Creativity and ease of ambiguous figural reversal

Wiseman, Richard; Watt, Caroline; Gilhooly, K. J.; Georgiou, George

doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02031.x

Cited by 48 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The findings in the current study partly support the findings of Wiseman et al (2011), who found that MI acuity was linked to both self-perceived trait creativity and objective measures of creative flexibility and fluency. In the current study vivid MI did not relate to objective measures of performance, including transformational complexity, which is theoretically a measure of structural reconfiguration and agility.…”

Section: Feedback Ambiguity Congruence and MI Vividnesssupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Studies have since provided evidence that there is spatial and temporal equivalence between mental and perceptual imagery (Finke, 1980), that restructuring and reconstrual does frequently occur, and that geometric data are preserved in MI to allow new categorical interpretations to be formed (Finke, Pinker, & Farah, 1989;Mast & Kosslyn, 2002;Peterson, Kihlstrom, Rose, & Glisky, 1992). Wiseman, Watt, Georgiou, and Gilhooly (2011) showed that creative ability was linked to the ability to reinterpret ambiguous mental images mentally, confirming that agility in internally manipulating imagery is a fundamental component of creativity. Beethoven and Monetdeaf and blind, respectively, when they created some of their most famous masterpieces -and Einstein -who carried out many thought experiments using only his imagination -exemplify in a real-world context that notable creativity does occur without access to or use of perceptual faculties (Garland-Thomson, 2005;Ghiselin, 1952;Harrison, 1988).…”

Section: Creative Performance With MI and Sketchingmentioning

confidence: 74%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mental and perceptual feedback in the development of creative flow

Cseh

Phillips

Pearson

2016

Consciousness and Cognition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sketching is considered by artists and designers to be a vital tool in the creative process. However, research shows that externalisation during the creative process (i.e., sketching) is not necessary to create effectively. This study examines whether sketching may play a more important role in the subjective experience of creativity by facilitating the deeply focused, optimal state of consciousness termed 'flow' (being 'in the zone'). The study additionally explored whether sketching affects flow by easing cognitive load or by providing a clearer sense of self-feedback. Participants carried out the creative mental synthesis task (combining sets of simple shapes into creative drawings), experimentally simulating the visual creative process. Ideas were generated either mentally before committing to a final drawing, or with external perceptual support through sketching, and cognitive load was varied by using either three-or five-shape sets. The sketching condition resulted in greater experience of flow and lower perceived task difficulty. However, cognitive load did not affect flow and there was no interaction between load and sketching conditions. These findings are the first to empirically demonstrate that sketching increases flow experience, and that this is not dependent on an associated reduction in overall working memory load.

show abstract

Section: Feedback Ambiguity Congruence and MI Vividnesssupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Creative Performance With MI and Sketchingmentioning

confidence: 74%

Mental and perceptual feedback in the development of creative flow

Cseh

Phillips

Pearson

2016

Consciousness and Cognition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, in Experiment 2 the first phase duration for image D2 (street map-flag pole, see Figure 5) is longer than for other images in the same experiment, suggesting that this image is processed differently. Previous studies that examined the connection between creativity and perceptual switching overlooked the role of different types of images (Doherty & Mair, 2012;Laukkonen & Tangen, 2017;Wiseman et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2016). It is possible that the relation between perceptual switching and creativity is found only for some images.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only a few studies have empirically investigated the relationship between the two phenomena. Wiseman, Watt, Gilhooly, and Georgiou (2011) provided empirical support for the connection between perceptual switching and divergent thinking or, in general, creative ability: participants who reported that they could switch more easily to the second interpretation of the Jastrow duck-rabbit image also rated themselves as being more artistically creative and better creative problem solvers. They also found a strong correlation between self-reported ease of perceptual switching and categorical flexibility measured with a single item unusual uses task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The three studies by Wiseman et al (2011), Wu et al (2016, and Laukkonen and Tangen (2017) show that performance in creative problem solving and perceptual switching tasks are related and can even influence each other. However, it is hard to accommodate results across tasks and studies that use different measures of divergent thinking and multistable perception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Spectres of Ambiguity in Divergent Thinking and Perceptual Switching

Taranu¹,

Loesche²

2017

AVANT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Divergent thinking as a creative ability and perceptual switching between different interpretations of an unchanging stimulus (known as perceptual multistability) are thought to rely on similar processes. In the current study, we investigate to what extent task instructions and inherent stimulus characteristics influence participants' responses. In the first experiment, participants were asked to give as many interpretations for six images as possible. In the second experiment, participants reported which of two possible interpretations they saw at any moment for the same line drawings. From these two experiments, we extracted measures that allow us direct comparison between tasks. Results show that instructions have a large influence over the perception of images traditionally used in two different paradigms and that these images can be perceived in appropriate ways for both tasks. In addition, we suggest that the connection between the two phenomena can be explored interchangeably through three experimental manipulations: a) using a common set of images across both experiments, b) giving different task instructions for the two tasks, and c) extracting comparable metrics from both experimental paradigms.

show abstract

The Facilitative Effects of Ambiguous Figures on Creative Solution

Wu¹,

Gu²,

Zhang

2016

Journal of Creative Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Empirical studies of creativity emphasize the importance of ambiguity advantage in idea generation and creative problem‐solving. This study examined whether ambiguous figures could directly induce a mind‐set that would transfer to the creative problem‐solving. In Experiment 1, we examined whether presentation of ambiguous figures would influence participants' performance in alternative uses tasks, and the results showed that prior exposure to ambiguous figures significantly enhanced participants' performance in the dimension of fluency, flexibility, and originality than those exposed to non‐ambiguous figures; in general uses tasks, there were no significant difference in the reaction time and originality between the ambiguous figure condition and non‐ambiguous figure condition. In Experiment 2, the facilitative effect of ambiguous figures on creative thinking was further examined with creative story generation tasks that demand more mental effort and increased cognitive load. Results showed that creativity of stories generated in ambiguous figure condition was scored significantly higher than those in non‐ambiguous figure condition. The current research extends our understanding of the facilitative effect of ambiguous figures on creative problem‐solving.

show abstract

Creativity and ease of ambiguous figural reversal

Cited by 48 publications

References 23 publications

Mental and perceptual feedback in the development of creative flow

Mental and perceptual feedback in the development of creative flow

Spectres of Ambiguity in Divergent Thinking and Perceptual Switching

The Facilitative Effects of Ambiguous Figures on Creative Solution

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About