Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Imagery and Knowledge Representation

Two important cognitive systems a person has are a person’s visual and verbal systems which are two very basic ways that individuals are able to express themselves to others.  These two systems allow individuals to both create word and visual images in order to communicate thoughts with other individuals. In the verbal system a person is able to create words, portray thoughts, sequence words together in order to communicate with other people.  In the visual system the system is more sensory based, relying on holistic, emotional, personal, and fantasy-based information or images.  This system though being called visual is not just about seeing it’s also about sounds and touch.  This paper is going to compare and contrast verbal and visual imagery, provide an argument of which is considered more important by the author, and provide justification of the argument with research.
Verbal and Visual Imagery
For cognitive functioning to work in most individuals they must use imagery as well as verbal systems together. According to Mzoughi and Abdelhak (2011), most people uses both verbal and visual together though some people may be better at one or the other.  Some individuals may be better visually and be considered better visualizers while others are better verbally and considered better verbalizers. Since language came out of a need for communication with other people in verbal systems it is more concerned with factual demands that are made of individuals in reality which must be addressed by the individual or others. Verbal systems tend to involve a person thinking in more linear, factual, and conceptual ways. Verbal systems require a conscious control since a person is sequencing words into sentences so that communication with others can take place (Shergill, Bullmore, Brammer, Willams, Murray, & McGuire, 2001).
Imagery systems are different in that it deals more in sensory, holistic, fantasy-based emotional, and personal (Gregory, 2010). Images that a person views more easily arouse a person’s senses so the person is not only seeing images they are having sensations that go with the images which affect the individual through sound and touch. The individual’s mind will react to the images that they are viewing quickly arousing emotions and memories in a person since images more than words are the stuff of imagination, fantasy, and symbolism (Gregory, 2010). Images are influenced through a person’s unconscious which can be seen through the dreams of a person as well as the fact that individuals in infancy process their world through images long before the person learns to use language.
Argument of Importance
It is the opinion of the author that when it comes to the importance of one or the other while both are important to a person’s cognitive functioning visual may be slightly more important. A person uses both visual and verbal daily in life and in combination with one another in order to function and communicate.  Some individuals can be more verbal while others can be more visual.  According to Gregory (2010), individuals are able to visual and take in information before they are ever able to speak and use language.  Being an infant all processes for the individual are visual, they see images and react to the information that they are seeing. Visual imagery evokes emotion in a person it allows for specific recall of memories, it allows individuals to express themselves more vividly then they would be able to without it.  According to Gregory (2010), the word tree in a sentence is meaningless if a person has never seen a tree but having seen the tree means the person is more able to vividly describe the tree and create an image through the use of words of the tree. 
Conclusion
Two important cognitive systems a person has are a person’s visual and verbal systems which are two very basic ways that individuals are able to express themselves to others.  These two systems allow individuals to both create word and visual images in order to communicate thoughts with other individuals. In the verbal system a person is able to create words, portray thoughts, sequence words together in order to communicate with other people.  In the visual system the system is more sensory based, relying on holistic, emotional, personal, and fantasy-based information or images.  This system though being called visual is not just about seeing it’s also about sounds and touch.  This paper compared and contrasted verbal and visual imagery, provided an argument of which is considered more important by the author, and provided justification of the argument with research.









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