Seeing the forest or the tree depends on personality: Evidence from process communication model during global/local visual search task

Abstract

In everyday life, we are continuously confronted with multiple levels of visual information processes (e.g., global information, the forest, and local information, the tree) and we must select information that has to be processed. In the present study, we investigated the relation between personality and the ability to process global and local visual information. Global precedence phenomenon was assessed by a standard global/local visual search task used in many visuo-spatial precedent studies, and the 77 participants were also presented with the standard Process Communication Model (PCM) questionnaire. Results suggest that the ability to process global and local properties of visual stimuli varied according to the Base type of participants. Even if four among six Base types (Thinker, Persister, Harmonizer and Promoter) presented a classical global visual precedence, the two other Base types (Rebel and Imaginer) presented only an effect of distractors and an effect of global advantage, respectively. Taken together, these results evidenced that each human being does not equally perceive the “forest” (global information) and the “tree” (local information). Even if objectively presented with similar visual stimuli, individual responses differ according to the Base, an inter-individual variability that could be taken into account during daily life situations.

Creative ideas generation and personality: evidence from process communication model

“…Why did Imaginer Base participants perform better than other Base Types during ideas generation? In a recent study Lefebvre and Beaucousin (2023) , Imaginer Base participants were more resistant to visual interference and exhibited a particular mode of visual processing compared with other Base Types participants; they were not sensitive to the distractors presented during a visuo-spatial task, whereas the reaction times of all other Base Types participants were slowed and altered by the presence of visual distractors during the task. In line with these findings, it seems conceivable that Imaginer Base participants are also less affected by the disruptive effects that impede idea generation during a creative task.…”

“…Indeed, beyond a simple description of different personalities type, the proposed classification reveals different performances in generating creative ideas as predicted by the PCM: Imagineers benefit from a greater capacity to generate numerous ideas and a better exploration of the different categories of possible solutions. Thus, having an Imaginer Base appears to impact not only the way we perceive visual information ( Lefebvre and Beaucousin, 2023 ), but also individual’s ability to generate multiple creative solutions to a problem.…”

“…Given this model, each of the Base Type may influence creative ideas generation, especially the Imaginer Base ( Kahler, 2008 , 2013 ). In our previous study we found a relation between Base Type and visuospatial processing ( Lefebvre and Beaucousin, 2023 ). Even when objectively presented with similar visual stimuli, individual responses differed according to the participants’ Base Type.…”

Neural correlates of communication modes in medical students using fMRI

“…This theory originates in an observation made by Kahler that some patients he followed in therapy could present repetitive, invariable and predictive patterns of a high level of stress even though they were suffering from various pathologies. These patterns could be objecti ed through the modi cation of ve indicators: the words used by the person, the tone of voice, the gestures, the posture and the expression of the face (Lefebvre & Beaucousin, 2023).…”