Mental Images and the Brain: From Cognitive Neuropsychology to Functional Neuroimaging
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuropsychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 February 2026 | Viewed by 15
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Evidence from animals and humans suggests that the visual representation of object properties (color, shape, texture, etc.) and spatial locations (where objects are in space, their relations and transformations) are subserved by two distinct pathways: the ventral visual pathway running from the occipital to the temporal lobes (the « what » pathway) and the dorsal visual pathway running from the occipital to the parietal lobes (the « where » pathway). These pathways are independent, but have reciprocal connections, which suggest that they may interact. The dorsal and ventral visual pathways are involved in visual mental imagery as well, although the overlap of deficits in visual perception and mental imagery is not always systematic. The involvment of the dorsal and ventral visual pathways in mental imagery, like in visual perception, has been demonstrated by studies of patients with brain lesions, functional brain imaging and purely behavioral studies in healthy participants. Research also appears to suggests a dissociation between object and spatial aphantasia or hyperphantasia. Through this callout, we would like to further our understanding of (1) the independence, communication or interdependence of the ventral and dorsal visual pathways in mental imagery; (2) the brain basis of visual mental imagery, especially but not exclusively, related to object properties mediated by the ventral visual pathway (as there are fewer studies, e.g., texture, etc.). We seek functional brain imaging studies in humans, studies of patients with brain lesions and of individuals with object or spatial aphantasia or hyperphantasia. We encourage, whenever possible, parallels to be drawn between visual perception and mental imagery. All paper formats (research studies, reviews, meta-analyses, etc.) are accepted.
Dr. Anna Maria Berardi
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- mental imagery
- visual perception
- dorsal visual stream
- ventral visual stream
- object
- spatial
- brain lesion
- functional brain imaging
- aphantasia
- hyperphantasia
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