Researchers at the University of Tartu argue that aphantasia, the inability to form mental images, poses a serious challenge to the 18th-century philosopher David Hume's influential theory that abstract thought depends on mental imagery. Hume maintained that people can think about general concepts only by first imagining particular examples. However, people with aphantasia can reason about abstract concepts despite lacking mental imagery. In a new paper published in Neuropsychologia, the authors systematically examine and reject several possible defences of the Humean account, including appeals to non-visual, involuntary, spatial, linguistic, and unconscious imagery. They conclude that mental imagery is not necessary for abstract thought and that aphantasia cannot be dismissed as a rare exception. The findings suggest that the human mind is more flexible in representing abstract concepts than traditional philosophical theories have assumed and have implications for contemporary cognitive science and philosophy of mind.

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers used GPS trajectory data and quasi-experimental methods to evaluate how the opening of ONIKURU affected citizens’ stay behavior.