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Biomedical subjects

A Antonietti

Publications and source records attributed to A Antonietti.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

The Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire: a review.

The psychometric properties of Richardson's 1977 Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire have been studied by analyzing papers in which this questionnaire was employed. Such review showed that the Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire does not measure a unidimensional construct and does not predict the actual use of mental imagery in thinking. Further, a lack of long-term reliability of the questionnaire emerged. In conclusion, use of the questionnaire to assess the verbal-visual cognitive style appears questionable.

Eye Movements

Creative synthesis of visual images is not associated with individual differences.

50 undergraduates were tested on a mental synthesis task aimed at producing creative visual patterns and were administered three questionnaires measuring imagery vividness and control. Analysis did not support a relationship between scores on visual synthesis and imagery and showed that neither kind of score was influenced by sex and studies attended.

Adult

Representation of mental imagery functions.

A questionnaire was administered to 250 undergraduates to study their conceptions about the efficacy of mental images in thinking. Analysis showed that subjects rated differently the usefulness of visual imagery according to the kind of content rather than the mental process involved.

Adult

Solution of an insight problem at different age levels.

The purpose was to study performance on an insight problem by 3- to 25-yr.-olds. A task involving restructuring and requiring two wooden blocks be fitted together to form a tetrahedron was presented to five groups of 20 subjects each from kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, high school, and a university. The frequencies of solvers within each group increased from the first age group to the third but then remained constant. Solution times and frequencies of solutions attempted were not significantly different among the five groups. Perhaps insight does not follow the same developmental trend as other thinking processes.

Adolescent

Undergraduates' conceptions of cognitive functions of mental imagery.

A questionnaire was administered to 42 undergraduates to study what they thought about the role of mental images in memorizing, problem-solving, musing, and everyday-life activities. Analysis showed that, according to students' conceptions, imagery is more useful in undirected than in directed thinking and that the efficacy of visual images is rated higher when they are employed to represent mentally concrete than abstract material.

Adult

Mental visualization before and after problem presentation: a comparison.

Three experiments were carried out to study the effects on problem solving of visualization when subjects (secondary-school students and undergraduates) were instructed to generate mental images before the problem was presented and when they received such a hint after being given the problem. In each experiment an arithmetic, a geometric, and a practical problem were presented in three different conditions, a control condition, an "imagery-before" condition, and an "imagery-after" condition. Analysis showed that, in general, the "imagery-after" task helps subjects to overcome the misleading or fixating tendencies which interfere with problem solution; in contrast, the "imagery-before" task may enhance such tendencies.

Adult

Effects of tryptophan depletion on Poggendorff illusion, corner Poggendorff illusion, and attention.

The effects of a tryptophan-free amino acid mixture on Poggendorff illusion, corner Poggendorff illusion, and attention were investigated with 12 male subjects who ingested either a balanced amino acid mixture or a tryptophan-free mixture, the latter known to cause a marked depletion of brain tryptophan and serotonin. No significant difference between the two mixtures on the perceptual illusions was found.

Adult

An increase in strength of tilt aftereffect associated with tryptophan depletion.

The effects of a tryptophan-free amino acid mixture on tilt aftereffect, movement aftereffect, and the Mueller-Lyer illusion were studied. 12 male subjects ingested either a balanced amino acid mixture or a tryptophan-free mixture which causes a marked depletion of brain tryptophan and serotonin. The tryptophan-free mixture significantly increased the strength of tilt aftereffect but had no effect on movement aftereffect or the Mueller-Lyer illusion. These results were discussed with reference to the pharmacological activity of serotonin and its influence on the strength of lateral inhibition in mammalian brains.

Adult