visual imagery

mental imagery that involves the sense of having “pictures” in the mind. Such images may be memories of earlier visual experiences or syntheses produced by the imagination (e.g., visualizing a pink kangaroo). Visual imagery can be used for such purposes as dealing with traumatic events, establishing desensitization hierarchies, or improving physical performance. See visualization.

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Psychology term of the day

July 27th 2024

primary insomnia

in DSM–IV–TR, a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty in initiating or maintaining a restorative sleep to a degree in which the severity and persistence of the sleep disturbance causes clinically significant distress, impairment in a significant area of functioning, or both. The disorder is not caused by a general medical condition or the effects of a substance and is not exclusively an aspect of another sleep disorder or mental disorder. It is termed insomnia disorder in DSM–5. See dyssomnia. Compare primary hypersomnia.