ISSN 2215-3535
Actualidades en Psicología, 39 (139), July-December 2025, 1-18
DOI: 10.15517/ap.v39i139.59835
Esta obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional.
www.revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/actualidades
Universidad de Costa Rica
Electroencephalographic (EEG) Coherence during Imagery
in Young Men
Coherencia Electroencefalográca (EEG) durante la imaginería en hombres jóvenes
Jahaziel Molina del Rio 1
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9670-4114
Rosa María Hidalgo Aguirre 2
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8413-5671
Miriam Nathaly Reyes Cardiel 3
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7628-2651
Marisela Hernández González 4
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-9561
Claudia del Carmen Amezcua 5
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8975-6012
1,2,3 Laboratorio de Neuropsicología, Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario Los Valles, Guadalajara, México
4,5 Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, México
1 jahaziel.mdelrio@academicos.udg.mx 2 rosa.hidalgo@academicos.udg.mx 3 nathaly.reyca@gmail.com
4 marisela.hgonzalez@academicos.udg.mx 4 delcarmen.amezcua@academicos.udg.mx
Received: 15/07/2025. Accepted: 08/07/2025
Abstract. Objective. The objective of the study was to characterize the electroencephalographic coherence pattern during men-
tal imagery elicitation in young men. Method. EEG activity was recorded during two conditions, Retention (RET) and Imagery
(IMG). A series of ten geometric gures were presented. Participants were asked to storage the images (RET), and to create new
images based on the gure (IMG). Then, coherence values were compared between conditions. Results. Increased Coherence
was presented in left and right posterior-anterior regions during mental imagery, which could be related to cognitive manipula-
tion of stimuli in creative processes.
Keywords. Functional connectivity, EEG, coherence, imagery, male participants
Resumen. Objetivo. Caracterizar el patrón de coherencia electroencefalográca durante la elicitación de imágenes mentales
en hombres jóvenes. Método. Se registró la actividad del EEG durante dos condiciones, retención (RET) e imágenes (IMG). Se
presentó una serie de diez guras geométricas. Se pidió a los participantes que almacenaran las imágenes (RET) y que crearan
nuevas imágenes basadas en la gura (IMG). Luego, se compararon los valores de coherencia entre las condiciones. Resultados.
Se observó un aumento de la coherencia en las regiones posterior-anterior izquierda y derecha durante la imaginería mental, lo
cual podría estar relacionado con la manipulación cognitiva de los estímulos en los procesos creativos.
Palabras clave. Conectividad funcional, EEG, coherencia, imágenes mentales, participantes masculinos
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Introduction
Mental imagery is a cognitive process involved
in retention and evocation of perceived stimuli,
and is considered as a subjective phenomenon
(Martínez, 2014), to be the internal or mental re-
presentation of information (Kosslyn, 1980), as any
image created in the mind without the presence of
the real object or event, linked to senses and fee-
lings (Jenkins, 2009), being not exclusively a visual
activity (Campos & González, 2017). It has been
a process linked to learning, retrieval and solving
problems, and describes that mental imagery has
properties of quality, length, clarity, and intensity
(Heidbreder, 1960).
There are some subjective evaluations techni-
ques that have been employed to study mental
imagery, some of them are the Visual Images Vi-
vidness Questionnaire (Beato, et al., 2006), Mental
Imagery Questionnaire (Sheehan, 1967), Sponta-
neous Use of Images Scale (SUIS; Reisberg et al.,
2003), and the Movement Imagery Questionnaire
(MIQ; Hall & Pongrac, 1983), those are questionnai-
res and self-reports that represent a personal in-
terpretation without considering the physiological
response during mental imagery.
There is evidence that cognition is formed large-
ly thanks to perception, in other words, it is highly
based on the sensorial properties and on mental
imagery attributed thereto and to a set of percep-
tions related to a variety of high-level cognitive
functions. This is a complex process which is belie-
ved to occur thanks to the re-experience of material
prior to sensory input (Zhang et al., 2018).
Hence, studies suggest that the primary visual
area (PVA) and the default mode network (DMN)
are involved in the mental generation of visual ima-
ges, nding a relation between the brain activity in
these areas with the mental images, suggesting that
PVA is inextricably linked to the elicitation of men-
tal images in rest (Amedi et al., 2005; Bergmann et
al., 2016; Bar, 2007; Bar & Neta, 2008; Binder et al.,
2009; Daselaar et al., 2010).
It is worth mentioning that Mellet et al. (1992),
by using positron emission tomography (PET),
found signicant activations of the occipital ex-
ternal left area, in the precuneus (bilateral), in the
motor supplementary area, and the left precentral
gyrus (unilateral), during the generation of mental
visual images (Mellet et al., 1992), through a study
in healthy subjects performing a task involving the
generation of visual mental images. The results
allow to consider the involvement of frontal areas in
the conscious generation and voluntary control of
mental visual images.
Vera et al. (2006) explain that the visual process
and the generation of visual mental images have
been attributed to the function of the post-rolan-
dic cortex with a probable lateralization of the left
hemisphere, postulated also by Farah et al. (1985).
Along this line, the participation of certain bra-
in regions that could allow the creation of mental
images has been suggested. Pearson et al. (2015)
propose that early visual areas (primary visual cor-
tex) and secondary visual areas (ventral stream)
activation are correlated to the complexity of the
elements. Other studies such as Kosslyn et al. (2001)
found that visual imagery activates brain regions
related to visual perception, while internal speech
activates regions related to auditory perception,
but not the visual areas. Otherwise, external sti-
mulus processing by the brain has been described
as evidence of thoughts, which demonstrates that
images or word cognitive processing activates brain
regions implicated in visual and auditory perception
(Villena-González, 2016).
Another technique used to study cognitive pro-
cessing is the electroencephalogram (EEG), through
which the electrical activity of a group of neurons
responding simultaneously is registered by placing
an electrode on the scalp. This technique allows to
record activity with great temporal resolution, as
well as to know the participation among brain areas
during a cognitive task (Holczberger, 2011).
Farah (1989) identied the act of generating a
mental image from memory and proposes that for-
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Besides, it is important to note that coherence
in sinusoidal activity allows reect morphological or
functional interconnectivity, that is, the coherence of
two distant areas is high only if both areas have di-
rect, indirect connections or if they are involved in the
execution of the same task (Silva, 2011). Coherence
measures when signals are related as a linear trans-
formation and time invariant, it has a constant am-
plitude reason and phase shift (Esqueda et al., 2016).
The analysis of how multiple areas interact du-
ring a cognitive process brings forth an approach to
understand the functional organization of the brain,
useful to many disciplines in neuroscience and neu-
roinformatic, like cognitive neurosciences, cognitive
modeling, cognitive architectures, among others.
According to this, we established the next research
question, which are the characteristics of the elec-
troencephalographic coherence pattern during
mental imagery elicitation in young men? Consi-
dering the previous research and literature about
the topic we hypothesized that mental imagery
elicitation in young men will have a pattern of in-
creased synchronization in fast bands (Beta1, Beta2
and Gamma), among occipital and frontal regions.
Thus, the aim of this research is to characterize the
electroencephalographic coherence pattern during
mental imagery elicitation in young men.
Method
Quasi-experimental, quantitative, cross-sectional
study with a correlated groups design.
Participants
Twenty-three young men with an average age of
19.91 (min = 19, max = 26) participated in this study.
Previous studies have shown dierences between
men and women (Campos & Lustres, 2018; Subirats
et al., 2018) in dierent imagery tests. Particularly,
considering the type of mental imagery test used
in this study, as a motor rotation task, we decided
to invite only men as participants, all of which are
right-handed, healthy, with no prior history of neu-
rological or psychiatric disorders, learning disabili-
ming a mental image has noticeable eects in event
related potentials (ERP). In this study, word-recor-
dings were made under two instruction conditions:
the rst consisted of the subject being able to encode
the word; in the second, the subject is expected not
only to encode the word, but also to form an image
related to that word. The results of the ERP reect
an electric activity synchronized with the generation
of mental images, with the participation of occipital
regions for the words presented in visual format and
posterior temporal regions for the auditory mode.
Farah (2000) managed to identify the implication
of mental images in the eerent activation of visual
areas in the pre-striate occipital cortex, parietal and
temporal cortex, and to recognize that those areas
manage to represent the same types of speciali-
zed visual information in images as in perception.
Within his study, Farah also identied the dierent
components that allow the assessment of images,
which appear to be lateralized in dierent manners.
Even though the studies have considered EEG
activity during imagery tasks, they do not make an
analysis of the synchronous participation of brain
regions during the task, which could be obtained
through a coherence analysis. Taking as a reference
the coupling between the dierent bands measured
by the waves generated on the brain areas, we can
obtain by the coherence, which can be interpreted
as a way of measuring how similar two signals are,
between regions spatially separated, explained by
“the square root of the correlation between sinusoi-
dal components of the EEG of two regions and in a
certain frequency range” (Silva, 2011, p. 34). When
two areas can develop the same brain waves in am-
plitude and frequency, they are identied as value
1 coherence, while when two areas have amplitude
and frequency completely dierent, their coheren-
ce value is 0. And, although two areas are involved
with brain activity, it does not mean that they start
that activity at the same time, which means that
there can be certain delay in the region that initiates
the activity and in the one that follows the activity
(Guevara & Corsi-Cabrera, 1996).
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
EEG coherence and imagery
ties, drug abuse, or chronic illness. Also, they had
normal attentional levels according to parameters
of specic subtest (retention of digits in progres-
sion, visual detection, digit detection and successi-
ve series), tasks used to evaluate visual an auditive
attention part of the neuropsychological battery
NEUROPSI memory and attention (Ostrosky et al.,
2003) and I.Q. equal or greater than 90 according
to intelligence test Shipley-2 (Shipley, Gruber, Mar-
tin, & Klein, 2014). They were required to attend the
Neuropsychology Laboratory in the Centro Univer-
sitario de los Valles, with at least 12 hours without
prior consumption of caeine or any energy drink
before the EEG recording session. All procedures
involved in the present experiment were appro-
ved by the institutional committee and performed
strictly in accordance with the code of Ethics of
World Medical Association (Declaration Helsinki,
1964) and its later amendments, or comparable
ethical standards, as well as APA ethical standards.
All participants signed an informed consent with
general information about the procedure and were
free to leave the experiment at any moment that
they wanted.
Instrument
Experimental task
The experimental task consisted of two consecu-
tive phases, a retention (RET) and an imagery pha-
se (IMG). In all cases, participants were seated on a
comfortable chair in front of a 32-inch monitor whe-
re stimuli were presented. The rst screen contained
the general instructions, requesting them to avoid
head or eye movements, even excessive blinking.
Afterwards, an EEG recording of a two-minute basal
period was taken, where they had to look at a central
white point over a black screen. The retention pha-
se began with the next instruction displayed on the
screen: “Next, a series of images will be presented,
one at a time. First, you must watch each image at-
tentively. Second, storage the gure in your memory,
during the black screen. Third, draw the gure on the
provided sheet. Do the same steps with each gure”.
Next, a white geometric gure over a black screen
was displayed for two seconds, followed by an en-
tirely black screen for six seconds. Finally, a screen
prompts the participant to draw the memorized -
gure, with no time limit. The participants have a 20
second rest between each gure presentation. Once
this time lapsed, the evaluator pressed a button, so
the next gure would appear. This sequence was re-
peated for ten geometric gures.
The imagery (IMG) phase began with the next
instruction displayed on the screen: “Next, a series
of images will be presented, one at a time, rst, you
must watch each image attentively. Second, you
have to imagine something that includes the gu-
re that you just saw during the black screen. Third,
draw what you imagined on the provided sheet,
and repeat the same steps with each gure”. The
following sequence was the same as the one in the
previous phase. The experiment ended once the
two phases were completed (see Figure 1).
EEG recording and processing
The electroencephalographic activity was recor-
ded continuously over all the experimental tasks
with a Nexus 32 device at 24 bits resolution with
lters set at 1-50 Hz, with impedance for EEG elec-
trodes below 10 Kohms. Electrodes were placed fo-
llowing the 10-20 international system (Jasper, 1958)
over frontal (dorsolateral: F3, F4), temporal (T3, T4),
parietal (P3, P4) and occipital (O1, O2) regions, re-
ferred ipsilaterally with the ground electrode placed
on the forehead. BioTrace+ software was used to
process 256 samples per second and store the EEG
data for oine processing. To decrease eye-move-
ment and muscle artifacts during and after drawing,
we gave each participant 20 second rest before dis-
playing the next gure.
After recording, the data were extracted and
processed in EEGLAB (Delorme & Makeig, 2004) for
the six seconds that lasted on the black screen for
the ten gures for each participant in each condition
(Retention and Imagery). A pre-processing visual
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Data analysis
To get a normal distribution, the EEGBands
program (Guevara et al., 2014) transforms the co-
herence values into Fisher’s z. Based on this data,
a comparison of means between conditions (RET
versus IMG) was used employing a t-test and con-
sidering a signicant level p ≤ .05. The eect sizes
were obtained for each comparison using Cohen’s
d. According to the multivariate analysis, a correc-
tion of the p using the False Discovery Rate me-
thod was applied to all the global comparisons.
Statistical power was obtained post hoc using
G*Power software.
Results
Next tables summarize the EEG coherence data
obtained for each comparison, grouped in interhe-
mispheric coherence (Table 1), left intrahemispheric
coherence (Table 2) and right intrahemispheric co-
herence (Table 3). Signicant ndings are detailed.
inspection was made to reject the segments with
signal noise by eyeblink. A digital lter (FieldTrip
toolbox) was implemented to reduce muscle mo-
vement. An average of 22.6 two-second segments
per subject for each condition was obtained. Low
band pass lter was set to 1 Hz and High band pass
lter to 50Hz. Electrodes were referenced ipsilateral
to mastoids (A1-A2). EEGBands program (Guevara
et a., 2014) was used to apply the fast Fourier Trans-
form to calculate the absolute power for each band
(Delta, Theta, Alpha1, Alpha2, Beta1, Beta2 and
Gamma). The auto-spectrum and crossed-spec-
trum in each band where obtained to calculate de
interhemispheric (F3-F4, T3-T4, P3-P4, O1-O2) and
intrahemispheric (F3-T3, F3-P3, F3-O1, T3-P3, T3-
O1, P3-O1, F4-T4, F4-P4, F4-O2, T4-P4, T4-O2, P4-
O2) coherence values, and nally, applies parame-
trical statistical analysis to these spectral parameters
calculated for wide frequency EEG bands.
Figure 1. Sequence of screens in the experimental task
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Table 1. Interhemispheric coherence values
Bands RET SD IMG SD t p
Frontal derivations (F3-F4)
Delta 0.663 0.059 0.613 0.046 0.98 .33755
Theta 0.649 0.059 0.657 0.046 -0.199 .84421
Alpha1 0.593 0.05 0.656 0.042 -1.468 .15636
Alpha2 0.584 0.049 0.578 0.039 0.162 .87302
Beta1 0.567 0.053 0.549 0.038 0.490 .62875
Beta2 0.517 0.05 0.518 0.036 -0.005 .99612
Gamma 0.477 0.047 0.48 0.034 -0.086 .9322
Temporal derivations (T3-T4)
Delta 0.371 0.033 0.368 0.033 0.125 .90137
Theta 0.339 0.028 0.383 0.028 -1.611 .1215
Alpha1 0.331 0.024 0.36 0.027 -0.857 .40071
Alpha2 0.306 0.022 0.365 0.027 -1.953 .0636
Beta1 0.312 0.022 0.331 0.019 -0.747 .46277
Beta2 0.311 0.02 0.324 0.018 -0.569 .57517
Gamma 0.293 0.02 0.316 0.018 -0.951 .35202
Parietal derivations (P3-P4)
Delta 0.660 0.044 0.632 0.039 0.848 .40582
Theta 0.632 0.045 0.641 0.042 -0.314 .75659
Alpha1 0.569 0.039 0.592 0.043 -0.706 .48758
Alpha2 0.502 0.038 0.539 0.042 -0.903 .3764
Beta1 0.510 0.044 0.515 0.043 -0.141 .88948
Beta2 0.482 0.042 0.493 0.036 -0.307 .76205
Gamma 0.490 0.045 0.469 0.034 0.583 .56593
Occipital derivations (O1-O2)
Delta 0.615 0.044 0.606 0.041 0.257 .79948
Theta 0.626 0.051 0.631 0.043 -0.128 .89945
Alpha1 0.657 0.047 0.668 0.051 -0.268 .79118
Alpha2 0.674 0.059 0.686 0.044 -0.249 .80573
Beta1 0.596 0.052 0.575 0.042 0.501 .62152
Beta2 0.561 0.051 0.565 0.039 -0.089 .92997
Gamma 0.556 0.054 0.534 0.039 0.598 .55563
Note. Interhemispheric coherence mean values for each condition for the seven frequencies band with their standard
deviation, statistical comparation from Student t test with 22 degrees of freedom and his correspondent t in each pair
of electrodes. RET = Retention, IMG = Imagery, SD = Standard Deviation.
EEG coherence and imagery
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Table 2. Left intrahemispheric coherence values
Bands RET SD IMG SD t p
Fronto-temporal derivations (F3-T3)
Delta 0.883 0.06 0.867 0.051 0.260 .79738
Theta 0.876 0.058 0.875 0.055 0.017 .98627
Alpha1 0.841 0.055 0.824 0.061 0.325 .74831
Alpha2 0.817 0.056 0.823 0.057 -0.091 .92844
Beta1 0.849 0.060 0.846 0.057 0.043 .96614
Beta2 0.813 0.063 0.818 0.055 -0.082 .93512
Gamma 0.755 0.06 0.758 0.051 -0.048 .96249
Fronto-parietal derivations (F3-P3)
Delta 0.494 0.031 0.514 0.034 -0.527 .60333
Theta 0.586 0.033 0.562 0.039 0.495 .6255
Alpha1 0.513 0.031 0.503 0.034 0.276 .78486
Alpha2 0.453 0.039 0.458 0.035 -0.140 .89013
Beta1 0.526 0.038 0.554 0.043 -0.577 .5699
Beta2 0.527 0.040 0.559 0.044 -0.713 .48348
Gamma 0.552 0.036 0.572 0.046 -0.399 .69355
Fronto-occipital derivations (F3-O1)
Delta 0.316 0.028 0.376 0.029 -2.136 .04407 *
Theta 0.352 0.030 0.412 0.035 -1.793 .08676
Alpha1 0.330 0.024 0.386 0.031 -1.767 .09117
Alpha2 0.312 0.027 0.363 0.032 -1.858 .07653
Beta1 0.347 0.029 0.418 0.041 -2.095 .04788 *
Beta2 0.365 0.036 0.433 0.048 -2.051 .05237
Gamma 0.395 0.032 0.462 0.047 -1.610 .12157
Temporo-parietal derivations (T3-P3)
Delta 0.609 0.056 0.615 0.055 -0.174 .86361
Theta 0.688 0.052 0.646 0.055 1.284 .21247
Alpha1 0.627 0.044 0.627 0.049 0.013 .98963
Alpha2 0.601 0.048 0.603 0.047 -0.068 .94655
Beta1 0.659 0.045 0.663 0.049 -0.096 .92406
Beta2 0.664 0.052 0.676 0.047 -0.360 .72226
Gamma 0.644 0.051 0.665 0.048 -0.648 .52375
Temporo-occipital derivations (T3-O1)
Delta 0.361 0.035 0.416 0.042 -1.740 .09583
Theta 0.377 0.041 0.430 0.045 -2.326 .02965*
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Alpha1 0.363 0.041 0.397 0.039 -1.033 .31293
Alpha2 0.347 0.035 0.384 0.041 -1.251 .22393
Beta1 0.376 0.038 0.414 0.042 -1.248 .22528
Beta2 0.416 0.044 0.442 0.044 -0.863 .39765
Gamma 0.429 0.044 0.464 0.046 -1.058 .30172
Parieto-occipital derivations (P3-O1)
Delta 1.073 0.065 1.152 0.066 -1.771 .09034
Theta 1.045 0.067 1.115 0.065 -1.700 .10319
Alpha1 1.042 0.063 1.099 0.059 -1.468 .15616
Alpha2 0.988 0.068 1.023 0.064 -0.698 .4925
Beta1 1.031 0.068 1.055 0.074 -0.554 .58514
Beta2 1.059 0.071 1.096 0.072 -0.895 .38067
Gamma 1.059 0.068 1.088 0.073 -0.665 .51321
Note. Left intrahemispheric coherence mean values for each condition for the seven frequencies bands with their
standard deviation, statistical comparation from Student t test with 22 degrees of freedom and his correspondent t in
each pair of electrodes. RET = Retention, IMG = Imagery, SD = Standard Deviation. RET = Retention, IMG = Imagery,
SD = Standard Deviation
*p < .05.
Table 3. Right Intrahemispheric Coherence values
Bands RET SD IMG SD t p
Fronto-temporal derivations (F4-T4)
Delta 0.864 0.043 0.809 0.040 1.366 .18578
Theta 0.873 0.040 0.829 0.041 1.169 .25491
Alpha1 0.807 0.039 0.785 0.040 0.678 .50456
Alpha2 0.816 0.037 0.799 0.045 0.585 .5643
Beta1 0.778 0.035 0.777 0.034 0.013 .98991
Beta2 0.764 0.037 0.770 0.039 -0.226 .82305
Gamma 0.739 0.040 0.717 0.042 0.740 .46718
Fronto-parietal derivations (F4-P4)
Delta 0.474 0.030 0.555 0.031 -2.989 .00676*
Theta 0.518 0.035 0.592 0.032 -2.478 .02134*
Alpha1 0.425 0.027 0.496 0.040 -1.772 .09021
Alpha2 0.397 0.026 0.482 0.036 -2.724 .01240*
Beta1 0.442 0.033 0.540 0.040 -2.889 .00852*
Beta2 0.499 0.038 0.600 0.044 -2.842 .00948*
Gamma 0.583 0.042 0.671 0.038 -2.503 .02025*
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Fronto-occipital derivations (F4-O2)
Delta 0.332 0.021 0.388 0.033 -1.665 .11014
Theta 0.328 0.022 0.394 0.040 -1.856 .07692
Alpha1 0.310 0.016 0.389 0.040 -2.122 .04537*
Alpha2 0.311 0.023 0.375 0.039 -1.525 .14151
Beta1 0.305 0.019 0.385 0.043 -2.490 .02082*
Beta2 0.341 0.027 0.438 0.055 -2.354 .02792*
Gamma 0.404 0.037 0.482 0.051 -2.169 .04117*
Temporo-parietal derivations (T4-P4)
Delta 0.451 0.031 0.506 0.039 -1.394 .17717
Theta 0.516 0.037 0.535 0.038 -0.525 .60513
Alpha1 0.500 0.039 0.516 0.035 -0.394 .69709
Alpha2 0.442 0.034 0.497 0.034 -1.388 .17900
Beta1 0.479 0.037 0.529 0.033 -1.454 .16013
Beta2 0.515 0.036 0.552 0.038 -0.963 .34603
Gamma 0.529 0.040 0.548 0.038 -0.549 .58875
Temporo-occipital derivations (T4-O2)
Delta 0.344 0.023 0.378 0.033 -0.800 .43247
Theta 0.332 0.024 0.357 0.034 -0.738 .46844
Alpha1 0.327 0.019 0.364 0.032 -1.163 .25718
Alpha2 0.319 0.019 0.384 0.035 -1.956 .06328
Beta1 0.312 0.020 0.364 0.032 -1.574 .12984
Beta2 0.332 0.025 0.385 0.038 -1.388 .17907
Gamma 0.355 0.031 0.386 0.037 -0.831 .41511
Parieto-occipital derivations (P4-O2)
Delta 1.003 0.053 1.088 0.073 -1.941 .06516
Theta 1.003 0.055 1.055 0.079 -1.150 .26265
Alpha1 1.012 0.060 1.016 0.071 -0.098 .92279
Alpha2 0.964 0.062 0.965 0.074 -0.027 .97868
Beta1 0.985 0.057 0.976 0.075 0.226 .82311
Beta2 1.000 0.059 1.016 0.077 -0.366 .71812
Gamma 1.009 0.061 1.015 0.076 -0.159 .87551
Note. Right intrahemispheric coherence mean values for each condition for the seven frequencies bands with their
standard deviation, statistical comparation from Student t test with 22 degrees of freedom and his correspondent t in
each pair of electrodes. RET = Retention, IMG = Imagery, SD = Standard Deviation
*p < .05.
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
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INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
coherence showed signicant dierences just for
Alfa1, Beta1, Beta2 and Gamma bands, with increa-
sed coherence values for Imagery condition com-
pared to Retention condition. Results are synthe-
tized in Figure 2. Post hoc power analysis showed
a statistical power value > .99 for all comparisons.
Discussion
A comparison of the measures of EEG signals in
terms of coherence was made. It is hypothesized
that mental imagery elicitation in young men will
have a pattern of increased synchronization in fast
bands (Beta1, Beta2 and Gamma) among occipital
and frontal regions, which was conrmed by the re-
sults nding a greater synchronization during the
Imagery with regard to the Retention phase in left
The left intrahemispheric EEG coherence showed
signicant dierences for the F3-O1 and T3-O1 de-
rivations. In the case of F3-O1, the coherence values
for the Delta band were increased in Imagery phase
compared with the Retention phase, as well as Beta1
coherence values. For T3-O1, derivations coherence
values show a similar pattern to those previous deri-
vations, with an increased coherence values during
the Imagery phase compared with Retention phase.
In the case of right intrahemispheric EEG cohe-
rence signicant dierences were observed for the
F4-P4 and F4-O2 derivations. F4-P4 coherence
showed signicant dierences for almost all bands
with exception of Alpha1, characterized by an in-
creased coherence values during the Imagery con-
dition compared with Retention condition. F4-O2
Figure 2. Coherence means values of comparisons for both conditions
in the pair of electrodes with statistical signicance
Note. In graphs x axis shows the seven frequency bands analyzed and y axis shows coherence expressed in z. *p < .05.
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
11
INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
Furthermore, we can nd that the temporal lo-
bes participate in information segmentation to
make sense of the images and to identify objects
in space (Gallegos-Duarte, 2016). This is due to the
importance of the second visual pathway, named
the pathway of “where”. This could be related to the
presented stimuli on the screen, since subjects were
supposed to integrate the construct of the presen-
ted images and in this sense, they could follow the
instruction “imagine a new gure” to integrate the
elements of the presented stimuli.
In the case of the left fronto-occipital coheren-
ce, it was found that the frontal activation is strati-
ed for perceptual tasks, principally in an attention
state towards a visual stimulus during prolonged
time (Culham et al, 1998). Although little is known
about the ventral pathway, associated with atten-
tion and visual process, a greater lateralization in
the left hemisphere is described in right-handed
people (González & Hornauer-Hughes, 2014). This
claim matches results in this study, considering that
the sample was made with right-handed subjects,
and perhaps the activation mainly in this pathway,
maybe due to the characteristics of the task and the
attentional resources needed to execute it.
The coherence pattern observed in the right
hemisphere matches prior claims herein regarding
hemispheric lateralization in graphic content mana-
gement in comparison to verbal content; since it is
considered that the right hemisphere is associated
mainly with visual and symbols representation and
in general all the creative process (Cueva, 2016). Pé-
rez-Rubín (2001) mentioned that creativity is highly
lateralized in the right hemisphere, having a greater
participation in low frequency waves as alpha and
theta, where the latter is activated in the creative
dream and active imagination, while alpha is pre-
sent during relaxation, deep meditation, and alert-
ness responsiveness. Otherwise has been recogni-
zed the relevant of alpha activity during creativity
process (Lustenberger et al., 2015). Also, a dynamic
interaction among default and control networks has
been proposed in creative process, with the contri-
fronto-occipital regions in delta and beta1 bands; in
temporo-occipital regions in the theta band; in del-
ta, theta, alpha1, alpha2, beta1, beta2 and gamma
bands in right front-parietal regions; nally, in right
front-occipital regions in alpha1, beta1, beta2 and
gamma. Although the hypothesis did not include
hemispheric lateralization, a characteristic pattern
was found and is described below.
Coherence levels related to left hemisphere
participation on temporo-occipital regions could
be linked to the semantic characteristics involved
in generating new images, provided that occipi-
to-temporal connections are recognized as the
ventral pathway or the “what” in visual recognition
(Otegui et al., 2013). Other studies describe that vi-
sual processing is a response inside the left ventral
pathway, where the posterior regions specically
assess visual shapes, while anterior regions assess
the lexical and semantic characteristics (Moore &
Price, 1999; Simons et al., 2003; Price & Mechelli,
2005; Vinckier et al., 2007; Levy et al., 2008).
Contrary to the hypothesis, slow bands cohe-
rence dierences were observed, mainly on the
theta band between the temporal and occipital
derivations could suggest the participation of sti-
muli previously stored in memory, as explained by
Klimesch et al. (2001). Since it is possible to identi-
fy the brain regions activated when subjects report
conscious experiences, specically, in object detec-
tion and previous event recovery. In other words,
subjects can usually recognize and create cons-
cious experiences after visualizing an image. Also,
the activation in the theta band has been related to
prolonged attention and information retention, as
happens in working memory, in addition to infor-
mation retrieval and episodic codication (Klimesch,
1999; Klimesch et al., 2010). Studies like the one of
Guderian et al. (2009) indicate that the activity of
the theta band increases when objects are obser-
ved when they have been watched before. This may
relate to the subject’s familiarity with the visual sti-
muli, as could be the case with the geometric gu-
res presented in our study.
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
12
INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
band in cortical areas when they see moving ob-
jects. Tallon-Baudry et al. (1996) found a correlation
between the activity increase about gamma band in
stimuli such as illusory gures or rotating faces ima-
ges. It has also been identied that increased activity
of this band is interpreted as an ascendant activation
of the cortical networks that generate a subjective
perception as a possible neural correlate of cons-
ciousness, at the same time, descendant processes
are identied in the internal activation, during the
representation of an object in a visual search task
(Engel et al., 2001; Tallon-Baudry et al., 1997).
In a study during the conservation task of abs-
tract drawings, Sarnthein et al. (1998) identied the
participation of the right prefrontal cortex, showing
the importance of episodic memory recovery. In
this study, it was possible to correlate the gamma
band with sensorial processing and an increase in
attention. Locally driven synchronization, such as
sensory processing, could give rise to a gamma
band range, in the support of the working memory
with lower frequencies. In other words, it is possible
that gamma oscillations occur simultaneously with
longer-range theta waves, which could allow fast
oscillations, nesting in slow ones, providing a tem-
porary structure to assemble neurons involved in
working memory retention (Sarnthein et al., 1998).
Another study by Sauseng et al. (2005), on exe-
cutive function and working memory, where partici-
pants were asked to make associations on abstract
images, short-range connectivity in alpha and gam-
ma waves was found. Gamma band coherence was
shown as a local activity, which could suggest that
alpha band activity might play an important role
in long-range connectivity in specic cognitive de-
mands, such as memory, and it could be interpre-
ted as increased cortical inhibition, while the theta
band is related to the encoding process. In this sen-
se, it is proposed that coherence could be inuen-
ced by phase coupling between brain regions due
to power changes, which could indicate a precise
adjustment of a neural network to the demands of
central executive functions in working memory.
bution of possible ideas by the default network, and
the evaluation of the eectiveness of those ideas by
the control network (Beaty et al., 2016).
Villena-González (2016) described that the pro-
cess of attentional control involved in internal at-
tention is probably present during imagery. This au-
thor proposes that alpha oscillations have a direct
relationship with cortical visual processing, proving
that attention is oriented internally, and it has been
identied as a reduction in the brain capacity to ex-
ternal stimuli processing. Pursuant to this claim, it is
considered that both supramodal processing and
specic sensory mode could be pertain in paying
attention to inner thoughts; therefore, thoughts are
more associated with image processing, more likely
related to visual than verbal mode.
However, there is a primary visual pathway, loca-
ted in the occipital cortex in the 17 Brodmann area.
Likewise, the visual association areas are in Brod-
mann areas 18 and 19; this track is represented in the
left hemisphere and viceversa (Molina et al., 1984).
Furthermore, Otegui et al. (2013) identied the su-
perior longitudinal fasciculus, which contains occi-
pito-temporal bers, a system that connects Brod-
mann area 37 in the temporal lobe with areas 17, 18
and 19, which build the visual ventral pathway, exp-
lained herein above. D'Andrea et al. (2019) propose
that alpha rhythm in the parietal lobe modulates the
relation between frontal and visual cortex suppor-
ted by the superior longitudinal fascicule activity.
While the superior longitudinal fascicle contains
occipito-frontal bers, this system connects Brod-
mann areas 17, 18 and 19 with the parietal lobe,
through the dorsal ow and temporal lobe through
the ventral ow. This dorsal pathway is responsible
for volunteer visual exploration and focused atten-
tion on an object of interest (Otegui et al., 2013).
Thus, the coherence results in front-occipital in fast
bands could be related to the active manipulation
of visual information coming from the occipital re-
gion, through the occipito-frontal fascicle.
Lutzenberger et al. (1995) explain that humans
and animals experience an increase in the gamma
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
13
INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
with the synchronization of the frontal region, indi-
cating the maintenance of active memory functio-
ning, while theta rhythm increased in visual tasks.
This was related to the maintenance of memory and
better performance on memory tasks.
Klimesch (1999) distinguishes the memory pro-
cesses, such as working memory, long-term me-
mory, and short-term memory, and explains that
the cognitive process of memory depends on the
resources that allow the activation of pathways from
the bottom up, when recognizing an everyday or
familiar object, where a sensory code is established,
which allows semantic information into the long-
term memory. This way the object is identied,
creating in turn a code in the short-term memory.
The author also considers that this route is not only
identied visually, but also in a more complex cog-
nitive way, such as speech and thought processes,
since an interaction occurs between long-term me-
mory and working memory.
Solís & Lopez-Hernandez (2009) proposed that
working memory is made up by two systems: the
rst refers to attention control, which coordinates
and supervises the activity of the articulatory and
phonological system, since these allow the manipu-
lation of the information that comes from language,
while the second focuses on a type of "visual-spa-
tial agenda" which is responsible for mental ima-
ges. Among the areas that stand out as essential for
memory activation are the primary sensory areas,
prefrontal lobe, dorso-medial nucleus, thalamus,
and neostriatum. Other authors found structures
concentrated in the medial temporal lobe, and the
hippocampal area (Squire et al., 1993; Markowitsch
& Pritzel, 1985; Klimesch, 1999).
The frequency band that has been linked to wor-
king memory and mental eort is the theta band.
Its activity has been observed mainly in the hippo-
campus and is considered essential for learning and
memory acquisition and suggests that theta wave
regulates the timing of information transmission. In
this sense a large-scale functional network that in-
volves frontal delta oscillations and his regulation via
On the other hand, Fries (2005) explains how
numerous neuronal groups can interact with each
other, in a exible manner, through temporally alig-
ned communication windows. The author proposes
communication through coherence, which relies on
the fact that activated neuronal groups have the in-
trinsic property of oscillating, and these oscillations
constitute a rhythmic modulation in neuronal exci-
tability; therefore, they can aect the probability of
peak output as well as the sensitivity to synaptic input.
Thus, the peaks of rhythmic excitability constitute a
rhythmically recurring temporally aligned communi-
cation windows, and only coherently oscillating neu-
ronal groups can communicate eectively, because
their temporally aligned communication windows
for input and output are open at the same time. This
study reports that there is experimental evidence
that the coherence between neuronal groups favors
their communication and that the oscillations main-
taining could be associated with the representation
of the neural substrate of our cognitive exibility.
Regarding connectivity between distant regions,
it has been observed that there is interhemispheric
synchronization during the resolution of mathema-
tical problems. It has also been observed that there
are transitions from one hemisphere to another in
slow and fast bands, mentioning that the last ones
are activated in parietal regions. In addition, it has
been recognized the gamma band in cognitive tas-
ks and with high levels of abstraction is linked as a
band that allows communication between regions
(Molina et al., 2021), so they could be associated
with the information communication process which
enables to analyze and send a response.
Regarding the front-parietal coherence, slow
bands such as delta and theta were associated with
an activation of frontal networks, updating the re-
presentations within memory, while parietal networ-
ks were activated to enable store long-term seman-
tic knowledge of objects and that this knowledge
increases during maintenance or retention period
(Tóth et al., 2012), and even in the absence of a sti-
mulus. In their study, the delta band was associated
EEG coherence and imagery
Actualidades en Psicología, 39(139), 2025.
14
INTRO METHOD RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES
top-down control over posterior alpha oscillations
plays a relevant role during the priority of visual wor-
king memory representation (de Vries et al., 2018).
In addition, studies have reported that frontal
theta activity increases due to the diculty of the
task and memory demands. And they recognize a
higher power of this band during memory enco-
ding and retrieval. Furthermore, it is suggested that
theta band is not related to manipulation, but rather
to the mental eort to cope with a task (Klimesch,
1999; Gevins, 1997; Sarnthein et al., 1998). Therefore,
it could be suggested that an increase in fronto-pa-
rietal coherence in the delta and theta bands could
be linked to the participation of working memory
in the process of manipulation and generation of
new gures, which implies the maintenance of the
stimulus gure in the mind. While in the fast bands,
the greater coherence observed could be associa-
ted with the active participation of the superior lon-
gitudinal fasciculus during the transmission process
of the manipulation of graphic information.
The presented data contributes to unders-
tand mental imagery through a coherence-based
approach, trough this we found a right hemisphe-
ric lateralized processing involved posterior-anterior
vias which can be using the synchronization towards
slow bands to maintain the attention process and
fast bands supporting the working memory behind
mental imagery manipulation. The EEG coherence
technique gives information about how the poste-
rior and anterior areas communicate. In addition, this
experimental task allows to evaluate the dierence
between retention and mental imagery production.
The study limitations are, in rst instance, the
dropout of a part of the initial sample, reducing the
number of recordings to the nal statistics. Besides,
the drawings that the participants made after the
imagery phase wasn´t considered in the analysis.
Future investigations could consider a correla-
tion of electroencephalographic activity during the
phase of imagery with the characteristics of the
drawings, which could give more information about
brain activity and the graphic content during ima-
gery. Balbuena (2014) explains that graphic repre-
sentation is a communication form that expresses
formal elements of design, reinforcing the commu-
nications strategy and these types of expression.
Some aspects can be evaluated in the mental re-
presentations and in the visual representations, that
are important to dene the meaning and classica-
tions of the graphic structures.
Another future consideration, to generalize the
results, is to expand the sample and considerer not
only young men, but also women.
In accordance to the obtained results, it can
identied a dierentiated pattern of coherence for
the retention and imagery states providing eviden-
ce of the particularities in functional electrical con-
nectivity, which could imply the process of internal
image manipulation, characterized by a predomi-
nant synchronous participation between the occipi-
tal and parietal regions with the prefrontal regions
of the right hemisphere, associated with mainte-
nance, manipulation and creation of new graphic
elements processes.
Characterization of cognitive processes through
EEG data brings an approximation to understand
the neural and functional substrates of subjective
activity like imagery and can provide objective data
for articial cognitive systems with applications in
machine learning and articial intelligence.
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