Physiological Responding During Self Generated Imagery of Contextually Complete Stimuli

This study analyzes autonomic responding during imagination of preselected stimulus material, and evaluates the relative importance of stimulus activity and valence on the resultant cardiac response. Thirty‐two undergraduate female subjects were presented four stimulus sentences chosen to reflect extremes of the Semantic Differential Activity and Evaluation factors. Subjects were instructed to memorize and subsequently generate an image to these stimuli in a time‐locked methodology. Phasic cardiac responding occurred during imagery, and the magnitude of the cardiac acceleration was most clearly dependent on the rated activity of the image stimulus. The valence of the stimulus (pleasant‐unpleasant) appears important primarily in conjunction with low activity imagery stimuli. The results are also discussed in relation to the possible role of somatic mediation in imagery.