Binet says that the man who has not every type of imagery almost equally well
developed is only the fraction of a man. While this no doubt puts the matter too
strongly, yet images do play an important part in our thinking.
Images Supply Material for Imagination and Memory.—Imagery supplies
the pictures from which imagination builds its structures. Given a rich supply of
images from the various senses, and imagination has the material necessary to
construct times and events long since past, or to fill the future with plans or
experiences not yet reached. Lacking images, however, imagination is
handicapped, and its meager products reveal in their barrenness and their lack of
warmth and reality the poverty of material.
Much of our memory also takes the form of images. The face of a friend, the
sound of a voice, or the touch of a hand may be recalled, not as a mere fact, but
with almost the freshness and fidelity of a percept. That much of our memory
goes on in the form of ideas instead of images is true. But memory is often both
aided in its accuracy and rendered more vital and significant through the
presence of abundant imagery.
Imagery in the Thought Processes.—Since logical thinking deals more with
relations and meanings than with particular objects, images naturally play a
smaller part in reasoning than in memory and imagination. Yet they have their
place here as well. Students of geometry or trigonometry often have difficulty in
understanding a theorem until they succeed in visualizing the surface or solid
involved. Thinking in the field of astronomy, mechanics, and many other
sciences is assisted at certain points by the ability to form clear and accurate
images.
The Use of Imagery in Literature.—Facility in the use of imagery undoubtedly
adds much to our enjoyment and appreciation of certain forms of literature. The
great writers commonly use all types of images in their description and
narration. If we are not able to employ the images they used, many of their most
beautiful pictures are likely to be to us but so many words suggesting prosaic
ideas.
Shakespeare, describing certain beautiful music, appeals to the sense of smell to
make himself understood:
... it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odor!