When we search for an object in an array or anticipate attending to a future object, we create an ‘attentional template' of the object. The definitions of attentional templates and visual imagery share many similarities as well as many of the same neural characteristics. However, the phenomenology of these attentional templates and their neural similarities to visual imagery and perception are rarely, if ever discussed. Here, we investigate the relationship between these two forms of non-retinal phantom vision through the use of the binocular rivalry technique, which allows us to measure the sensory strength of attentional templates in the absence of concurrent perceptual stimuli. We find that attentional templates correlate with both feature-based attention and visual imagery. Attentional templates, like imagery, were significantly disrupted by the presence of irrelevant visual stimuli, while feature-based attention was not. We also found that a special population who lack the ability to visualize (aphantasia), showed evidence of feature-based attention when measured using the binocular rivalry paradigm, but not attentional templates. Taken together, these data suggest functional similarities between attentional templates and visual imagery, advancing the theory of visual imagery as a general simulation tool used across cognition.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation’.

当我们在数组中搜索某个对象或预期关注未来的对象时，我们会创建该对象的“注意模板”。注意模板和视觉意象的定义有许多相似之处以及许多相同的神经特征。然而，这些注意模板的现象学及其与视觉图像和感知的神经相似性却很少被讨论。在这里，我们通过使用双眼竞争技术来研究这两种形式的非视网膜幻影视觉之间的关系，该技术使我们能够在没有并发感知刺激的情况下测量注意力模板的感觉强度。我们发现注意力模板与基于特征的注意力和视觉图像相关。注意力模板（如图像）会因不相关的视觉刺激的存在而受到显着干扰，而基于特征的注意力则不会。我们还发现，缺乏视觉化能力的特殊人群（失语症）在使用双眼竞争范式测量时表现出基于特征的注意力，而不是注意力模板。总而言之，这些数据表明注意模板和视觉意象之间的功能相似性，推进了视觉意象作为跨认知的通用模拟工具的理论。

本文是主题“离线感知：不匹配外部刺激的自愿和自发的感知体验”的一部分。