It takes longer to process details of a small object in mental imagery compared to a larger object.

“if I tell you to look at a small object in your mind's eye versus a larger object so for instance the mouse versus the elephant it takes longer for you to do that in other words just as with the map experiment the distance between things on a map is conserved in your mind's eye as a linear relationship takes longer to go far distances between things on a map in your mind than it does to go shorter distances it's also the case that it takes you longer to look at the details of a small object versus a large object”