Creative Imagery: Discoveries and inventions in Visualization

by Finke; Ronald A.

• ISBN13: 9780805807721
• ISBN10: 0805807721
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1990-08-01
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

Bringing together the results of experiments on discovery and invention in visualization conducted by the author over a three year period, this book reports new findings on the generation of creative inventions and concepts using mental imagery, and proposes a reconceptualization of the creative process. Creative Imageryintroduces the concept of "preinventive forms" and describes an approach to creative invention differing from those typically used in problem-solving studies. There are two unique features of this book. First, it combines the experimental methods of cognitive science with the opportunity to explore and discover creative inventions in imagination. Second, it provides readers with numerous opportunities to use the creative imagery techniques to develop their own inventions and conceptual discoveries. This text is of particular interest to scientists working in the fields of experimental psychology, cognitive psychology, and cognitive science. The techniques for generating creative inventions will also be of interest to people working in engineering, architectural design, and the visual arts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Anecdotes of Creative Discoveries in Imagery	p. 1
A New Approach to Creative Insight and Invention	p. 2
Components of Creativity	p. 4
Scope of This Book	p. 4
Reader Participation	p. 5
Visual Discoveries in Imagery	p. 7
The Need for Experimental Verification	p. 7
The Empirical Challenge	p. 9
Imagined Combinations of Familiar Patterns	p. 10
Emergent Patterns Following Imagined Transformations	p. 12
Anticipating the Emergent Patterns	p. 13
Emergent Patterns in Three-Dimensional Images	p. 17
Summary	p. 18
Theoretical Implications	p. 18
Creative Mental Synthesis	p. 21
Previous Studies on Mental Synthesis	p. 21
A Paradigm for Creative Visualization	p. 22
Experimenter Predictions of the Imagined Patterns	p. 24
Subject-Generated Predictions of the Patterns	p. 27
Comparing Actual and Imagined Synthesis	p. 31
Providing Creative Inspiration	p. 33
Summary	p. 36
Theoretical Implications	p. 37
Creative Inventions in Imagery	p. 39
A Paradigm for Creative Invention (Experiments 1-3)	p. 39
Judging the Inventions	p. 43
Intuitive Predictions	p. 44
Comparing Results Among the Experiments	p. 44
Examples of Creative Inventions	p. 45
Aspects of Individual Performance	p. 58
Reader Participation: Creative Inventions	p. 58
Summary	p. 59
Theoretical Implications	p. 59
Restricted Imagery Inventions	p. 63
Restricting Object Types (Experiment 4)	p. 64
Restricting Object Functions (Experiment 5)	p. 65
Results of the Experiments	p. 65
Examples of Creative Inventions	p. 67
Reader Participation: Specialized Inventions	p. 80
Summary	p. 80
Theoretical Implications	p. 81
Preinventive Object Forms	p. 83
The Concept of ôPreinventive Formsö	p. 83
Pilot Experiment: Generating Preinventive Forms	p. 84
Interpreting the Preinventive Forms (Experiments 6-7)	p. 85
Results of the Experiments	p. 87
Implications of the Results	p. 89
Examples of Creative Inventions	p. 89
Reader Participation: Preinventive Forms	p. 103
Summary	p. 103
Theoretical Implications	p. 106
Personal Inventions	p. 109
Informal Explorations	p. 109
Examples of the Author's Inventions	p. 330
Spontaneous Creative Inventions	p. 129
Student Inventions	p. 129
Spanning the Categories	p. 134
Summary and Implications	p. 140
Creative Concepts	p. 141
A Paradigm for Conceptual Discovery (Experiments 8-9)	p. 142
Experimental Procedures	p. 142
Results of the Experiments	p. 145
Examples of Creative Concepts	p. 147
Reader Participation: Creative Concepts	p. 157
Personal Conceptual Discoveries	p. 157
Summary	p. 162
Theoretical Implications	p. 162
Creative Implications	p. 167
Review of Experimental Findings	p. 167
A Reconceptualization of Creativity	p. 168
Preinventive Forms and Problem Solving	p. 169
Implications for Theories of Perception and Cognition	p. 170
Ecological Significance of the Research	p. 172
Practical Implications in Everyday Life	p. 172
Practical Implications for Experts	p. 173
Further Issues and Directions	p. 174
References	p. 177
Author Index	p. 181
Subject Index	p. 185
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