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A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING MENTAL IMAGERY IN DESIGN COGNITION RESEARCH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Rebecca Louise Macfie ,
Laura Anne Hay  and
Paul Rodgers
Rebecca Louise Macfie*
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde
Laura Anne Hay
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde
Paul Rodgers
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde
*
Macfie, Rebecca Louise, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom, [email protected]

Abstract

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Mental imagery is the experience of perceiving an object within one's own mind and is a subjective experience, leading to difficulties in the research and understanding of the phenomenon. This paper documents the development and verification of a framework for researching the elements of mental imagery. The framework was developed following a review of both psychology and design literature which signified three fundamental conceptual viewpoints of mental imagery: imagery modalities, dimensions of imagery ability, and imagery processes. The aim of this framework is to allow for structured research on mental imagery in any given research field. This is verified through discussion for the product design engineering discipline and provides a base for future work on this topic. The conclusions made in this paper reveal that mental imagery, and particularly visual mental imagery, is largely considered to be integral in design overlooking the different realities of designers and confirming a greater need to understand mental imagery experiences in product design engineering.

Keywords

Mental imageryDesign cognitionCreativityDesign process
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 3: ICED23 , July 2023 , pp. 171 - 180
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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