A Systematic Review of the Need for Conceptual Models of Imagery Experiences

It is reasonable to argue that researching imagery experiences requires substantial use of conceptual modeling. Cognitive architectures have been used to explain cognitive phenomena like perception, action, and information gathering, and to model them in computational solutions. However, the question arises: Is there a lack of cognitive architectures or models that represent relational and classificatory knowledge of imagery experiences? This systematic review defines the concepts of cognitive architecture and cognitive model and examines how recent research relates the concepts to imagery experiences. A concept token research methodology is applied in search of keywords and key phrases that signify occurrences of targeted concepts. The methodology is viewed as a way to define a research area based on the concept of mental imagery and other related concepts that expand this area. The results demonstrate a significant and steady upward trend in publications from the research area in the last few years. The concepts of mental imagery and motor imagery emerged as the most regularly discussed, while others, such as imagery experiences, sensorimotor, mental model and active vision, were addressed rather rarely and thus represent new avenues for investigation.