Our brains process mental images differently than real-world visuals

People can aim their attention inside a mental image, and their brains process the visuals of that image using a different mental route than the one that is used when viewing scenes in the “real” world.

A study of 28 adults found that focusing on a “remembered-map” leaned on frontal control areas rather than the usual visual regions.

The work comes from researchers at École normale supérieure, part of the Université PSL in France. It tested whether orienting attention within the mind matches how attention works while viewing items on a screen.

How mental attention works

The study was led by Anthony Clément at École normale supérieure (ENS). In a new study, the team compared attention during a remembered-map task with attention during a standard visual task.

“Our findings suggest that when we explore a mental image in our ‘mind’s eye,’ we don’t simply reuse the brain mechanisms we rely on when looking at the world,” Clément explained.

“This distinction may help us refine how we think about internal experiences like mental imagery, memory, thoughts, and even consciousness.”

Scientists often describe spatial attention, a mental process that boosts processing at one location, as working like a spotlight that favors one part of space.

Classic findings show that, before a relevant item appears, visual cortex rhythms shift to prepare the expected side.

For years, many researchers argued that mental imagery and perception share machinery in the brain. A broad review concluded that imagined and seen pictures overlap across visual, parietal, and frontal areas.

What the experiment tested

Participants first called up a long‑term memory of the map of France. Two city names then appeared, and they chose which city was closer to Paris based on their remembered map.

A cue told people to focus left or right on their mental image of the map before the city names appeared. The same cueing method guided attention in a separate, screen‑based visual task.

The team recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while people performed both tasks. This allowed the researchers to compare timing and location of changes in brain rhythms across the two attention modes.

Attention sped response times in both tasks, but the benefits did not line up across tasks for a given person. The pattern suggested distinct systems at work rather than a single, shared resource.

What mental images reveal

The key signal involved alpha activity, an 8 to 12 hertz brain rhythm linked to attention. In the screen task, alpha modulations were strongest over posterior visual regions, the usual pattern for orienting attention to the left or right.

In the mental map task, alpha changes shifted forward, with stronger effects over frontal regions that help set goals and control behavior. That shift points to a top‑down route when the brain turns attention inward.

Past work shows that alpha rhythms can reduce interference from irrelevant information during visual tasks. Recent evidence indicates that stronger alpha activity during working memory trials protects against distractors.

A separate line of studies links frontal and parietal coordination to how attention is deployed. Those networks often set the priorities that sensory regions then follow.

Why mental image attention matters

Many classroom tools rely on drawn maps, graphs, and diagrams. These results suggest that directing attention inside a remembered mental image calls on control systems rather than the same early visual regions used for seeing.

The study probed mental images drawn from semantic memory, a store of general knowledge that is not tied to a specific event. That differs from imagery based on short‑term buffers that hold a few recent items.

Being able to separate internal and external attention routes may help refine tests for attention disorders. It may also guide training plans for tasks where steady internal focus is key.

The distinction matters for research on intrusive imagery as well. If internal attention primarily uses frontal control, therapies might be tuned to support that system during recovery.

What mental images show

Future work can ask whether practice with mental maps shifts how the brain routes attention. Training could strengthen pathways that keep internal focus stable across time.

Next steps may also include higher‑resolution brain recordings that trace how signals move from frontal to visual areas. Combining EEG with imaging could capture both timing and location with more precision.

The sample included 28 adults, which is typical for this kind of lab study. Replication in larger and more diverse groups will test how stable the effect is across people.

The main takeaway is simple. The brain does not treat seeing and imagining as the same job, even when the task demands are matched.

The study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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