Imagination

Visual, Kinesthetic, and Tactile Imaginations

Visual imagination is the ability to create mental images or visual representations of objects, scenes, or events that are not present at the moment. 

It is a cognitive process in which the mind recreates, modifies, or visualizes something based on memories, past experiences, or even fictional elements. 

Unlike visual perception, which involves capturing images from the external world through the senses, visual imagination does not rely on the presence of real visual stimuli.

Kinesthetic imagination is the ability to mentally create representations of movements without those movements actually occurring. 

This form of imagination involves recreating motor experiences, such as the sensation of walking, running, picking up an object, or performing a specific movement. 

Just as visual imagination works with images, kinesthetic imagination works with the sensation of movement, using memories or past experiences.

Tactile imagination is the ability to mentally create the sensation of touch or sensory stimuli that would normally be perceived by the skin. 

It involves recreating experiences related to touch, such as the feeling of holding an object, caressing a surface, sensing the texture of something, or perceiving variations in temperature. 

This form of imagination does not rely on real stimuli, but on memory or the ability to imagine what a specific tactile sensation would be like.

Descriptions

Visual imagination: To generate visual images in my mind, I perceive a tension/movement in my ocular muscles. 

I create a central image along with peripheral images that gradually form as I "look" at them. 

However, these images are, for the most part, not as clear and defined as those in a common dream or a lucid dream (where I am aware that I am dreaming and feel immersed in a virtual reality) that occur during the sleep period called REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement).

While I can maintain one image and generate a sequence of others related to it (around the theme of my imagination), they remain unstable in terms of definition and sharpness, lingering in shadow and with a translucent quality—more like a sense of an image, a perception that there is something visual in my mind. 

At times, I can make these images a bit clearer and more stable. Even when the image remains unclear, it is enriched and complemented by other sensory imaginings occurring simultaneously, such as kinesthetic, auditory, and tactile imagination. 

This makes the imaginative experience more vivid, despite the image itself remaining blurred.

Kinesthetic imagination: To imagine movements, I perceive a tension/movement in the muscles of my throat. 

What I do is direct this region toward the part of the body where I am imagining the movement, and by maintaining my attention on that target area, I visualize the desired movements while making subtle movements in my throat. 

Somehow, I am able to keep my focus on the part of the body while simultaneously moving my throat, creating the sensation that I am simulating the movements in that region. 

However, instead of physically perceiving my leg, I can project the movement onto a virtual—imagined—leg, which seems to be created by the eyes, as discreet eye movements also contribute to this process, intensifying the sensation of movement. 

There seems to be a dynamic interaction between these regions (eyes and throat), which not only facilitates the production of visual images but also reinforces the kinesthetic sensations associated with the imagined movement.

Tactile imagination: To generate tactile sensations, most of the perceived movements occur inside the mouth and in the breath. 

To create the sensation of heat, I exhale slowly, controlling the release of air while gently tightening my throat to enhance this feeling. 

To imagine the sensation of cold, I hold my breath after inhaling and direct my attention to my arms, trying to perceive areas of lower temperature in my body. 

At the same time, I try to induce a very subtle, almost imperceptible tremor (kinesthetic imagination) in the muscles of my jaw, which remains below the threshold of conscious perception until I intentionally focus on it. 

To evoke the sensation of moisture, I increase saliva production; and to produce sensations of fluffiness, I apply a slight internal pressure in the mouth and cheek area. 

There are, obviously, still many other sensations (mentally and embodied simulated) that I will be adding as I explore them.

Therefore, there seems to be a dynamic interaction between the regions of the eyes, throat, mouth, and breathing, which together contribute to the creation of a complete imagination.

Example: When I imagine myself swimming in a pool,I subtly move my eyes to create the vision of the scene (I usually see myself from a third-person perspective, although I can also place myself in a first-person perspective). 

To perceive my arms and legs moving while I swim, there is a movement in my throat region that directs my attention to these parts of my body – or to my virtual body (created by visual imagination) – alternating between them.

 I also make other movements in this area to simulate the motions my limbs would make while swimming.

To feel the moisture of the water, there is an involuntary increase in my salivation (although I can also control it). To simulate the act of submerging, I hold my breath. 

The imagination of the sound of water is produced within my throat. 

In this way, these internal actions and the different modalities of imagination combine and interact, creating a complete and multisensory scene.

Regarding imaginations related to the senses of smell and taste, I am unable to generate them voluntarily, and even involuntarily, they are quite rare for me.

Check out these posts to understand the phenomenological approach used in providing these descriptions of experience: 1) What is Phenomenology; 2) Naturalization of Phenomenology; 3) Micro-Phenomenology; 4) Intersubjective Validation; 5) Embodied Cognition; 6) 4E