Why does imagining or remembering a scene activate the visual cortex? · Grey Matter

A visual memory is stored largely in the visual areas that processed it, so recalling it means reactivating part of the same cortical pattern.

Why does imagining or remembering a scene activate the visual cortex?

A visual memory is stored largely in the visual areas that processed it, so recalling it means reactivating part of the same cortical pattern. Imaging found that imagined objects activate visual cortex, in some studies even the primary visual cortex, in a pattern that follows the size of the imagined object. The overlap is partial: some patients with damaged visual cortex still imagine well, so imagery relies on higher visual areas and memory more than on V1 itself.