If there's something in a scene or picture that sticks out, like a green vest or a red spot in an otherwise gray image then your consciousness is made aware of

If there's something in a scene or picture that sticks out, like a green vest or a red spot in an otherwise gray image then your consciousness is made aware of this by whatever processing elements the visual system does for you. So your focus gets drawn to the missing pants (unless something else gets a higher priority - ref. the gorilla suit experiment). But that's beside the point. For me or you to have a mental image of a pirate with no pants on we'll have to create that image in our minds first, with missing pants and all, so how can you compare that with being presented with a picture on a table?