Size of Image Affects Ability to See Details

Does the “size” of a mental image affect thinking? To find out, first picture a cat sitting beside a housefly. Now try to “zoom in” on the cat’s ears so you see them clearly. Next, picture a rabbit sitting beside an elephant. How quickly can you “see” the rabbit’s front feet? Did it take longer than picturing the cat’s ears? When a rabbit is pictured with an elephant, the rabbit’s image must be small because the elephant is large. Using such tasks, Stephen Kosslyn (1985) found that the smaller an image is, the harder it is to “see” its details. To put this finding to use, try form- ing oversize images of things you want to think about. For exam- ple, to understand electricity, picture the wires as large pipes with electrons the size of golf balls moving through them; to under- stand the human ear, explore it (in your mind’s eye) like a large cave; and so forth. -- Introduction to Psychology Gateways to Mind and Behavior E13