How to Coach Yourself and Others Better Coaching Through Visualisation | Page 161

induced by having participants physically handle actual 3D blocks
glued together to form objects similar to those depicted in the linedrawings. Amorim et al. have recently shown that when a cylindrical
"head" was added to Shepard and Metzler's line drawings of 3D
block figures, participants were quicker and more accurate at solving
mental rotation problems. They argue that motoric embodiment is
not just "interference" that inhibits visual mental imagery, but is
capable of facilitating mental imagery.
These and numerous related studies have led to a relative consensus
within cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy
on the neural status of mental images. Researchers generally agree
that while there is no homunculus inside the head viewing these
mental images, our brains do form and maintain mental images as
image-like wholes. The problem of exactly how these images are
stored and manipulated within the human brain, particularly within
language and communication, remains a fertile area of study.
One of the longest running research topics on the mental image has
been the fact that people report large individual differences in the
vividness of their images. Special questionnaires have been
developed to assess such differences, including the Vividness of
Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) developed by David Marks.
Laboratory studies have 7VvvW7FVBF