and Holmes, E. A. (2011). Cognitions in Bipolar Disorder versus Unipolar Depression: Imagining Suicide. Bipolar Disorders, 13, 651–661.Google Scholar
Hanrahan, C., and Vergeer, I. (2001). Multiple Uses of Mental Imagery by Professional Modern Dancers. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 20, 231–255.Google Scholar
Hirsch, C. R., Mathews, A., Clark, D. M., Williams, R., and Morrison, J. (2005). The Causal Role of Negative Imagery in Social Anxiety: A Test in Confident Public Speakers. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 37, 159–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hitchcock, C., Mueller, V., Hammond, E., et al. (2016). The Effects of Autobiographical Memory Flexibility (MemFlex) Training: An Uncontrolled Trial in Individuals in Remission from Depression. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 52, 92–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hitchcock, C., Werner-Seidler, A., Blackwell, S. E., and Dalgleish, T. (2017). Autobiographical Episodic Memory-Based Training for the Treatment of Mood, Anxiety and Stress-Related Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 52, 92–107.Google Scholar
Holmes, E. A., Blackwell, S. E., Burnett Heyes, S., Renner, F., and Raes, F. (2016). Mental Imagery in Depression: Phenomenology, Potential Mechanisms, and Treatment Implications. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12. doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-092925.Google Scholar
Holmes, E. A., James, E. L., Kilford, E. J., and Deeprose, C. (2010). Key Steps in Developing a Cognitive Vaccine against Traumatic Flashbacks: Visuospatial Tetris versus Verbal Pub Quiz. PloS One, 5, e13706.Google Scholar
Holmes, E. A., Lang, T. J., and Shah, D. M. (2009). Developing Interpretation Bias Modification as a “Cognitive Vaccine” for Depressed Mood – Imagining Positive Events Makes you Feel Better than Thinking about them Verbally. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 76–88.Google Scholar
Holmes, E. A., and Mathews, A. (2005). Mental Imagery and Emotion: A Special Relationship? Emotion, 5, 489–497.Google Scholar
Ivins, A., Di Simplicio, M., Close, H., Goodwin, G. M., and Holmes, E. A. (2014). Mental Imagery in Bipolar Affective Disorder versus Unipolar Depression: Investigating Cognitions at times of “Positive” Mood. Journal of Affective Disorders, 166, 234–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iyadurai, L., Blackwell, S. E., Meiser-Stedman, , et al. (2017). Preventing Intrusive Memories after Trauma via a Brief Intervention Involving Tetris Computer Game Play in the Emergency Department: A Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial. Molecular Psychiatry, 23(3), 674–682. doi:10.1038/mp.2017.23.Google Scholar
Ji, J. L., Burnett Heyes, S., MacLeod, C., and Holmes, E. A. (2016). Emotional Mental Imagery as Simulation of Reality: Fear and Beyond. A Tribute to Peter Lang. Behavior Therapy, 47, 702–719.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ji, J. L., Holmes, E. A., and Blackwell, S. E. (2017). Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel: Positive Prospective Mental Imagery and Optimism in Depression. Psychiatry Research, 247, 155–162.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., and Tversky, A. (1982). The Simulation Heuristic. In Kahneman, D, Slovic, P, and Tversky, A (eds.), Judgement Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 201–208.Google Scholar
Kavanagh, D. J., Andrade, J., and May, J. (2005). Imaginary Relish and Exquisite Torture: The Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire. Psychological Review, 112, 446–467.Google Scholar
Kessler, H., Holmes, E. A., Blackwell, S. E., et al. (2018). Reducing Intrusive Memories of Trauma using a Visuospatial Interference Intervention with Inpatients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(12), 1076–1090.Google Scholar
Knäuper, B., McCollam, A., Rosen-Brown, A., et al. (2011). Fruitful Plans: Adding Targeted Mental Imagery to Implementation Intentions Increases Fruit Consumption. Psychology & Health, 26, 601–617.Google Scholar
Korrelboom, K., de Jong, M., Huijbrechts, I., and Daansen, P. (2009). Competitive Memory Training (COMET) for Treating Low Self-Esteem in Patients with Eating Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 974–980.Google Scholar
Krans, J., Näring, G., Holmes, E. A., and Becker, E. S. (2009). “I See What You Are Saying”: Intrusive Images from Listening to a Traumatic Verbal Report. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 134–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, P. J. (1979). A Bio-Informational Theory of Emotional Imagery. Psychophysiology, 16, 495–512.Google Scholar
Leer, A., Engelhard, I. M., and van den Hout, M. A. (2014). How Eye Movements in EMDR Work: Changes in Memory Vividness and Emotionality. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 45, 396–401.Google Scholar
Libby, L. K., Shaeffer, E. M., Eibach, R. P., and Slemmer, J. A. (2007). Picture Yourself at the Polls – Visual Perspective in Mental Imagery Affects Self-Perception and Behavior. Psychological Science, 18, 199–203.Google Scholar
Linke, J., and Wessa, M. (2017). Mental Imagery Training Increases Wanting of Rewards and Reward Sensitivity and Reduces Depressive Symptoms. Behavior Therapy, 48, 695–706.Google Scholar
MacLeod, A. (2017). Prospection, Well-Being, and Mental Health. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mathews, A. (1971). Psychophysiological Approaches to the Investigation of Desensitisation and Related Processes. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 73–91.Google Scholar
Mathews, A., Ridgeway, V., and Holmes, E. A. (2013). Feels like the Real Thing: Imagery is both More Realistic and Emotional than Verbal Thought. Cognition & Emotion, 27, 217–229.Google Scholar
Meevissen, Y. M. C., Peters, M. L., and Alberts, H. J. E. M. (2011). Become more Optimistic by Imagining a Best Possible Self: Effects of a Two-Week Intervention. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 42, 371–378.Google Scholar
Nelis, S., Debeer, E., Holmes, E. A., and Raes, F. (2013). Dysphoric Students Show Higher use of the Observer Perspective in their Retrieval of Positive versus Negative Autobiographical Memories. Memory, 21, 423–430.Google Scholar
Oatley, K. (2011). Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pearson, J. (2014). New Directions in Mental-Imagery Research: The Binocular-Rivalry Technique and Decoding fMRI Patterns. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 178–183.Google Scholar
Pearson, J., Naselaris, T., Holmes, E. A., and Kosslyn, S. M. (2015). Mental Imagery: Functional Mechanisms and Clinical Applications. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 590–602.Google Scholar
Pictet, A., Jermann, F., and Ceschi, G. (2016). When Less Could Be More: Investigating the Effects of a Brief Internet-Based Imagery Cognitive Bias Modification Intervention in Depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 84, 45–51.Google Scholar
Pratt, D., Cooper, M. J., and Hackmann, A. (2004). Imagery and Its Characteristics in People Who Are Anxious about Spiders. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy, 32, 165–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raes, F., Williams, J. G., and Hermans, D. (2009). Reducing Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression: A Preliminary Investigation of Memory Specificity Training (MEST) in Inpatients with Depressive Symptomatology. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40, 24–38.Google Scholar
Renner, F., Ji, J. L., Pictet, A., Holmes, E. A., and Blackwell, S. E. (2017). Effects of Engaging in Repeated Mental Imagery of Future Positive Events on Behavioural Activation in Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 41, 369–380.Google Scholar
Reynolds, M., and Brewin, C. R. (1998). Intrusive Cognitions, Coping Strategies and Emotional Responses in Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and a Non-Clinical Population. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 135–147.Google Scholar
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., and Buckner, R. L. (2008). Episodic Simulation of Future Events: Concepts, Data, and Applications. New York Academy of Sciences, 1124, 39–60.Google Scholar
Stopa, L. (2009). Imagery and the Threatened Self: Perspectives on Mental Imagery and the Self in Cognitive Therapy. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weßlau, C., Cloos, M., Höfling, V., and Steil, R. (2015). Visual Mental Imagery and Symptoms of Depression: Results from a Large-Scale Web-Based Study. BMC Psychiatry, 15, 308.Google Scholar
Wolpe, J. (1961). The Systematic Desensitization Treatment of Neurosis. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 132, 189–203.Google Scholar
Zeman, A., Dewar, M., and Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without Imagery – Congenital Aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×