How to Coach Yourself and Others Better Coaching Through Visualisation | Page 157

caused by) any such representation in the mind or the brain, but do
not take account of the non-representational forms of imagery.
In 2010 IBM applied for a patent on how to extract mental images of
human faces from the human brain. It uses a feedback loop based on
brain measurements of the fusiform face area in the brain which
activates proportionate with degree of facial recognition.
10.3 How mental images form in the brain
Common examples of mental images include daydreaming and the
mental visualization that occurs while reading a book. When a
musician hears a song, he or she can sometimes "see" the song notes
in their head, as well as hear them with all their tonal qualities. This
is considered different from an after-effect, such as an after-image.
Calling up an image in our minds can be a voluntary act, so it can be
characterized as being under various degrees of conscious control.
According to psychologist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, our
experiences of the world are represented in our minds as mental
images. These mental images can then be associated and compared
with others, and can be used to synthesize completely new images.
In this view, mental images allow us to form useful theories of how
the world works by formulating likely sequences of mental images
in our heads without having to directly experience that outcome.
Whether other creatures have this capability is debatable.
10.4 Mental representation
Mental images are an important topic in classical and modern
philosophy, as they are central to the study of knowledge. In the
Republic, book VII, Plato uses the metaphor of a prisoner in a cave,
bound and unable to move, sitting with his back to a fire and
watching the shadows cast on the wall in front of him by people
carrying objects behind his back. The objects that they are carrying
are representations of real things in the world. The prisoner, explains
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