The spontaneous use of imaging and its relationships to verbal recall and literary analysis were investigated in a study in which 72 college students read a literary text under one of three sets of instructions that manipulated processing depth in an externally valid fashion. Imagery reports and free verbal recalls of the story were collected immediately and two days after reading the story. The results showed that imagery processing, like verbal processing and literary analysis, can be interpreted as having separate dimensions or levels, with superficial levels associated with textually explicit or textually implicit information, and deeper levels associated with more elaborate, reader-constructed responses. The findings support both levels of processing and dual coding in text processing. In addition, they indicate that specific images might symbolize or represent literary themes, that imagery is related to overall affective response to a story, and that a significant relationship exists between imaging a story segment and the story grammar macrostructure of that segment. Evidence of modality specific interferences between imaging and visually scanning print was also investigated. A unique aspect of the study was the development of a reliable methodology for classifying reports of the spontaneous use of imaging. (Author/FL)