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Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Le Boutillier, Nicholas (1999) The role of mental imagery in creativity. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis] This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13414/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). 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The role of mental imagery in creativity. Available from Middlesex University’s Research Repository. Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this thesis/research project are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Any use of the thesis/research project for private study or research must be properly acknowledged with reference to the work’s full bibliographic details. This thesis/research project may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from it, or its content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. The Role of Mental Imagery in Creativity A thesis submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Nicholas Ie Boutillier School of Social Science Middlesex University June 1999 Abstract Mental imagery has been linked to creativity through the reports of many historically creative individuals. Following a review and evaluation of the theoretical, anecdotal and empirical literature, the material presented in the thesis investigates the role of individual differences in mental imagery in performance on psychometric creativity tasks. A meta-analytic review of previous research showed a small marginally acceptable criterion association between self-reported mental imagery vividness and control and divergent thinking performance. However, additional non-statistical examination showed that further investigation was required. This led to five studies of the variables under consideration and a revised meta-analytic review in the light of the findings. The main conclusion was that self-report measures of mental imagery have a statistically significant but inconsequential association with divergent thinking performance. Consequently a new series of studies was undertaken in which the creative visualization task (CVT) was employed using an individual differences approach. Having established the parametric properties of a test-format version of the CVT two behavioural measures of mental imagery were used to predict performance. As neither measure predicted CVT performance high and low vividness and Symbolic Equivalence Test groups were used to assess a dissociative model of CVT performance. A significant interaction effect showed that vividness plays a mediating role in predicting CVT performance. In two final studies the individual differences approach was employed in the context of a hypothesised perceptual mediation. The results showed firstly that High Imagers performed significantly better than Low Imagers in creativity tasks following perceptual isolation and secondly that Low Imagers performed significantly better on perceptually sourced creativity tasks than on verbally sourced creativity tasks. The combined findings suggest that, while established protocols do not support a strong imagery-creativity association, nev,,i methods of investigation may reveal the predicted differences in creativity between high and low imagery participants. Acknowledgements In Memory of Patrick Smythe Micheal Smythe John Corcoran For help and support I would like to thank Tracey Cockerton, Paula Corcoran, Mark Coulson, Jonathon Sigger, Stephen Nunn, Simon Moore, Mark Wallace-Bell and, David Westley. For his patience and tireless assistance a special thank you to David Marks. Contents Chapter I. Mental Imagery and Creativity. Some introductory thoughts on the uses of mental imagery by historically creative individuals. 1 Introduction 2 Creativity in the Absence ofMental Imagery 2 The Case Against a General Mental Imagery Heuristic 5 Two Cases of the use ofMental imagery in Creativity 7 Kekule's Discovery of the Benzene Ring 8 Einstein's Special Theory ofRelativity 14 Similar Problems, Different Mental Imagery Heuristics 22 Conclusion 23 Chapter II. What is a mental image? On the apparent contradiction between creative enhancement and perceptual equivalence. 24 Introduction 25 The Picture-in-the-head Metaphor 27 More Recent Conceptions: The Misuse of the Percept Metaphor 28 Percepts and Mental Images 32 The Function ofPerception 34 Distinguishing Mental Images from Percepts 35 The Consequences ofthe New Definition ofMental Imagery 37 Conclusion 38 Chapter III. A Classification of Mental Imagery 40 Introduction 41 The Utility of Classification Systems 41 Previous Classification Systems 42 The Development ofa Classification System for Mental Imagery 44 Dream-associated Mental Images Characterised by their Somnambulistic Nature 46 Dream-associated Mental Images Characterised by their non-Somnamhulistic Nature 52 IV Non Dream-associated Mental Images Characterised by their 'looking-at' phenomenology 59 Non Dream-associated Mental Images Characterised by their 'looking for' phenomenology 63 Conclusion 77 Chapter IV. A Meta-Analytic Investigation into the Relationship Between Self-report Measures of Mental Imagery and Performance Measures of Creativity 81 Introduction 82 Study One. A Meta-Analytic Review ofthe Individual Differences Approach to the Association Between Self-reported Mental Imagery and Creativity 84 Introduction & Selection Criteria 84 Results 88 Discussion 93 Conclusion 95 Chapter V. Individual Differences in Self-Reported Mental Imagery (As Assessed through Factor Analytic and Internal Reliability Analyses) and Their Relationship to Divergent Thinking Performance 96 General Introduction 97 Study Two. The Construct Validity and Reliability of the Eyes-Open Version of The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire 98 Introduction 98 Method 99 Results 100 Discussion 103 Study Three. The Construct Validity and Reliability of the Test of Visual Imagery Control 104 Introduction 104 Method 105 Results 106 Discussion 107 Study FOllr. The Relationship between the r"i1'idness and Control of Visual Imagery and Verbal and Figural Divergent Thinking 109 Introduction 109 Method 113 Results 114 Discussion 117 Study Five. The Construct Validity and Reliability of the Vividness of Poetry Imagery Questionnaire 119 Introduction 119 Method 122 Results 123 Discussion 126 Study Six. A Criterion Study of the VP IQ and Two Torrance Tests of Divergent Thinking 127 Introduction 127 Method 127 Results 128 Discussion 129 General Discussion 129 Chapter VI. A Revised Meta-Analysis in the light of the Findings from the Present Research 134 Introduction 134 The Revised Meta-Analysis 134 Discussion 140 Conclusion 145 Chapter VII. The Image Generation Approach 147 Introduction 148 Study Eight. Piloting a Test-Format Version ofFinke and Slayton's Creative Visualisation Task 153 Introduction 153 Method 154 Results 156 Discussion 158 \ I Chapter VIII. The Role of Behavioural Measures of Mental Imagery in Predicting Performance on the Creative Visualisation Task 160 General Introduction 161 Study Nine. The Role ofMental Rotation Differences in Predicting Performance on the Test-Format Version of the Creative Visualisation Task 164 Introduction 164 Method 165 Results 168 Discussion 169 Study