Imagery, Cognitive Mapping and Their Links With Mirror Neurons Research Paper

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Imagery and Cognitive Mapping and Their Common Applications

Imagery and its applications

Humans are capable of imagining moving without actually moving in real life. Studies making use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRi) reveal that the same Motor Imagery (MI) part activated during real movement is also activated during imagination. Perhaps similar visual inputs lead to the activation of mirror neurons in the course of observing an action; internal inputs also activate them in cases of motor imagery[footnoteRef:2]. Researchers show that imagery makes use of the same neural pathways as those used in real movement[footnoteRef:3]. [2: Schieber, Marc H. Mirror Neurons: Reflecting on the Motor Cortex and Spinal Cord. February 18, 2013. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213000079 (accessed August 04, 2015). ] [3: Moran, Aidan, Jessica Bramham, Christian Collet, Aymeric Guillot, and Tadhg Macintyre. "Motor imagery in clinical disorders: importance and implications." Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2015.]

Kinesthetic Imagery: Research that examined what effects imagery had on acquiring and executing motor performance separately delineates imagery into perspectives and modalities. The delineation encompasses kinesthetic and visual sensory modalities, where there is further separation of the visual modality into 2 visual imagery perspectives. The two are: internal imagery perspective, and the external imagery perspective. Kinesthetic imagery modality is described as the feelings it has in carrying out an action, including aspects like effort and force that are used in the movement[footnoteRef:4]. [4: Callow, Nichola, Ross Roberts, Lew Hardy, Dan Jiang, and Martin Edwards. "Performance improvements from imagery: evidence that internal visual imagery is superior to external visual imagery for slalom performance." NCBI, 2013.]

Motor Imagery: MI is used widely in studying action planning as well as action representation. The description given to MI is that of an active cognitive process where a particular action is reproduced internally in the working memory from the first person perspective, with no motor output involved overtly. It usually encompasses several sensory modalities, such as the case where a person mentally visualizes their arm moving a ball and they feel their muscles contracting and the balls "thump" on the ground is heard[footnoteRef:5]. [5: Bock, Otmar, Nadja Schott, and Charalambos Papaxanthis. "Motor Imagery: lessons learned in movement science might be applicable for spaceflight." Frontiers in Systems NeuroScience, 2015.]

Cognitive Mapping

Generally, the definition given to a cognitive map is "an overall mental image or representation of the space and layout setting." This implies that cognitive mapping is the process taking place externally to aid cognitive map creation. Kosko (1986) originally developed Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM), a dynamic and semi-quantitative method used in structuring expert knowledge. The beginnings of FCM can be traced back to cognitive mapping (Axelrod 1976). Just like various cognitive maps, FCMs make use of graphs to represent systems visually illustrating edges or relationships that exist between nodes, systems and concepts, including the feedback relationships. The concepts are connected semantically to help logically define them[footnoteRef:6]. [6: Gray, Steven, et al. "Using fuzzy cognitive mapping as a participatory approach to analyze change, preferred states, and perceived resilience of social-ecological systems." Resiliance Alliance, 2015.]

Application

FCMs have also been proposed as special tools for the aggregation of varied knowledge sources to make a representation of the combined and scaled-up beliefs and knowledge. The result of this aggregation is at times called a social cognitive map and is deemed to represent shared knowledge. Shared knowledge, as a concept, has been made use widely in the synthesis of systems deemed complex and also to characterize agreements in knowledge among groups and also individuals.

A statement of how imagery and cognitive mapping might be applied to the improvement of long-term memory

Research reveals that mental imagery training leads to significant improvements in the performance of memory in both healthy old and younger adults. Also, the improvements proved to be reliable and maintainable in the populations studied. Self referential imagery, where participants visualize themselves in interactions with a particular item, has been shown to have certain benefits. Studies in older adults have also shown that some benefits can be accrued. A strategy which has proven beneficial to adults is the use of imagery in encoding. Mental imagery has gained popularity recently as a way of training memory. Research does back up its effectiveness in both healthy old and young adults. Furthermore, the improvements made have proven themselves to be reliable and maintainable in the populations studied. Self referential has particularly been helpful. Several studies that were carried out using adults back this up and the improvements were indeed a significant success[footnoteRef:7].

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[7: Hussey, Erin, John Smolinsky, Irene Piryatinsky, Andrew Budson, and Brandon Ally. "Using mental imagery to improve memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease: Trouble generating or remembering the mind's eye?" NCBI, 2012.]

Cognitive Mapping and Improvement of Long-Term Memory

Recent research has a followed a trend indicating that neither limited localization nor non-localization theories are wholly acceptable. Rather, it indicates the existence of varied kinds of memory that relate to the varied kinds of information where these pieces of information are maybe mostly localized in the neural systems. This assumption assumes the non-existence of a memory area. Instead, several memory areas do exist and each one of them is responsible for the storage of varied kinds of information. The hippocampus, for example, ensures both the construction and storage of cognitive maps[footnoteRef:8]. [8: O' Keefe, John, and Lynn Nadel. "The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map." n.d. Retrieved from: http://www.cognitivemap.net/HCMpdf/Ch13.pdf. ]

A Statement Regarding the Role of Mirror Neurons With Regard to Imagery, Cognitive Mapping and Information Transfer

Imagery and Mirror Neurons

Just as in the case in monkeys, human beings possess mirror neurons that are fired both in perception and the taking of action. To locate these minute cells, one will have to attach electrodes deeply inside the human brain. Because this isn't practical yet, the current studies are reliant on imaging that shows certain brain areas "light up" in the course of certain circumstances. Around 139 imaging studies do confirm mirroring activities in various sections of the human brain. These sections correspond to the sections that house mirror neurons in the brains of monkeys. Since in the case of humans there are several million neurons in the lit-up sections, the term "mirror system" is often used in place of mirror cells[footnoteRef:9]. [9: Ehrenfeld, Temma. "Reflections on Mirror Neurons." APS, 2011.]

Cognitive Mapping and Mirror Neurons

In their day-to-day activities, humans are exposed constantly to actions of other humans inhabiting the world they reside in. They not only encounter and experience the behaviors of these humans and also understand and anticipate the consequences of these behaviors, they are capable of doing a lot more. This includes attributing intentions of others, and deciding if their actions are in one way or another premeditated and deliberate or if they aren't and are just accidental. Many scientific discourses now reveal the place of interaction as a means for acquiring knowledge. This has been demonstrated in the development of language. As opposed to the "language acquisition device" idea, the structure of perception in social interactions is linked to the development of vocals and also in the learning of languages[footnoteRef:10]. [10: Hipolito, Ines. A Philosophical Approach to Embodied Cognition through Mirror Neuron System. Centre for Artificial Intelligence, n.d.]

Information Transfer and Mirror Neurons

We are still unaware of the exact mirror neuron system's function in monkeys. The researchers who first came across them hold the belief that they have a couple of uses. First, they have a role to play in understanding others' actions. The observation of an action does trigger the mirror neuron system into generating its motor representation. This is in correspondence with exactly what the action produces. This simply means that the visual information is transformed into knowledge of the others' actions' intentions. Second, it serves the function of imitation -- learning the performance of actions by observing other people[footnoteRef:11]. [11: Costandi, Mo. Reflecting on mirror neurons. August 23, 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2013/aug/23/mirror-neurons (accessed August 04, 2015).]

Overall, consider the application of imagery and cognitive mapping as tools to enhance transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory

Memory is a vital faculty among humans and scientists are continuously making sustained efforts to find ways to enhance human memory. While many people have a limited understanding of the scope of memory (Caine and Caine, 1997), the roles played by memory cut across several dimensions including focus, learning, linking, remembering and making use of several pieces of knowledge and skills consistently. The working memory holds new information as it is being processed. This is where information processing takes place. Nonetheless, information can be lost easily while here and so there is need to keep it active. The attainment of activation is achieved when focus is relatively strong and the moment the person loses focus, they lose the information as well. It is necessary that the focus is maintained for at least 20 seconds so that the information can be pushed to long-term memory......

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