Table 1.
Studies used in the imagery meta-analysis.
| Modality | First author | Year | Imagery task | Baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUD* | Belardinelli | 2009 | Imagine performing sensory action | Listen to sentence designating abstract concept |
| AUD | Bunzeck | 2005 | Imagined sounds corresponding to movie | Passive viewing of scrambled scene |
| AUD | Halpern | 1999 | Imagine continuation of tone sequence | Passive listening to tones |
| AUD* | Kellenbach | 2001 | Retrieval of sensory specific object knowledge concerning color, sound, size | Visual search for X in unrelated letter string |
| AUD* | Kiefer | 2008 | Lexical decision on stimuli with and without auditory features | Implicit/rest |
| AUD | Nyberg | 2000 | Recall sounds paired with textual cue | Implicit/rest |
| AUD | Wheeler | 2000 | Recall studied complex picture or sound | Opposite modality recall |
| AUD | Yoo | 2001 | Imagine recorded chord in response to cue | Implicit/rest |
| GUS* | Belardinelli | 2009 | Imagine performing sensory action | Listen to sentence designating abstract concept |
| GUS | Kikuchi | 2005 | Imagine taste of strong-tasting pictured foods | Viewing colored balls |
| GUS | Kobayashi | 2004 | Taste recall for pictured food items | Implicit/rest |
| GUS | Small | 2003 | Same/different judgments of pictured foods vs. locations | Passive viewing of locations |
| GUS | Veldhuizen | 2007 | Detection of taste in a tasteless solution | Passive swallowing |
| MTR* | Belardinelli | 2009 | Imagine performing sensory action | Listen to sentence designating abstract concept |
| MTR | Canessa | 2007 | Judgments whether items are manipulated using the same action | Implicit/rest |
| MTR | Creem-Regehr | 2007 | Mental rotation of self(motor) or other (visual) | Implicit/rest + no rotation |
| MTR | Dechent | 2004 | Imagined execution of trained finger tapping sequence | Visual imagery of scene |
| MTR | Guillot | 2009 | Imagined motor execution | Passive tone listening |
| MTR | Hanakawa | 2002 | Imagined execution of trained finger tapping sequence | Fixation |
| MTR* | Hauk | 2004 | Reading action words associated with specific body parts (e.g., “KICK”) | Fixation |
| MTR | Johnson | 2002 | Imagined grip | Foil trials |
| MTR | Nyberg | 2001 | Imagined execution of actions | Implicit/rest |
| MTR | Servos | 2002 | Imagined execution of motor sequence | Visual object imagery |
| MTR* | Simmons | 2003 | Property verification | Lexical decision |
| MTR | Vingerhoets | 2002 | Mental rotation of tools and hands to make same/different judgments | Passive viewing (non-rotated pictures) |
| OLF* | Belardinelli | 2009 | Imagine performing sensory action | Listen to sentence designating abstract concept |
| OLF | Djordjevic | 2005 | Imagined odors | Odor detection in the absence of odor |
| OLF | Gottfried | 2004 | Recall of odor paired with object pictures during training | View picture without associated odor |
| OLF | Plailly | 2012 | Odor imagery | Implicit/rest |
| OLF | Yeshurun | 2009 | Recall remembered smell | Implicit/rest |
| TAC* | Belardinelli | 2009 | Imagine performing sensory action | Listen to sentence designating abstract concept |
| TAC* | Newman | 2005 | Haptic/form judgments on pairs of concrete object names | Implicit/rest |
| TAC | Yoo | 2003 | Imagined tactile stimulation | Implicit/rest |
| VCO | Hsu | 2011 | Color word similarity judgment | Implicit/rest |
| VCO | Hsu | 2012 | Relative luminance decision on chromatic/achromatic object names | Evaluative judgments on abstract concepts |
| VCO* | Kellenbach | 2001 | Retrieval of sensory specific object knowledge | Visual search for X in unrelated letter string |
| VCO | Sack | 2002 | Mental clock task; color and angle judgments | Implicit/rest |
| VFO* | D'Esposito | 1997 | Visualize named concrete objects | Abstract concept |
| VFO | Ganis | 2004 | Visualize a line drawing | Implicit/rest |
| VFO | Gulyás | 2001 | Visualize capital letters from a known passage of text | Implicit/rest |
| VFO | Ishai | 2000 | Visualize recently studied or famous faces | Passively view letter strings |
| VFO* | Kellenbach | 2001 | Retrieval of sensory specific object knowledge | Visual search for X in letter string |
| VFO | Kosslyn | 1993 | Visualize uppercase block letters | Response to unrelated target |
| VFO | Kosslyn | 1995 | Visual form judgments on imagined line drawings | Passive listening |
| VFO | Kosslyn | 1997 | Visualize uppercase block letters | Response to target grid element |
| VFO* | Mellet | 1996 | Three-dimensional object visualization | Passive listening/rest |
| VFO* | Newman | 2005 | Haptic/form judgments on pairs of concrete object names | Implicit/rest |
| VFO* | Oliver | 2009 | Property verification | Lexical decision |
| VFO | Sack | 2002 | Mental clock task; color and angle judgments | Implicit/rest |
| VFO | Thompson | 2001 | Compare visualized and displayed patterns | Response to unrelated auditory cue |
| VFO | Trojano | 2000 | Comparing visualized clock faces | Numerical judgment |
| VFO | Yomogida | 2004 | Object imagery and synthesis | Implicit/rest |
| VMO | Alivisatos | 1997 | Mental rotation | Discrimination of retters/rumbers |
| VMO | Barnes | 2000 | Mental rotation and linear translation | Implicit/rest |
| VMO | Creem-Regehr | 2007 | Mental rotation of self (MTR) or other (VMO) | Implicit/rest + no rotation |
| VMO | de Lange | 2005 | Judge laterality of left/right hands | Visual imagery |
| VMO | Goebel | 1998 | Imagine previously studied moving stimuli | Implicit/rest |
| VMO | Guillot | 2009 | Visualized motor execution from 1st person perspective | Passive tone listening |
| VMO | Jordan | 2001 | Mental rotation | Same/different/ numerosity judgments on static figures |
| VMO | Kaas | 2010 | Imagine moving ball | Passively listening to unrelated tone |
| VMO | Slotnick | 2005 | Mental rotation | Passively attend to display |
Note: “
*
” denotes experiment with a semantic component; AUD, auditory, GUS, gustatory; MTR, motor; OLF, olfactory; TAC, tactile; VCO, visual-color; VFO, visual-form; VMO, visual-motion.