bildbarheten

Bildbarheten, or imageability, is a concept in cognitive psychology and linguistics that describes the ease with which a concept, word, or mental representation can evoke a mental image. It is closely related to concreteness and perceptual strength, but specifically focuses on the visuo-spatial imagery that the concept tends to trigger. Items with high bildbarheten typically refer to concrete, sensory-rich phenomena (such as “apple” or “rainbow”), while abstract terms (such as “justice” or “truth”) usually have low bildbarheten.

Measurement and relationships: Bildbarheten is commonly assessed through subjective rating scales in norm studies, where participants judge how easily an image comes to mind for each word. The measure often correlates with concreteness and perceptual strength, and it can interact with factors such as frequency of usage and age of acquisition. Although related, imageability is not identical to emotional valence or arousal and can vary across individuals and cultures, reflecting differences in experience and imagery ability.

Neural and cognitive implications: Neuroimaging research indicates that high-imageability words tend to elicit greater activation in visual and perceptual brain areas during processing and imagery tasks. This supports theories that imagery contributes to memory, encoding, and comprehension, enabling richer representations for concrete concepts.

Applications and limitations: Bildbarheten informs psycholinguistic experiments, educational material design, and data visualization, where vivid representations can aid learning and recall. However, it is a probabilistic construct influenced by individual differences and cultural context, and should be used alongside other measures of language and cognition.