Stronger Short-Term Memory, Larger Hippocampi and Area V1 in People with High VVIQ Scores

Reports of individual differences in vividness of visual mental imagery (VVI) scores raise complex questions: Are VVIQ vividness differences “real”, what functions do these differences serve, and what is their neurological foundation? A new analysis examined visual short-term memory (VSTM) and volumes of the hippocampi, primary visual cortices and other cortical regions among vivid and non-vivid visual imagers. In a sample of 53 volunteers aged 54 to 80 with MRI scans, the performance of ten Low VVIQ scorers was compared to that of ten High VVIQ scorers. The groups included an aphantasic with a minimum VVIQ score and a hyperphantasic with a maximum VVIQ score. The study examined volumes for 12 hippocampus subfields, 11 fields implicated in visual mental imagery including area V1 and the fusiform gyrus, and 7 motor regions. In comparison to the Low VVIQ group, High VVIQ group yielded: (i) significantly more accurate VSTM performance; (ii) significantly larger volumes of the hippocampi and primary visual cortex. Across 47 brain subfields, the average volume for the High VVIQ group exceeded that of the Low VVIQ group by 11 percent. For 44 subfields, the volumes of the hphant exceeded those of the aphant by an average of 57 percent. Females had more accurate short-term memory than males and younger people were more accurate than older people. The larger visual memory capacity of females was unmatched by larger regional volume differences, which suggests the sex difference in visual memory is caused by factors other than cortical regional size. The study confirms the existence of robust empirical associations between VVI, short-term memory, regional volume of hippocampal subfields and area V1 in the left hemisphere.