?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Are+Theories+of+Imagery+Theories+of+Imagination%3F+An+Active+Perception+Approach+to+Conscious+Mental+Content.&rft.creator=Thomas%2C+Nigel+J.+T.&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.subject=Perceptual+Cognitive+Psychology&rft.description=Can+theories+of+mental+imagery%2C+conscious+mental+contents%2C+developed+within+cognitive+science+throw+light+on+the+obscure+(but+culturally+very+significant)+concept+of+imagination%3F+Three+extant+views+of+mental+imagery+are+considered%3A+quasi-pictorial%2C+description%2C+and+perceptual+activity+theories.+The+first+two+face+serious+theoretical+and+empirical+difficulties.+The+third+is+(for+historically+contingent+reasons)+little+known%2C+theoretically+underdeveloped%2C+and+empirically+untried%2C+but+has+real+explanatory+potential.+It+rejects+the+%22traditional%22+symbolic+computational+view+of+mental+contents%2C+but+is+compatible+with+recent++*situated+cognition*+and++*active+vision*+approaches+in+robotics.+This+theory+is+developed+and+elucidated.+Three+related+key+aspects+of+imagination+(non-discursiveness%2C+creativity%2C+and+*seeing+as*)+raise+difficulties+for+the+other+theories.+Perceptual+activity+theory+presents+imagery+as+non-discursive+and+relates+it+closely+to+*seeing+as*.+It+is+thus+well+placed+to+be+the+basis+for+a+general+theory+of+imagination+and+its+role+in+creative+thought.&rft.publisher=Ablex&rft.contributor=Greeno%2C+Dr.+James+G.&rft.date=1999-06&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F1555%2F1%2Fim-im-cp.htm&rft.identifier=++Thomas%2C+Nigel+J.+T.++(1999)+Are+Theories+of+Imagery+Theories+of+Imagination%3F+An+Active+Perception+Approach+to+Conscious+Mental+Content.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F1555%2F