Visual Imagery Perspective, Internal States, and OC Tendencies

01/08/2023 to 01/08/2025

The aim of this research project is to examine the relation between the thinking styles typical
of people high in obsessive-compulsive (OC) tendencies and the thinking styles evoked by visual imagery
from the first-person vs. third-person perspective. Previous findings demonstrate that people high in OC
tendencies are prone to use third-person (vs. first-person) imagery. In one research line, we will further
explore this connection, testing how the thinking style evoked by third-person (vs. first-person) imagery
shifts people’s focus away from their internal states and increases reliance on proxies (a thinking pattern
typical of people with high OC tendencies). In another research line, we will explore how this shift might
distort people’s sense of agency in ways similar to the distortions found among people high in OC
tendencies. Finally, we will test if using first-person imagery (which evokes a thinking style that enhances
reliance on experiential reactions) can help people high in OC tendencies increase reliance on their
internal states and reduce reliance on seeking proxies to those states.