Freeze–thaw cycle is one of the main distresses of asphalt pavement, and the law of freeze–thaw damage has always been an important topic. In this paper, X-ray computed tomography (CT) of asphalt mixture before and after freezing and thawing was carried out, and its two-dimensional (2D) digital image was recognized. Firstly, the eigenvalues of internal voids of asphalt mixture are extracted. Then the distribution of internal voids was analyzed. Finally, the evolution law of internal voids was summarized. The research results show that the characteristic mean value of the 9th cycle is the irreversible limit of freeze–thaw damage, and the non-resilience after the large void area increases is the fundamental reason for the accumulation of freeze–thaw damage. The source of void damage shifts from large voids to small voids, and the middle-stage is a critical stage of freeze–thaw damage. This work quantitatively evaluates the internal freeze–thaw damage process of asphalt mixture, and a morphological theory of the evolution of void damage based on an equivalent ellipse is proposed, which is helpful for better understanding the freezing–thawing damage law of asphalt pavement. Freeze–thaw cycle is one of the main distresses of asphalt pavement ,2. The iIn order to solve the freezing and thawing problem, a variety of methods have been proved to be effective. Snow-melting agent is widely used to melt ice on road surfaces, but excessive snow-melting agent will accelerate freeze–thaw damage . AsphaltTraditional evaluation methods for freeze–thaw damage mainly rely on the degradation of macroscopic mechanical properties, such as freeze–thaw split ratio, split tensile strength, indirect tensile stiffness modulus, fatigue and creep, etc. ,22,23,24CT images were used to obtain changes in volumetric moisture content, saturation, and the number of voids, and these indicators were used to quantify the moisture distribution within the specimen . Shuyin With the diversification of freeze–thaw solutions, new progress has been made in freeze–thaw mechanisms and evaluation methods. The traditional method to evaluate freeze–thaw damage by mechanical indexes has certain limitations. Although the use of modeling methods such as finite element can further explore the freezing and thawing mechanism, the relationship between the model and the actual specimen is questionable. Drawing on other subfields such as self-healing or adhesiveness, only specific damage can be assessed. In comparison, the method of CT image is more intuitive, comprehensive, and practical. The void feature is typical for evaluating freeze–thaw damage. Although the law of voids under freeze–thaw conditions has been analyzed by some scholars, it is often limited to changes in the indicators themselves. The evaluation of freeze–thaw damage for void evolution lacks the establishment of a theoretical system. Therefore, based on the image processing of CT 2D images, this paper extracts void features to achieve the following objectives. The distribution and morphological evolution of voids were quantitatively evaluated based on void characteristics; the theory of freeze–thaw damage is established according to the evolution law of void characteristics.The properties of asphalt used in this work are shown in Testing Procedures of Aggregate for Highway Engineering in China (JTG E42-2005) [Properties of aggregates tested according to 42-2005)  are showThe gradation of asphalt mixtures in this work is shown in The freeze–thaw cycle test was carried out on the asphalt mixture. Before scanning, the specimen was saturated with water under vacuum for 15 min, and then soaked under normal pressure for 30 min. The test pieces were first put into plastic bags; each bag was added to 10 mL of water and then placed in a low temperature box of −18 °C for 16 h, then placed in a constant temperature water tank at 60 °C to dissolve for 8 h as a freeze–thaw cycle. The number of freeze–thaw cycles was 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15, and the samples were taken out and placed in an indoor environment of 20 °C for 7 d.The scanned CT images were obtained from the same Marshall specimen under 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 times of freezing and thawing. As shown in The 60 complete images were randomly selected from the middle, with a total of 420 images in 7 groups as samples for analysis and processing. Due to certain differences in image quality, the number of voids extracted by different groups was quite different. In order to further control the number of samples and ensure the rationality of the analysis results, the area of each group of voids was sorted in descending order; the first 30 voids with the larger area of each image were taken, and the sample size of each group was controlled within 1544~1800 void points, with a total of 12,243 void points.n is the number of image samples in each group (n = 60); k is the number of voids for each image (k ≤ 30); For better quantitative analysis, the void feature parameters used in this work are as follows:w cycles a–c, the ry clear d.The 12th to 15th times of freezing and thawing after exceeding the damage boundary will increase the degree of irreversible damage caused by freezing and thawing, the rebound of large voids will decrease significantly, and the smaller voids will continue to fluctuate. It shows that the accumulation of irreversible damage may be more reflected in the “self-healing failure” of large voids . The small voids continue to grow into large voids, and no longer being self-healing and the recovery may be the root causes of repeated freeze–thaw iterations . In ordeAs shown in The statistical results of As shown in As shown in After the 1~3 cycles, the kurtosis and skewness continued to increase, reaching their respective peaks. ncreased , indicatAfter the sixth freeze–thaw, the kurtosis decreased significantly, even lower than the 0 value, and the skewness also decreased. It shows that the large voids shrink greatly, and the small voids also shrink. This shrinkage was non-uniform, resulting in a wider probability distribution and a larger decrease in mean-to-mean void area.After the ninth freeze–thaw, the kurtosis and skewness increased again. At this time, the kurtosis was still less than 0, and the skewness increased again. Compared to kurtosis and skewness without freeze–thaw, the effect of large voids is flat. However, at this time, the maximum void area has become larger, and the overall curve is skewed to the right. It shows that the small voids also increased collectively during the freezing and thawing process, and the phenomenon of flattening appeared. It shows that under freeze–thaw damage, the generation of irreversible loss is not completely determined by large voids. Some of the smaller voids themselves have completed collective development, and at the same time, gradient transitions have been realized, and fluctuations around larger values are the main cause of irreversible damage reason.After the 12th freeze–thaw, the kurtosis increased and the skewness decreased. At this time, the large voids increased again and, at the same time, the influence accounted for a larger proportion. The smaller voids also increased, and the overall average area increased.After the 15th freeze–thaw, the kurtosis decreased, the skewness increased, and the area of large voids decreased. At the same time, the curve shifted to the right, indicating that the smaller voids increased again, and the distribution range increased slightly.In general, the damage of freeze–thaw cycles has an effect on large voids, but is essentially caused by the collective enlargement of smaller voids. The collective development of small voids leads to an overall decrease in durability after reaching a certain level, resulting in permanent and irreversible damage.After clarifying the overall change of voids under the increase of freezing and thawing times, it is necessary to further explore the form and shape of void growth. Comparing the Comparing a amean amean and d averageAs shown in After the ninth freeze–thaw cycle, the In general, at the initial stage of freezing and thawing, the According to the data analysis results, as shown in This work explores the distribution and variation of voids in SMA-13 asphalt mixture under different freeze–thaw cycles, and the conclusions are as follows.The voids were irreversibly damaged after the ninth freeze–thaw cycle. The average values of the indicators of the ninth cycle are used as the damage boundary. After the damage boundary is exceeded, the degree of irreversible damage caused by freezing and thawing increases, the rebound of large voids decreases significantly, and the small voids continue to fluctuate. The accumulation of freeze–thaw damage is reflected in the springback failure of large voids;From the statistical value of The fluctuation of void growth mainly comes from the contraction and expansion in the short axis direction. The main reason for the irreversible damage is the springback failure in the long axis direction, which leads to the collective increase of the small void area in 6~9 cycles. In the late-stage of freeze–thaw damage (12~15 cycles), the According to the change trend of


Plasmopara halstedii can be up to 100%, depending on the cultivar susceptibility, environmental conditions, and virulence of the pathogen population. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic and phenotypic structure of a sunflower downy mildew agent at the field scale. The genetic diversity of 250 P. halstedii isolates collected from one field in southern France was assessed using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and single sequence repeats (SSR). A total of 109 multilocus genotypes (MLG) were identified among the 250 isolates collected in the field. Four genotypes were repeated more than 20 times and spatially spread over the field. Estimates of genetic relationships among P. halstedii isolates using principal component analysis and a Bayesian clustering approach demonstrated that the isolates are grouped into two main genetic clusters. A high level of genetic differentiation among clusters was detected (FST = 0.35), indicating overall limited exchange between them, but our results also suggest that recombination between individuals of these groups is not rare. Genetic clusters were highly related to pathotypes, as previously described for this pathogen species. Eight different races were identified , with race 304 being predominant and present at most of the sites. The co-existence of multiple races at the field level is a new finding that could have important implications for the management of sunflower downy mildew. These data provide the first population-wide picture of the genetic structure of P. halstedii at a fine spatial scale.Yield losses in sunflower crops caused by  Plasmopara halstedii is an oomycete plant pathogen causing downy mildew on sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), first detected in Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota in the early 1920s , we can estimate an outcrossing rate of about 6.5%. This is in line with our findings for the number of possible intermediate samples that may have arisen due to hybridization between different races (28 samples out of 109 unique genotypes), which makes the coexistence of races easier to envisage. In our study, a quarter of our samples were under the threshold of 70% of ancestry assigned to one or other cluster, and these samples were mainly races 304, 707, and 300. Another piece of evidence for outcrossing is that race 304, which was the most abundant in the field, is associated with several multilocus genotypes. This result confirms previous evidence that the same virulence profile can result from multiple recombination events. These results provide evidence that the recombination of individuals with different genetic backgrounds and virulence profiles does occur at a fine geographic scale. The hybridization scenario is also supported by the detection of races 304, 307, 704, and 714, which belong to a group of emergent races that had never been recorded outside France until 2014 [Phytophthora strains that were vegetatively incompatible. Finally, we must recall that recombination between races was already suspected by Tourvieille de Labrouhe et al. (2010) [P. halstedii population.Our results suggest that, although til 2014 . Hybriditil 2014 . Novel ptil 2014 ,77,78,79til 2014  and Spri. (2010) , who obs


The pupillary light response is an important automatic physiological response which optimizes light reaching the retina. Recent work has shown that the pupil also adjusts in response to illusory brightness and a range of cognitive functions, however, it remains unclear what exactly drives these endogenous changes. Here, we show that the imagery pupillary light response correlates with objective measures of sensory imagery strength. Further, the trial-by-trial phenomenological vividness of visual imagery is tracked by the imagery pupillary light response. We also demonstrated that a group of individuals without visual imagery (aphantasia) do not show any significant evidence of an imagery pupillary light response, however they do show perceptual pupil light responses and pupil dilation with larger cognitive load. Our results provide evidence that the pupillary light response indexes the sensory strength of visual imagery. This work also provides the first physiological validation of aphantasia. Our pupil’s ability to change size is an important physiological response that adjusts the amount of light hitting the retina to optimize vision and protect the retina. Pupils constrict in response to brightness whereas they dilate in response to dark conditions (known as the pupillary light response or reflex); while these responses are related, they are considered to be driven by different neural pathways see , howeverVisual imagery is considered a useful and often essential tool in many aspects of cognition. It plays an important role in the retrieval of items from short- and long-term memory , visual The rationale of the current study was to accurately and objectively utilize individual differences in mental imagery  to provide strong evidence that it is the sensory strength and subjective vividness of imagery that drives the cognitive pupillary light response. Similar rationale has been previously used by linking the vividness and objective sensory strength of imagery to behavioural or neurological measures . If imagHere, we utilized both subjective and objective measures of visual imagery ability and show that, within the same individual, greater pupillary light responses during imagery are associated with reports of stronger and more vivid imagery. We then used this task to compare imagery strength between individuals and test the veracity of the self-reported lack of imagery in aphantasia. We show that while aphantasic individuals display pupil contraction to perceptual brightness and dilation with effort (cognitive load), they do not show any evidence of pupil change in response to attempts at imagery – providing the first objective physiological evidence confirming the existence of aphantasia.F = 190.02, p < 0.001.) This trend was mirrored in the imagery period showing a significant main effect of imagery luminance  = 67.42, p < 0.0001), indicating that imagery also demonstrates a pupillary light response. Post hoc analysis using the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons found that for both Set-Size-One and Set-Size-Four, the pupil size in the Dark condition was significantly greater than in the Light condition during imagery  = 2.67, p = 0.11. However, there was a significant main effect of set size during imagery F = 6.48, p = 0.015, with less constriction/more dilation for Set-Size-Four (when averaged across the brightness conditions). This is consistent with previous studies suggesting that pupil size is influenced by cognitive load  = 49.54, p = 1.004e−10), with larger pupillary light response for more vivid imagery trials  = 0.62, p = <0.0001, see rs(41) = 0.46, p = 0.002, see If the sensory strength of imagery is indeed driving the imagery pupillary light response, then the degree to which this response occurs should be related to independent objective measures of imagery strength in each individual. To assess this, we utilized the binocular rivalry method , which aOur results indicate that the strength of the content of imagery drives the imagery pupillary light response in participants who experience visual imagery. The involuntary nature of this response provides a valuable objective measure of imagery strength. Accordingly, we sought to utilize this finding to test the veracity of a condition called aphantasia, that is if these individuals truly lack visual imagery, they should not show a pupillary light response to imagined images. However, if aphantasic individuals do show an imagery-based pupillary light response, one might interpret this as a form of imagery existing, but below threshold for conscious phenomenological awareness. We ran this same study in 18 aphantasic participants and compared their performance to that of the general population. These participants had contacted the lab reporting their lack of visual imagery and asked to participate in our research. They were also unaware of the goals and hypotheses of the current study. Aphantasia was confirmed in these individuals using self-report questionnaires  and by means of our binocular rivalry priming method (priming <65%), based on cut-off points used in previous research .F = 81.18, p < 0.001), reflecting a functional pupillary light response. However, we found no significant effect of luminance on pupil size during imagery F = 0.193, p = 0.67 and F = 1.92, p = 0.18, however interestingly, there was a significant main effect of set size during imagery F = 6.185, p = 0.02, with greater pupil diameters for Set-Size-Four compared to Set-Size-One (when averaged across the brightness conditions). This suggests that the aphantasic participants were actively engaging in the imagery task and exerting greater cognitive effort for the larger set size , whereas the aphantasia population showed evidence for the null effect (BF01 = 3.180). A direct comparison between the control and aphantasia groups using a Bayesian repeated measure analysis of variance  showed very strong evidence for an effect of group (BF10 > 106). Finally, and as expected, pupil-difference scores (imagery of dark stimuli–bright stimuli) did not significantly predict imagery strength  for the aphantasic population (rp(17) = 0.20, p = 0.44); Set-Size-Four: (rp(17) = −0.08, p = 0.76). It should be noted that we could not perform an analysis on the vividness data in the same way as was done with the general population  = 4.763, p = 0.033) between the groups when accounting for age. This provides evidence that decreased pupil responsiveness with age was not driving the observed effects.Age disparities between the groups are a potential confounding variable. This factor is of particular importance because the sensitivity of the pupillary light response, as well as maximum pupillary constriction velocity and acceleration, are thought to decline with age, beginning at 40–50 years old . HoweverF = 1.15, p = 0.29 and no significant interactions between imagery groups and any other factor . We found there were no significant correlations between any of the perception and imagery conditions, or the difference scores for set size one and four  due to the relative rarity of this condition. Further our two samples were not age matched, which may have affected our results, however seeing as there was no difference between the two groups for the perceptual pupillary light response, we think this is unlikely to be driving our findings. Future studies should aim to replicate and extend these findings with a larger group of aphantasic individuals and age matched controls.To conclude, the present study demonstrates that the pupillary light response can be used as a physiological index of individual differences in the sensory and phenomenological strength of visual imagery, including the lack of visual imagery – aphantasia. Combining this measure with the binocular rivalry paradigm in favour of subjective alternatives will increase the reliability and objectivity of imagery test batteries and may lead to the development of more congenial theories of the mind’s eye.α = 0.05, β = 0.95). Fourteen of these participants were excluded from data analysis for not meeting a priori criteria (see Exclusion criteria), leaving 42 participants in the final general population sample.Fifty-six psychology students with a mean age of 19.8 years  were recruited for the study and participated for course credit. We aimed to obtain analysable data from a minimum of 40 participants, which should be a large enough sample to identify a strong positive correlation between pupil dilation and imagery, which is what we would expect if imagery content were driving the previously observed imagery pupillary light response . One of these individuals was excluded from data analysis for not meeting a priori criteria (see Exclusion criteria), leaving 18 in the final sample. These participants had all contacted the lab regarding their aphantasia and asked to participate in our research. They were all reimbursed $20 AUD per hour for their participation. All participants had normal or corrected to normal vision (i.e. glasses or contacts). Both experiments were approved by the UNSW Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel (HREAP-C 3182).Apparatus stimuli in all experiments were presented on an LCD display monitor (Dell UltraSharp U2419H) with 60 Hz refresh rate and a 1920 × 1080 resolution. Luminance values of all stimuli were measured using a Konica Minolta chroma meter (CS-100A). Participants placed their chin on a chin rest throughout the experiment to maintain fixation at a distance of 57 cm from the monitor 13 and to limit head movements. The tasks were performed in a blackened room to eliminate any possible fluctuations in ambient light.pupillary response task, pupil sizes and eye movements were recorded using head mounted eye-tracking glasses  (In the Germany) . Pupil dGermany) .A second camera mounted on the glasses continuously recorded participants’ field of view. Footage from this camera was subsequently assessed to ensure fixation on the computer monitor was maintained throughout the task. The experiment was designed using MATLAB (version R2017b). ZeroMQ plug-ins were used for cross-communication between eye-tracking and stimulus presentation platforms . Pupil dbinocular rivalry task, participants wore red-green anaglyph glasses to ensure rivalrous stimuli were presented to left and right eyes in isolation. Responses of 1, 2, or 3 on a keyboard were used by participants to indicate which image dominated their perception during binocular rivalry .In the pupillary response task, 32 achromatic shape stimuli were created for participants to perceive and then later imagine in their absence, across 32 trials. The stimuli were evenly divided based on a 2 × 2 factorial design, belonging to one of two luminance conditions (‘Bright’ or ‘Dark’) and one of two set-size conditions (‘Set-Size-One’ or ‘Set-Size-Four’). Shapes belonging to the Bright condition were either white with a luminance of 117 cd/m2 or light grey with a luminance of 65 cd/m2. Shapes in the Dark condition were black (1 cd/m2) of dark grey (9 cd/m2). Set-Size-One stimuli consisted of a single equilateral triangle with 12.5 cm sides, subtending 12.5° of visual angle. Set-Size-Four stimuli consisted of an arrangement of four smaller equilateral triangles with a total surface area and luminance equal to that of the corresponding Set-Size-One triangles  and horizontal-red , both with a mean luminance of 8.35 cd/m2 and 7.1° of visual angle. In each trial, both patterns were presented at the same time around a fixation point at the centre of a black background screen. Mock rivalry stimuli  were used on 12.5% of trials to measure the influence of decisional bias or lack of attention to the task. More details on the binocular rivalry task can be found in For the All participants also complete the VVIQ  to get aEach trial began with the presentation of a white fixation cross at the centre of a grey screen (baseline) for 1 s. An image was then presented at the centre of this grey screen for 5 s . Participants then imagined the image for 6 s, after which they were presented with the binocular rivalry display (750 ms) and were asked to indicate which image was dominant see . Trials Of the 56 participants recruited for the general population sample, 14 in total were excluded from data analysis due to not meeting a priori criteria.Pupillary response task exclusions: eight participants were excluded because more than 50% of their pupil data points were below the pupil detection algorithm confidence value of 0.6, provided by the Pupil Capture system. This cut-off point was derived prior to data collection and is the recommended cut-off point for obtaining accurate pupil size data (Pupil Labs). Three participants were excluded due to reporting (during systematic post-task questioning) seeing after-images of the shape stimuli for longer than the 8 s black screen presentation , because pupil size is known to be influenced by the induced compensatory light perception of an after-image .both below 65% priming on the binocular rivalry task and below 32 on the VVIQ was used to exclude participants who potentially did not have visual imagery (i.e. may be aphantasic). No participants fell below this combined cut-off point thus none were excluded on this basis.Binocular rivalry task exclusions: three participants were excluded due to having mock rivalry priming >66.67% , which indicated either an influence of decisional bias or lack of attention to the task. An a priori cuff-off point of scoring Of the 19 participants recruited for the aphantasic population, 1 was excluded from data analysis because more than 50% of their pupil data points were below the pupil detection algorithm confidence value of 0.6, given by the Pupil Capture system. All participants scored below both of the a priori cut-off points of 32 on the VVIQ and 65% on the binocular rivalry task, therefore, no participants were excluded due to this criterion.N = 8) as values outside this range are unnatural pupil sizes and were clear outliers based on inspection of participants’ pupil-baseline histograms  was used to calculate a percent primed score for each participant. Participants’ percent primed scores in binocular rivalry were correlated with their pupil-difference scores (both Set-Size-One and Set-Size-Four) to assess potential for the pupillary response task to measure individual variability in visual imagery strength.The LMEs were run in R  using tht-tests to compare each group with H0, defined as the absence of effect. All Bayesian analysed were performed with JASP (Version 0.10.2).Bayesian statistics were used to determine whether null findings can be interpreted as evidence for an absence of effect . We used This is a rigorous study of the relation between the vividness of visual imagery and the pupillary light response that can result from it. It provides evidence for the absence of imagery in individuals that self-report as aphantasic. The results will likely be of interest to researchers in a range of disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. public reviews designed to be posted alongside the preprint for the benefit of readers; (ii) feedback on the manuscript for the authors, including requests for revisions, shown below. We also include an acceptance summary that explains what the editors found interesting or important about the work.Our editorial process produces two outputs: (i) Decision letter after peer review:eLife. Your article has been reviewed by 2 peer reviewers, and the evaluation has been overseen by a Reviewing Editor and Chris Baker as the Senior Editor. The following individuals involved in review of your submission have agreed to reveal their identity: Martin Rolfs (Reviewer #2); Jessica Breedlove (Reviewer #3).Thank you for submitting your article "The eyes have it: The pupillary light response as a physiological index of aphantasia, sensory and phenomenological imagery strength" for consideration by We all thought that the paper was interesting and that it addresses a timely topic with a novel approach. There is a lot to like here in terms of learning about mental imagery but also about people who seem to lack it. That said, you'll see that the reviewers brought up some substantive points, and, after consultation, we think that a revision might be possible to address these points but that it will require more analyses and most likely more data.In consultation, we focused primarily on two issues: eye movements and demand characteristics.With respect to eye movements, there are a number of reasons why we think further analyses are crucial:1. Pupil size  depends stimulus eccentricity. 2. Measured pupil size depends on eye position, and vice versa. The origin of these effects are measurement errors related to video-based eye tracking, as it this dependency is seen even for artificial, fixed-size pupils .3. There is now plenty of evidence that saccade preparation alters pupil size  and that both are controlled by largely-overlapping circuitry .4. Saccades greatly alter content in visual short-term memory .5. Eye movements can be correlated with imagery ; comparison between groups might thus provide additional indicators of imagery.As a consequence, a comparison of eye position and saccade statistics is very important.With respect to demand characteristics, R3 has some detailed suggestions, and we all feel that a revision of the design would potentially yield significant gains. It doesn't seem technically difficult to collect the data, but we also understand that collecting any data in person these days can be challenging. However, at the very least we think you should report on the mock trials in the binocular rivalry task , pull back on your claims accordingly, and provide a discussion of this limitation to the results.Again, please see the reviews for more details, but we hope that you will find the comments helpful in deciding next steps for the paper.Reviewer #1 (Recommendations for the authors):1. Please analyze and report eye movement parameters in each experiment and whether correlate with vividness of imagery. Please also clarify where observers were required to look during each phase of the experiments.2. Please provide evidence that the correlations reported in Figure 1D persist at the level of individuals.3. Please revise this Discussion section to clarify that such tests would always have to be combined with positive tests that show the commitment of participants to the task instructions.Reviewer #2 (Recommendations for the authors):My largest (and maybe only) major concern is the possibility that aphantasic subjects were not attempting to imagine during both the main experiment and the BR task. This concern is somewhat exacerbated by the fact that subjects reached out to the lab to participate, making risk for demand characteristics high. The increase in pupil size in the aphantasic group in the set-size-4 condition is encouraging but this increase could also represent a number of other things. While I am hard pressed to come up with a way to ever eliminate this potential fully, I do think a bit more could be done to strengthen the argument against lack of participation and so I'm wary of the claim that this has been fully "ruled out" (line 322). My suggestions are as follows:– Most ideally, there would be an addition of a probe task following the imagery period that would require subjects to report on the objects that they were supposed to remember and imagine . Both groups should be able to perform fairly well since, as the authors point out, aphantasic individuals can perform visual working memory tasks just as well as the general population. This would serve as a better indicator of effort and attention and require that subjects at the very least engage with the visual features of the stimuli .– I also appreciate the use of a more objective measure of imagery vividness with the binocular rivalry task, but this suffers from the same issue. Aphantasic subjects could be not attempting to imagine or have an unintentional bias pushing them away from indicating the priming effect. The latter can be addressed using catch/mock trials as the authors did use. However if my math is correct, there were 24 trials total with only 3 mock trials. So while they did exclude subjects for making more than 1 incorrect response to mock trials, that still means that subjects could have shown a bias on 33% of the trials and still be included in the study. This might account for some of the findings if there were more aphantasic than control subjects who incorrectly answered a mock trial. My suggestion is then to increase the number and type of mock trials  and (or at the very least) report the missed mock trials for each group.– I would also suggest estimating the null hypothesis and significance bound through random sampling of the experiment under the null to show that the aphantasia subjects did not perform significantly worse than chance in Figure 2b.Lines 124 – 127 "These data provide novel evidence individuals can reliably evaluate the comparative vividness of single episodes of imagery. Further, these data demonstrate that the pupillary light response also tracks the phenomenological vividness of visual imagery from moment to moment." These two lines are circular. The authors are using changes in pupil size as evidence that subjects can reliably report their vividness and then using subject reports as evidence that pupil size is a good indicator of vividness. Suggest rewriting /rewordingAround line 256: the authors state there is no correlation between perception and imagery conditions. I initially found this confusing because if imagery is like faint vision, the pupil change during imagery of an object should mimic the pupil change during viewing of the same object. The point I believe they were making is that there is no correlation when all subjects are pooled together. I think this would be clearer if the authors first pointed out that there is a correlation between perception and imagery, but in the general population only (if true).Line 312 – I believe the authors might be conflating psychogenic and fabrication and suggest that they revise the discussion to be clearer on this. The results speak to the latter but not so much the former. While psychogenic implies there might not be a traceable physical cause, it doesn't necessitate that the patient is acting intentionally and they likely experience it as real . The lack of experience of imagery could lead to a lack of pupillary light response. A psychogenic source would not be inconsistent with the findings since the authors are not claiming to identify what is blocking or restricting the visual experience of imagery, just that there is a link between that experience and a physiological response. I suggest removing the claim that the study rules out a psychogenic source to aphantasia.The timing diagram in Figure 1A seems off. The caption and methods say that the black screen rest was presented for 8s, but only 7s exist between the 2nd and 3rd dotted lines, and this doesn't match Figure 3. The reason for using a black screen for rest was also not clear. Together, these made the large dip in pupil size before imagery a bit confusing at first. We all thought that the paper was interesting and that it addresses a timely topic with a novel approach. There is a lot to like here in terms of learning about mental imagery but also about people who seem to lack it. That said, you'll see that the reviewers brought up some substantive points, and, after consultation, we think that a revision might be possible to address these points but that it will require more analyses and most likely more data.In consultation, we focused primarily on two issues: eye movements and demand characteristics.With respect to eye movements, there are a number of reasons why we think further analyses are crucial:1. Pupil size  depends stimulus eccentricity. 2. Measured pupil size depends on eye position, and vice versa. The origin of these effects are measurement errors related to video-based eye tracking, as it this dependency is seen even for artificial, fixed-size pupils .3. There is now plenty of evidence that saccade preparation alters pupil size  and that both are controlled by largely-overlapping circuitry .4. Saccades greatly alter content in visual short-term memory .5. Eye movements can be correlated with imagery ; comparison between groups might thus provide additional indicators of imagery.As a consequence, a comparison of eye position and saccade statistics is very important.We thank the reviewers and editor for their detailed and thoughtful points regarding eye movements and pupil diameter. We think the points raised are fair and we have added an extra supplementary analysis to the manuscript analysing the eccentricity and saccade data. Assessing the eccentricity data we found that in general the participants mostly maintained fixation throughout the experiment, and there was no significant difference between the groups in their average eccentricity values . There was also no significant correlations between eccentricity and the pupillary light response for either group during the imagery period . We also assessed whether the number of saccades during perception and imagery was different across groups or as a function of either set size or luminance. We found that there were no consistent differences in the number of saccades across the two groups for these variables . We believe taken together these results suggest that it is unlikely that our pupil diameter findings are driven by different eccentricity/fixation or saccades between the two groups and we thank the Reviewers for helping us address this important potential alternative explanation of our data. We believe that by showing eye-movements are unlikely to be driving the observed imaginary pupillary light reflex our paper has been strengthened.With respect to demand characteristics, R3 has some detailed suggestions, and we all feel that a revision of the design would potentially yield significant gains. It doesn't seem technically difficult to collect the data, but we also understand that collecting any data in person these days can be challenging. However, at the very least we think you should report on the mock trials in the binocular rivalry task ,Thank you for these suggestions. We will endeavour to incorporate their excellent suggestions into future studies we run. Due to the current testing environment however it will take a long time to collect enough data to run a full new study as suggested. As suggested, we have added in the mock trial data to the supplementary material  and additional information regarding these trials (see response to point 3 from Reviewer #3).pull back on your claims accordingly, and provide a discussion of this limitation to the results.We have toned down our claims and added in discussion of the limitations of the study, see the response to point 2 from Review #3.Reviewer #1 (Recommendations for the authors):1. Please analyze and report eye movement parameters in each experiment and whether correlate with vividness of imagery. Please also clarify where observers were required to look during each phase of the experiments.Participants were instructed to maintain fixation on the fixation cross, throughout the experiment, which has been clarified in Figure 1’s legend. However, following Reviewer 2’s suggestion, we have now added the analysis of eccentricity and saccade data to the supplementary materials . We found that there were no consistent differences between the groups making it unlikely that differences in eyeposition is driving the lack of a pupillary light response in the aphantasic population.2. Please provide evidence that the correlations reported in Figure 1D persist at the level of individuals.We are not sure we understand the Reviewer’s comment correctly. We do not report correlations for Figure 1D, but the results of 2 x 4 linear mixed-effects analysis. This model included subject identity as a random effect (see Methods) and therefore the effects reported were computed at the subject level. We report in the text, effects that are significant at the level of the sample. This does not exclude the possibility of inter-individual differences, but we are not sure how interpretable a single-subject analysis is in the current study.3. Please revise this Discussion section to clarify that such tests would always have to be combined with positive tests that show the commitment of participants to the task instructions.We have now added the following to the discussion regarding the importance of including these commitment controls to imagery studies:“Future studies of visual imagery, and even more importantly when investigating aphantasia, should aim to include appropriate controls that allow for the identification of task engagement even when an individual doesn’t have visual imagery. This will allow researchers to exclude the alternate explanation that those individuals who do not show evidence of imagery are not just refusing to imagine or not completing the task correctly.”Reviewer #2 (Recommendations for the authors):My largest (and maybe only) major concern is the possibility that aphantasic subjects were not attempting to imagine during both the main experiment and the BR task. This concern is somewhat exacerbated by the fact that subjects reached out to the lab to participate, making risk for demand characteristics high. The increase in pupil size in the aphantasic group in the set-size-4 condition is encouraging but this increase could also represent a number of other things. While I am hard pressed to come up with a way to ever eliminate this potential fully, I do think a bit more could be done to strengthen the argument against lack of participation and so I'm wary of the claim that this has been fully "ruled out" (line 322).We have re-worded parts of the discussion to tone down such claims:“This demonstrates active task engagement suggesting that aphantasic individuals were most likely not simply ‘refusing’ to actively participate in the task due to demand characteristics or a belief that they are unable to imagine ."“…However, we cannot fully rule out this possibility. Further, there was no evidence of an abnormal pupillary response in our aphantasic cohort when viewing images, thus it is likely the lack of an imaginary pupillary light response is due to their self-reported lack of visual imagery.”My suggestions are as follows:– Most ideally, there would be an addition of a probe task following the imagery period that would require subjects to report on the objects that they were supposed to remember and imagine . Both groups should be able to perform fairly well since, as the authors point out, aphantasic individuals can perform visual working memory tasks just as well as the general population. This would serve as a better indicator of effort and attention and require that subjects at the very least engage with the visual features of the stimuli .Thank you for this excellent suggestion, which could be implemented in follow-up studies. However, as mentioned above, the current situation makes the planning of new experiments extremely uncertain. In addition, we did not find evidence suggesting aphantasic participants did not engage in the task. In fact, the modulation of pupil size by stimulus complexity suggests that these individuals engaged in the task, at least sufficiently for this effect to emerge. We agree that the methodology can be improved, and we are thankful for the Reviewer’s suggestion. But we do think our conclusions are warranted by the data at hand.We have now further clarified our reasoning and outlined better the limitations of our study in the Discussion section. Indeed, we wanted the participants to focus more on holding the image in their mind and creating the most vivid image they were able to. Having them rate their vividness reinforces the imagery component of the task. If we had asked participants to remember the items instead, it is possible that some participants may have imagined the images as a mnemonic strategy. However, it is also possible that they may have also changed the type of strategy they used to remember the items which might not have involved imagery. This, in of itself, is interesting, however it was outside of the scope of this current study. In addition, if multiple participants were not usuing visual imagery to remember the images, this may have diluted the imaginary pupillary light response and replicating and extending this finding was central to the research question of this study. We have added in a limitations and future directions section to our discussion that speaks to these points:“One limitation to our study is we did not include catch trails in our pupillometry task, i.e. we did not include trials where we asked participants to report on what image they had been asked to imagine. We did however include catch trials in our binocular rivalry task through presenting mock binocular rivalry trails. If aphantasic participants are showing a response bias we would expect see a reduction in these mock priming trails when compared to the control population, which we did not find . Adding catch trials to future experiments, in addition to setsize manipulations, may help to further confirm participant engagement. However, adding a simultaneous memory component to the task may lead some subjects to use a non-visual imagery strategy and as such, a reduction or dilution of the pupillary light response (see Pearson and Keogh (2019)). Future studies of visual imagery, and even more importantly when investigating aphantasia, should aim to include appropriate positive controls that allow for the identification of task engagement even when an individual doesn’t have visual imagery. This will allow researchers to exclude the alternate explanation that those individuals who do not show evidence of imagery are not just refusing to imagine or not completing the task correctly.”– I also appreciate the use of a more objective measure of imagery vividness with the binocular rivalry task, but this suffers from the same issue. Aphantasic subjects could be not attempting to imagine or have an unintentional bias pushing them away from indicating the priming effect. The latter can be addressed using catch/mock trials as the authors did use. However if my math is correct, there were 24 trials total with only 3 mock trials. So while they did exclude subjects for making more than 1 incorrect response to mock trials, that still means that subjects could have shown a bias on 33% of the trials and still be included in the study. This might account for some of the findings if there were more aphantasic than control subjects who incorrectly answered a mock trial. My suggestion is then to increase the number and type of mock trials  and (or at the very least) report the missed mock trials for each group.We take the Reviewer’s point seriously. However, we note it is standard for mock or catch trials to represent a minority of the total number of trials. In fact, too frequent mock trials could make the subjects aware of the existence of the mock trials and fundamentally alter the results. In addition, we think our interpretation of the data  is more parsimonious than hypothesising the existence of an unintentional bias.To give readers the clearest account of our data, we have now included the data for mock trials for both the controls and undergraduate students in the supplementary material in addition to VVIQ scores . We have also further clarified how mock trials were calculated in the procedure as, upon re-reading the manuscript, we realised we did not include the number of trials participants completed in the binocular rivalry task, this has now been updated in the procedure section . The mock trials we use have a bespoke zig-zag walk border between the red and green patterns, and thus are not exactly the same each presentation, and appear slightly more red or green. We hope this explanation helps to clarify the mock trial data.“Participants completed 2 blocks of 48 trials resulting in a total of 96 trials in total . The number of primed trials divided by the total number of trials  was used to calculate a percent primed score for each participant. Mock trial priming was calcuated by giving a value to each mock trial as either 0  , 50  or 100%  . These values are then averaged to get a priming value where 50% indicates no bias, while higher values indicate a bais towards reporting the mock trails as being the same as the imagined image, while negative numbers indicate a bias towards reporting the oppoiste image to that which was imagined.”– I would also suggest estimating the null hypothesis and significance bound through random sampling of the experiment under the null to show that the aphantasia subjects did not perform significantly worse than chance in Figure 2b.We have now run one-sample Bayesian t-tests to assess the evidence for aphantasic individuals performing significantly below chance in both the imaginary pupillary light response and binocular rivalry task (figure 1D). When assessing both groups there was no significant evidence that their priming scores were significantly lower than chance . Similarly, a one sample t-test found no significant evidence that either group’s pupil difference scores were lower than chance . These analysis have been added to figure 2B as Figure supplement 6 and the following has been added to the discussion:“We ran Bayesian one-sample t-tests on the binocular rivalry and pupillary light response difference scores (see figure 2) comparing their performance to chance to see if there was any evidence they were performing significantly below chance. We found no significant evidence of below chance performance for either group on either the binocular rivalry or pupillometry imagery tasks . Taken together, with the set-size pupillary effect we observed in our aphantasic participants, it seems unlikely that our aphantasic individuals were not engaging in the tasks.”Lines 124 – 127 "These data provide novel evidence individuals can reliably evaluate the comparative vividness of single episodes of imagery. Further, these data demonstrate that the pupillary light response also tracks the phenomenological vividness of visual imagery from moment to moment." These two lines are circular. The authors are using changes in pupil size as evidence that subjects can reliably report their vividness and then using subject reports as evidence that pupil size is a good indicator of vividness. Suggest rewriting /rewordingWe have now removed the first line from this paragraph (see manuscript).Around line 256: the authors state there is no correlation between perception and imagery conditions. I initially found this confusing because if imagery is like faint vision, the pupil change during imagery of an object should mimic the pupil change during viewing of the same object. The point I believe they were making is that there is no correlation when all subjects are pooled together. I think this would be clearer if the authors first pointed out that there is a correlation between perception and imagery, but in the general population only (if true).The reviewer is correct, that there is no correlation at a group-level between pupil responses during perception, specifically when looking at the control population. Having re-read this section we can see the confusion, because the point of the study is to show that imagery acts like weak perception by showing a pupillary light response. To clarify it was important to run this analysis as it might just be the case that pupil responses during imagery passively reflect the amount the pupils responded during the perception phase, rather than reflecting the effortful generation and maintenance of mental images. Specifically, imagery does act like perception through demonstrating a pupillary light reflex, however this analysis shows that this effect is not just due to lingering pupil responses to the previously seen images. We have added in further clarification of this point to the manuscript and we hope this distinction is now more readily understandable from the added text:“Another possible explanation of our findings could be that the passive viewing of the images, and lingering visual persistence and sluggish pupil responses could be driving our results. If this is the case, we would expect that pupil diameter during the perception of the images should correlate with pupil size during imagery for the corresponding images. Further, the pupillary light reflex during perception should be more pronounced in the control than the aphantasic populations. To investigate this possible alternative explanation of our data we first assessed the correlations between pupil diameter during perception of bright and dark images for set size one and four and their corresponding imagery conditions (control participants only). We found there were no significant correlations between any of the perception and imagery conditions, or the difference scores for set size one and four . This lack of a correlation suggests that those individuals who have the largest pupillary light response while viewing the images, do not also have the greatest imagery driven pupillary light responses, making it unlikely that the pupil response while seeing the image is driving the mental imagery pupillary response.”Line 312 – I believe the authors might be conflating psychogenic and fabrication and suggest that they revise the discussion to be clearer on this. The results speak to the latter but not so much the former. While psychogenic implies there might not be a traceable physical cause, it doesn't necessitate that the patient is acting intentionally and they likely experience it as real . The lack of experience of imagery could lead to a lack of pupillary light response. A psychogenic source would not be inconsistent with the findings since the authors are not claiming to identify what is blocking or restricting the visual experience of imagery, just that there is a link between that experience and a physiological response. I suggest removing the claim that the study rules out a psychogenic source to aphantasia.We thank the reviewer for their thoughtful response, we have now removed this claim in the discussion.The timing diagram in Figure 1A seems off. The caption and methods say that the black screen rest was presented for 8s, but only 7s exist between the 2nd and 3rd dotted lines, and this doesn't match Figure 3. The reason for using a black screen for rest was also not clear. Together, these made the large dip in pupil size before imagery a bit confusing at first.Thank you for noting this error in Figure 1A. This has now been amended to correctly show an 8s black screen rest period. The reason for using a black screen for the rest period was firstly, to accurately replicate the experimental design used in Laeng and Sulutvedt, 2014 (The Eye Pupil Adjusts to Imaginary Light). This black screen is included to be a wash out period for after-images caused by stimuli during the perception phase of the trial. Additionally this black screen is used to bring the pupils to a similar diameter so that they are at a similar size for the beginning of the imagery component of the task.


Due to the continuous acceleration of the global urbanization process, the unbalanced development of regional cities has become an unavoidable reality under the rapid economic and social development of China. Unbalanced social development will affect coordinated and sustainable economic development, regional ethnic unity, and political and social stability. This research uses data from the 2011–2015 period, 2016–2020 period, and various special development plans of 35 large and medium cities, combines qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis, establishes a comprehensive evaluation model, and conducts cluster analysis, using standard deviation. The coefficient of variation aims to measure and study whether the gap in China’s regional social development has continued to widen over the past decade. This study found that: (1) From the overall national perspective, there are obvious differences in the level of social development in the development plans of 35 large and medium-sized cities. The social development level of each large and medium-sized city has been improved to a certain extent, and the social development gap between cities has also been reduced to a certain extent. (2) From the 2011–2015 period to the 2016–2020 period, the social development gap between the three regions of my country’s eastern, central, and western regions has declined. (3) The trend of social development disparity within the three major regions of the eastern, central, and western regions is not the same. The internal social development gap in the eastern region shows a downward trend, while the internal social development gap in the central and western regions shows an upward trend. This study provides a valuable reference for rapidly urbanizing developing countries in the process of globalization. It is one of China’s basic national conditions that China is a developing country with vast territory, a large population, and uneven development. This is also the objective basis for the Chinese government to formulate effective economic and social development plans and policies. Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China’s economic and social development has achieved remarkable achievements, creating the “Chinese Miracle” . With thThe question of whether regional development gaps in socialist countries have decreased and whether the economic reforms undertaken by the Chinese government since 1978 have increased regional development gaps has attracted considerable attention . Some beDevelopment planning is essentially a major administrative decision. Government decision-making is the primary link for the government to implement effective management . China’sChina Urban Statistical Yearbook, Chinese cities can be divided into municipalities (4), sub-provincial cities (15), prefecture-level cities (260), and county-level cities (386). According to the City Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China, cities can be divided into super cities (15), megacities (30), large cities (64), medium cities (225), and small cities (326) according to their size. According to the geographic location of cities, cities can be divided into eastern cities (287), central cities (247), and western cities (126).The new urbanization strategy is a long-term development strategy that China will implement in the future. City-level cities are the main subject of the continuous advancement in the new urbanization process, and the most direct subject of public resource allocation, such as land resources, water resources, etc. . SecondlThe compilation of development planning is its “starter” in the process of regional development. The changing trend of the regional development gap has a profound theoretical value from the compilation content of the development plan. After consultation and discussion with leaders of government departments and relevant experts and scholars, based on the four principles of representativeness, authenticity, difference, and feasibility of the selection of research objects, and per previous relevant research literature, this study decided to select 35 large and medium-sized cities in China as the analysis objects to study the regional development gap in China in the past 10 years. The research results can provide valuable references for rapidly urbanizing developing countries in the process of globalization.Unbalanced regional development is one of the prominent problems in China’s economic and social development, which affects the sustainable development of society and economy, and is also a common problem in the development of countries around the world . It has Early research on China’s regional development imbalance mainly focused on measuring regional development imbalance . After tIn recent years, the research focus has been shifted from the original regional economic growth to environmental regulation and green development, paying more attention to sustainable development research in the process of regional development. After sorting out the existing research literature, it is found that, from the perspective of research content, most of the existing research on regional development is analyzed from a single perspective such as economic development or green development, and less research and analysis are conducted from the comprehensive perspective of social development. In terms of sources, most current research directly uses the data from the China Statistical Yearbook and lacks analysis from the start of the regional development process of government development planning. Mainly, there is a lack of research from the perspective of sub-regional and sub-urban agglomeration with only provincial and prefecture levels. Therefore, the author takes the development plans issued by 35 large and medium-sized cities in China from 2011 to 2020 as the research object to study the regional development gap in China in the past decade.35 large and medium-sized cities was proposed for the first time. The 35 large and medium-sized cities include four municipalities: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing; 15 sub-provincial cities under separate state planning: Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Jinan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi’an, Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shenzhen, of which Shenzhen, Ningbo, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Dalian; 16 prefecture-level cities: Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Nanchang, Taiyuan, Urumqi, Hohhot, Changsha, Guiyang, Kunming, Xining, Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Nanning, Fuzhou, Haikou, and Hefei. Among them, there are 17 cities in the eastern region, accounting for 48%; 9 cities in the central region, accounting for 26%; and 9 cities in the western region, accounting for 26% of the total. The 35 large and medium-sized cities are distributed in various provinces and geographically dispersed, covering cities in different geographical locations in each province, which meet the requirements of the study of social development differences and are highly representative. These 35 large and medium-sized cities cover the main economic core areas in China. The social and economic development of these cities is relatively mature, and the speed of social development can truly reflect the market supply and demand relationship with its changing trends. The 35 large and medium-sized cities are political center cities  or economic development center cities. They have a special status in economic development, political status, and legal formulation. They are the focus of national economic and social development, and can better meet the needs of regional difference research.In 1997, with the approval of the State Council, the State Development Planning Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics decided to carry out the compilation of real estate price indices in 35 large and medium-sized cities with rapid economic development and a large proportion of real estate development investment in those regions. The concept of Due to the typical representation of China’s 35 large and medium-sized cities, a large number of scholars have taken the 35 large and medium-sized cities in China as research objects for Chinese urban land research , HousingAfter consultation and discussion with leaders of government departments and relevant experts and scholars, based on the four principles of representativeness, authenticity, difference, and feasibility of the selection of research objects, and referring to the relevant research literature in the past, this study decided to select 35 large and medium-sized Chinese cities as the research object. Specifically, the data used in this study come from the 2011–2015 annual development plans, 2016–2020 annual development plans, and corresponding year’s special development plans for social and economic development published on the official websites by governments of these 35 large and medium-sized cities.For a long time, empirical research on regional development gaps has been plagued by methodological problems. The ways adopted in which regional development imbalances are measured can also affect the findings. At present, the main methods to investigate the development gap between regions are Gini Coefficient, Kakwani index, and Atkinson index . HoweverNational Economic and Social Development Planning Outline officially issued by the municipal governments in China to construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for social development in 35 large and medium-sized cities in China. Through standardizing processing, the study uses the entropy weight method to determine the weight of each parameter based on the 2011–2015 annual development plan and the 2016–2020 annual development plan data and uses factor analysis to compare the levels of social development in 35 large and medium-sized cities during the phase of 2011–2015 and 2016–2020. Also, the study classifies the social development levels of 35 large and medium-sized cities by cluster analysis method, using relevant statistical indicators such as standard deviation and coefficient of variation, and discusses the trend of regional social development gap and the social development gap in eastern, central, and western regions.Based on existing literature in the research area and actual development of the area, this study adopts the The empirical evaluation data comes from the 2011–2015 Annual Development Plan, 2016–2020 Annual Development as well as a special Development Plan Outline from 35 large and medium-sized cities in China published on the official websites by municipal governments. After extracting the text data, the observed data values of the indicators are obtained. Then, it cannot be directly substituted into the factor analysis model. In order to make these data types comparable, their dimensional characteristics need to be eliminated. Therefore, the data used in this study was first standardized. The calculation formula for the normalization process is as follows:Positive indicators:Negative indicators:iZ is the value after data standardization, iX is the original data value of the i-th indicator, min (Xi) is the minimum value of the i-th indicator’s original data value, and max(Xi) is the original data value of the i-th indicator. The maximum value among data values.Among them, In information theory, entropy is a measure of uncertainty. As the amount of information increases, the value of entropy will gradually decrease . This meiP is the normalized value of the original data, iX is the original data value, ei is the entropy value of the index, Wi is the weight value of each index, Si is the comprehensive development level score of each city, k=ln(n) > 0, satisfies ei≥0.Among them, This research analyzes the basis for the construction of the social development evaluation index system based on the basic goals of the social development and construction proposed in the 2011–2015 and 2016–2020 development plan outlines, keeping to the principles of uniformity, accessibility, functionality, and completeness to the construction of the statistical indicator system. Drawing on some representative literature research results , the stuCluster analysis is a method of reducing the number of research objects by grouping things with similar properties into one category based on the characteristics of the research objects (samples or indicators). The main principle of the cluster analysis method is to first treat all n samples as different n classes, then merge the two classes with the closest nature  into one class, then find the closest one from the n-1 classes the two categories are merged, and so on until all the samples are merged into one category. The detailed steps are as follows :Step 1: select the analysis variable, and set the original observation data matrix as:Step 2: Data standardization. The standardized formula is:Step 3: Calculate the new distance Step 4: In the choice of clustering method, select the average distance connection method between classes:pG and the class Gq are merged into a new classGr, then the distance between any class Gk and Gr is:Assuming that the clustering reaches a certain step, the class Step 5: Continue with the third and fourth steps until all the samples are classified into one category. Finally, according to the background knowledge of social development, according to a certain classification standard or classification principle, the final classification result is obtained.According to the weights of the second-level indicators of the entropy method of social development of 35 large and medium-sized cities, calculate the scores and total scores of the 35 large and medium-sized cities in 2011–2015 and 2016–2020. The average scores of 2011–2015 and 2016–2020 are used as the comparison object, and the scores of 35 large and medium-sized cities and eastern, central, and western regions are ranked. The analysis results are shown in There are obvious differences in the level of social development in the development plans of 35 large and medium cities as shown in the above graphs. During 2011–2015, it can be seen that from the perspective of China’s three major regions, in terms of the scores of the seven major first-level indicators, the eastern part ranked first in employment, education, medical care, population and travel, pollution control, and ecological greening, and only ranked second in social security indicators. At the same time, the western region ranked first in all seven first-level indicators except ecological greening and employment indicators. In addition to the second, they are all located in the third. The total scores of eastern cities, central cities, western cities, and the national level were 0.1041, 0.0885, 0.0818, and 0.0935, respectively. The scores of central and western cities did not reach the average level of 35 large and medium-sized cities and were only 85.01% and 85.01% of those of eastern cities. 78.58%, and the score of western cities is 92.43% of that of central cities.During 2016–2020, from the perspective of China’s three major regions, in terms of the scores of the seven major first-level indicators, the eastern part is equally well-known in the five first-level indicators of employment, education, medical care, population and travel, and ecological greening. Ranked first, compared with the 2011–2015 period, the first-level pollution control index has changed from first to second, and the western region has changed from third to first in the first-level pollution control index. The central city surpassed the western city in the second place in the employment index. The total scores of eastern cities, central cities, western cities, and the national level were 0.1122, 0.1039, 0.0990, and 0.1062, respectively. The scores of central and western cities did not reach the average level of 35 large and medium-sized cities and were 92.60% and 88.24 of eastern cities. % and the score of western cities is 95.28% of that of central cities.From a national perspective, from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, the social development level of 35 large and medium-sized cities across the country has been improved to a certain extent, and the social development gap between cities has also been reduced to a certain extent. From a regional perspective, from the “Twelfth Five-Year” development plan to the “Thirteenth Five-Year” development plan, the social development gap between central cities, western cities, and eastern cities is narrowing, while the social development gap between western and eastern cities is narrowing. The gap is also narrowing.Through the cluster analysis of the collected raw data through SPSS software, the cluster analysis pedigree of the social development of 35 large and medium-sized cities in the 2011–2015 period and the 2016–2020 period can be obtained Based on the pedigree diagram principle, the closer ones are merged into one category, and the distance in the tree diagram is ten as the standard. It can be seen that the pedigree diagrams of 35 large and medium-sized cities during the 2011–2015 social development cluster analysis are classified into four categories. It is reasonable to divide the cluster analysis pedigree diagram of the social development of 35 large and medium-sized cities into three categories during the 2016–2020 period. See It can be seen from According to the comprehensive scores of the social development of 35 large and medium-sized cities obtained from previous calculations, The data shows that compared with the 2011–2015 period, the social development of the 2016–2020 period has significantly improved. The coefficient of variation obtained by dividing the standard deviation by the comprehensive score of social development also dropped significantly. In addition, even if a partial comparison index such as “the ratio of the highest to the lowest” is used to measure the social development gap between 35 large and medium-sized cities during 2011–2015 and 2016–2020, the data also shows that this gap has been obtained. Decrease slightly. Therefore, we can conclude that compared with 2011–2015, the social development gap between 35 large and medium-sized cities in China has narrowed during 2016–2020.It can be seen from Based on the social development part of 35 large and medium-sized city development plans, this paper has obtained the regional comprehensive scores of 17 urban agglomerations during the 2011–2015 and 2016–2020 periods to analyze the areas with the social development level of the three major regions. This manuscript divides the 35 large and medium-sized cities according to the urban agglomerations into the eastern, central, and western regions and elaborates on the gaps in the social development level of these regions.The eastern region is mainly comprised of seven regions, namely, the Beijing-Tianjin Wing City Cluster, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration , the Pearl River Delta City Cluster , Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration , city group on the west bank of the Straits , Beibu Gulf city group , and Northeast region city group . The social development level of each indicator within the eastern region during 2011–2015 is shown in It can be seen from The middle region is mainly comprised of the Jinzhong area (Taiyuan), Central Plains (Zhengzhou), and the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River . By calculating the relevant index data, the social development levels of each indicator within the middle region during 2011–2015 and 2016–2020 are shown in According to the graphs, on the whole, from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, the social development gap between the central regions has shown an upward trend, mainly reflected in the rapid development of the Central Plains and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River; especially, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was still at the end of the three major regions during the 2011–2015 period and has risen to the top of the three major regions during the 2016–2020 period.The western region mainly comprises Northern Tianshan (Urumqi), Ningxia along the Yellow River (Yinchuan), Lanzhou-Xining area, Hubao and Eyu area (Hohhot), Yunnan-Guizhou area , Chengdu-Chongqing area, and Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration area (Xi’an). By calculating the relevant index data, the social development levels of each indicator within the middle region during 2011–2015 and 2016–2020 are shown in According to the graphs, the social development gap in the western region shows an overall expansion trend. However, due to the large difference in the absolute value of the social development level between the various regions in the western region, the coefficient of variation shows that the social development gap in the western region has not increased significantly. Specifically, compared with the Guanzhong Plain, HubaoEyu, Lanzhou-Xining, and Ningxia along the Yellow River, the gap in social development in the Chengdu-Chongqing area is expanding; the Guanzhong Plain is only relative to the level of social development in Ningxia along the Yellow River. Compared with other regions, the social development level of the Yunnan-Guizhou region has risen significantly. The HubaoEyu region has increased compared to the Yellow River region in Ningxia and the northern Tianshan region. The Lanzhou-Xining region has risen significantly compared to the area along the Yellow River in Ningxia. In short, among the various regions within the western region, from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, the level of social development in the Chengdu-Chongqing region, the Yunnan-Guizhou region, and the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains has increased significantly. The relative level of development has dropped significantly.Existing literature studies on regional development gaps mostly focus on the microeconomic scale based on economic statistics (GDP) or social survey data and rarely pay attention to the impact of government policies on regional development gaps from the perspective of government macro-social development. In order to reduce this deficiency, we use the 2011–2015 annual development plan, the 2016–2020 annual development plan, and the special development plan data of each city to characterize the urban development gap and construct a comprehensive evaluation model for the social development of 35 large and medium-sized cities in China for research and discussion on the social development gap of 35 large and medium cities in China, the trend of social development gap in the eastern, central, and western regions and the social development gap in the eastern, central, and western regions. The research results show that:1.Looking at the whole country, there are obvious differences in the social development level of the 35 large and medium-sized cities in the development plan, but from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, the social development level of the 35 large and medium-sized cities in the country has achieved a certain level of development. As a result, the social development gap between cities has also been reduced to a certain extent. During 2011–2015, the highest score of 35 large and medium-sized cities was 0.13099 in Shenzhen, the lowest was 0.06278 in Urumqi, and the national average score was 0.0935. The 35 large and medium-sized cities have all achieved social development from 2011 to 2015. There are 13 cities whose level is higher than the national average. During 2016–2020, the highest score of 35 large and medium-sized cities was 0.15193 points in Chengdu, the lowest score was 0.07818 points in Urumqi, and the national average score was 0.1062 points, of which 35 large and medium-sized cities in the period 2016–2020. There are 17 cities whose social development level is higher than the national average.2.From 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, the gap in social development levels among the three major regions of China’s eastern, central, and western regions has decreased. Judging from the pairwise comparison results of the three major regions of the east, the middle, and the west, the social development gap between the east and the west, between the east and the middle, and between the middle and the west is narrowing. The development gap narrowed the most, at 10.83%.3.The trend of social development disparity within the three major regions of the eastern, central, and western regions is not the same. The internal social development gap in the eastern region shows a downward trend, while the internal social development gap in the central and western regions shows an upward trend. From 2011–2015 to 2016–2020, within the three major regions of the East and Midwest. With the rapid development of the social development level of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration, accompanied by the relatively slow social development speed of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Northeast, Jinzhong, and Guanzhong Plain regions, it has become the driving force for all regions in my country. The main reason for the level of social development in the unit. At the same time, compared with the decline in the social development gap between the three original eastern, central, and western regions, the social development gap between the northern and southern regions of China is constantly expanding.Cities are areas of intensive economic and social development. Coordinated development between cities is conducive to a more frequent flow of resources and factors, more convenient cross-regional development of enterprises, and closer economic and trade links and social exchanges between cities, which can do good to the formation of the internal Contact Network. Further, the development of the connection network between cities will play a guiding role in the flow of factors and the cross-regional development of enterprises, promote the optimal allocation of factors, and help jointly solve cross-regional problems in public areas such as transportation, communication, resource development, and environmental protection. Reduce transaction costs, form functional differentiation with the industrial division of labor and cooperation as the main content, and thus form increasingly close economic ties and development dependencies and interactions.This manuscript corroborates that in the past decade, China’s regional social development gap has generally narrowed, and China’s economic reforms have not exacerbated regional development imbalances, but have brought economic prosperity and opportunities to all. It provides evidence for scholars to propose continuing the coast-oriented regional development policy. However, we should also see that in the context of the overall decline in the regional social development gap in China, the social development gap within the central and western regions of China has shown an upward trend. This is mainly due to the strong siphon effect from a small number of core cities in the central and western regions to the surrounding cities, attracting a large number of resources from the surrounding cities. In addition, the regional social development in the central and western regions of China was originally backward, resulting in a more prominent problem of the one-way flow of resources from surrounding cities to core cities. In the long run, it has led to a growing disparity in regional social development in the central and western regions of China.Based on the above research conclusions, we provide the following policy implications: First, show more support for cities in the central and western regions, strengthen the connection between cities in the central and western regions, enhance the advantages of urban agglomerations, and promote the overall development of the region. Second, give full play to the leading and radiating role of central cities and the leading role of advanced core cities in surrounding cities, accelerating the development of underdeveloped areas with concentrated elements in central cities and coordinating regional development. Third, the government’s policies could appropriately favor the central and western regions, increasing the streamlining of administration and delegate power, improving the business environment, and encouraging social forces to enter related fields, actively using the Internet information platform to develop various innovative models such as social security, housing security, education, and medical care.In this study, we use the data from 2011–2015 to 2016–2020 and the special development plan of each city formulated by the governments of 35 large and medium-sized cities to characterize urban development levels by establishing a comprehensive evaluation model. This research perspective overcomes the limitation and one-sidedness of the original use of economic statistics to measure regional urban development.The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/supplementary material.WL and HL identified the research theme and provided meaningful guidance during the whole process. ZL and YW participated in translation and modification. ZL and LW conducted the literature analyzing and collecting and wrote the script. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Aphantasia is a condition characterized by a deficit of mental imagery. Since several psychopathologies are partially maintained by mental imagery, it may be illuminating to consider the condition against the background of psychological disorder. After outlining current findings and hypotheses regarding aphantasia and psychopathology, this paper suggests that some support for defining aphantasia as a lack of voluntary imagery may be found here. The paper then outlines potentially fruitful directions for future research into aphantasia in general and its relation to psychopathology in particular, including rethinking use of the SUIS to measure involuntary imagery, whether aphantasia offers protection against addiction, and whether hyperphantasia is a potential risk factor for maladaptive daydreaming, among others. A growing body of literature suggests that dysfunctions of mental imagery make significant contributions to a variety of psychopathologies . A smallPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD may involve ‘re-experiencing’ past trauma via involuntary, imagery-based flashbacks. Indeed, the occurrence of such images is among the condition’s diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 as well as a postulated cause of PTSD’s characteristic hyperarousal , this paper goes on to enquire into what each account of the condition predicts in terms of the susceptibility of aphantasics to psychopathology, suggesting that some support for the volitional definition of aphantasia, i.e., as a lack of voluntary imagery, may be found here (“Defining the imagery deficit”). The paper then outlines potentially fruitful directions for future research into aphantasia and psychopathology (“Future directions”), including a link between aphantasia and addiction and between hyperphantasia and maladaptive daydreaming.If imagery dysfunctions contribute to a wide range of psychological disorders and aphantasia is a deficit of imagery, then it might be suggested that aphantasia constitutes a benefit in terms of protecting against psychopathology. This was among the hypotheses of one of the first, large-sample studies of aphantasic individuals . PuzzlinFor one, a causal influence from aphantasia to psychological disorder may be possible: for one patient, being congenitally aphantasic seemingly led to poor work performance and eventual reactive depression . The revAs mentioned above, at least three different accounts of aphantasia can be found in the literature: aphantasia as a lack of metacognition, aphantasia as a lack of voluntary mental imagery and aphantasia as a thoroughgoing lack of imagery capacity. Crucially, each makes varying predictions about the susceptibility of aphantasics to psychopathology. These predictions can be assessed in light of the findings of this section. Since research into aphantasia and psychopathology, like research into aphantasia in general, remains in its infancy, some caution is necessary here. At this early stage in our understanding of the condition, this paper’s conclusions are necessarily tentative.Although aphantasia is considered a deficit of imagery, a rival hypothesis is that it is a metacognitive deficit. This account is sometimes stated in the literature only to be swiftly rejected , but it The metacognitive account predicts that aphantasics are significantly less likely to suffer from the psychopathologies canvassed in “Introduction” insofar as the imagery-based dysfunctions discussed there seemingly contribute to those psychopathologies by virtue of being conscious. For instance, the traumatic imagery undergone by patients with, e.g., PTSD, depression and social phobia, are only likely to cause distress to the patient if actually experienced. Similarly, when it comes to the future-oriented imagery of exciting possibilities undergone by patients with bipolar disorder, these are only likely to amplify an initially positive mood if consciously accessed. As mentioned, A very different account of aphantasia understands it as a lack of voluntarily-generated mental imagery ; recall Crucially, and unlike the metacognitive account, the volitional account seems to predict that aphantasics are likely to be as susceptible as non-aphantasics to conditions like PTSD, depression, social phobia and bipolar disorder. This is because the imagery-based flashbacks, and flashforwards, reportedly contributing to the maintenance of these conditions occur involuntarily, ‘intrusively.’ And it is this kind of imagery that the volitional account says remains intact in aphantasia. Indeed, in one study on congenital aphantasia, the majority of participants professed to experiencing involuntary flashbacks during wakefulness . So the Yet the volitional account is not without difficulties. Indeed, some imagery measures on which aphantasics return poor results appear to measure involuntary, intrusive imagery. For instance, the 12-point questionnaire constituting the Spontaneous Use of Imagery Scale (SUIS) asks participants to rate their agreement with sentences like ‘When I first hear a friend’s voice, a visual image of him or her almost always springs to mind.’  The use However, the fact that aphantasics return poor results on the SUIS and VVIQ is not necessarily evidence for understanding aphantasia as a thoroughgoing lack of imagery. The problem is the SUIS. A shortcoming of this measure is that many of its questions are ambiguous between readings on which the imagery measured is involuntary or voluntary. For instance, only one other question, in addition to the one mentioned above about the friend’s voice, strongly implies involuntary imagery: ‘If I catch a glance of a car that is partially hidden behind bushes, I automatically ‘complete it,’ seeing the entire car in my mind’s eye.’ Yet even this question may be read as referring to voluntary imagery. In addition, the idea that one ‘completes’ occluded parts of objects with imagery, rather than other psychological resources, is not a universally agreed principle . So a deThe remaining ten questions on the SUIS might be taken to refer either to voluntary or involuntary imagery. One talks about having a ‘clear picture’ in mind when thinking about visiting a relative. This seems neutral between whether the imagery is voluntary or involuntary. Another mentions ‘finding oneself picturing’ what a radio announcer looks like. But insofar as ‘picturing’ is an active verb, subjects may take this to refer to a deliberate, voluntary act rather than something that occurs involuntarily or spontaneously. All other questions, bar one, ask about situations in which one ‘visualizes.’ Like ‘picturing’, the verb ‘visualizes’ may also be taken to imply a voluntary act rather than something that occurs involuntarily. In sum, a low score on the SUIS does not necessarily evidence that an individual lacks involuntary imagery and so is not, in combination with a low score on the VVIQ, evidence for the thoroughgoing view that aphantasics lack all imagery.In terms of psychopathology, the thoroughgoing account pictures aphantasia as offering greater protection against psychopathology than does the metacognitive account. For the account says that aphantasia is the complete absence of imagery, both voluntary and voluntary. But in this, the view risks making the existence of mental health conditions among aphantasics as puzzling as on the metacognitive account. Although there may be other issues on which it will be discovered that the metacognitive and thoroughgoing accounts have an explanatory edge over the volitional account, in terms of making sense of psychopathology among aphantasics, here the volitional account appears to have an explanatory advantage.The relationship between aphantasia and psychopathology is a significant arena for future psychological research insofar as it bears on both the heterogeneity of human cognition and the effective treatment of psychological disorders in neurodiverse populations. Future research into aphantasia in general and its relation to psychopathology in particular may benefit from:Distinguishing between intra-aphantasic groups, and not just between aphantasics and non-aphantasics, when enquiring into mental health histories. Aphantasia is not a completely unitary condition, given the distinction between congenital and non-congenital (psychogenic and neurogenic) aphantasia. So in order to arrive at a more detailed picture of the relationship between the condition and susceptibility to psychological disorder, intra-group differences among aphantasics should be examined too. Indeed, the mental health histories of congenital and non-congenital aphantasics should be expected to differ, given that congenital aphantasics have a lifelong imagery deficit while at least some non-congenital aphantasia (psychogenic aphantasia) is believed to be caused by psychological disorder.Assessing whether psychopathology in aphantasics is treatable via imagery-based interventions. Assessing conditions such as PTSD, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder may be particularly illuminating insofar as imagery-based therapies have proven effective treatments for all three in non-aphantasics , e.g., replacing negative imagery with more positive images. Again, VVIQ results of aphantasic individuals suggest that voluntary imagery is precisely the kind of imagery that aphantasics lack.antasics . If imagAssessing aphantasia via a questionnaire which unequivocally concerns involuntary imagery. As argued above, the SUIS does not substantively differ from the VVIQ insofar as the majority of its questions may be read as referring to voluntary imagery. Being able to assess aphantasia via a questionnaire which unequivocally concerns the patient’s capacity for involuntary imagery is crucial for the issue of how best to define aphantasia. After all, the volitional account predicts that aphantasics do not substantially differ from non-aphantasics in terms of capacity for this kind of imagery. Moreover, although as mentioned there exist psychophysical correlates of aphantasia via which the condition may be tested for ‘objectively’  aphantasics, in terms of history of addiction. Like various psychopathologies, addictions are also thought to be partially maintained by dysfunctions of mental imagery, many of which also concern patterns of involuntary, intrusive imagery, i.e., of the object of addiction or future satisfaction  aphantasics and not just between aphantasics and non-aphantasic controls. Again, findings here may be relevant for identifying effective treatments insofar as addictions in congenital aphantasics may be driven, at least in part, by uniquely verbal cognitive styles, entailing that imagery-based interventions on addiction in aphantasics may prove less effective than those undertaken by non-aphantasics.sfaction . Thus, rDetermining the susceptibility of those with hyperphantasia to maladaptive daydreaming and related conditions. Individuals with so-called ‘hyperphantasia’ lie at the opposite end of the spectrum from aphantasics, having ‘an abundance’ (undance’ , p. 426 undance’ . Insofarundance’  hyperphaundance’ , fantasyundance’  and schiundance’ , among oThe original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.Open access fees to be covered by the Open University Fellowship Academy funds.The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.