The relevance of mental imagery in goal-directed behaviours in psychopathology

Abstract: Many psychological disorders feature emotional mental images as impactful symptoms that contributes to emotional and motivational dysregulation, but it is unclear whether mental imagery is causally implicated in producing such impacts, or is instead simply a byproduct of emotional thinking in general. I will present recent work from my lab that advances current theoretical understanding about what, if anything, is special about mental imagery, and consider its implications for designing more potent interventions to disrupt or harness its power for mood and anxiety conditions.  

Bio: Dr Julie Ji joined the University of Plymouth’s School of Psychology as a Lecturer in 2022. Her lab uses experimental and naturalistic designs to investigate the functional impact of emotional mental imagery-based cognition in the context of psychopathology. Prior to Plymouth Julie held postdoctoral positions at the University of Western Australia with Prof. Colin MacLeod and the University of Virginia with Prof. Bethany Teachman, after completing her DPhil at the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, with Prof Emily Holmes and Dr Fionnuala Murphy in 2017. Julie serves as a member of the BABCP conference scientific committee and co-leads the experimental psychopathology stream, as a Board Member of the Association for Cognitive Bias Modification (ACBM), and as a member of the Editorial Board for Memory.