What does propositional representation emphasize in the context of mental imagery?

Propositional representation emphasizes the descriptive characteristics of an image by focusing on the relationships and attributes of the elements within a mental image rather than the image itself. In cognitive psychology, propositional representation suggests that our mental imagery is formed by a set of verbal-like propositions that describe the characteristics and relationships of objects, actions, and concepts. This means that when we visualize something in our minds, we aren't necessarily picturing it in a detailed way; instead, we're holding onto descriptive information about it that can include aspects like color, shape, size, and the spatial relationships between objects.

Understanding the descriptive nature of propositional representation helps clarify how we encode information that we may later retrieve or manipulate mentally. This contrasts with other options that might highlight different aspects of cognitive processing, such as sound in auditory memory or the order of events in temporal sequencing, which do not directly relate to how we conceptually represent images in our mind.