Table Of ContentDOCUMENT RESUME
ED 393 593
PS 024 111
AUTHOR
Polland, Mark J.
Mental Imagery in Creative Problem Solving.
TITLE
PUB DATE
96
NOTE
205p.; Ph.D. Dissertation, Claremont Graduate
School.
PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses
Doctoral Dissertations (041)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC09 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Artists; Authors; Creativity; *Discovery Processes;
Imagination; Inventions; Musicians; *Problem Solving;
*Productive Thinking; *Scientists; Spontaneous
.
Behavior; Visual Arts; *Visualization
IDENTIFIERS
*Creative Problem Solving; *Mental Imagery
ABSTRACT
In order to investigate the relationship between
mental imagery and creative problem solving, a study of 44 separate
accounts reporting mental imagery experiences associated with
creative discoveries were examined. The data included 29 different
scientists, among them Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, and 9
artists, musicians, and writers, including Leonardo da Vinci and
Richard Wagner. Thirty-three of the incidents were reported by the
subjects themselves, and 11 were written by biographers and
historians. The study analyzed reports of mental imagery according to
(1) possible causes for the reported
the following three factors:
(2) what perceptual modalities were
perception of mental imagery;
involved in the reported mental imagery; and (3) at what stage in the
problem solving process imagery was reportedly involved. Findings
included the following: (1) mental images occurred more often in a
spontaneous way when the subjects were occupied with routine
behaviors; (2) imagery that occurred in the visual modality was the
single most reported factor, which may reflect the fact that the
research focused on scientific fields that tend to rely on visual
representations; and (3) mental imagery was reported to occur most
frequently during the later stages in the creative process. Contains
approximately 305 references. (AJH)
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S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
O".ce of Eaf,cal.oriat ReSoil,C1, anc Innvovon'ent
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Mental Imagery in Creative Problem Solvin
by Mark J. Polland
A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty
of Claremont Graduate School in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the
Graduate Faculty of Education.
Claremont, CA
1996
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We, the undersigned, certify that we have read this
dissertation and approve it as adequate in scope and quality for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Dissertation Committee:
John 0. Regan, Chair
Malcolm P. Douglass, Member
Michael Brewster, Member
Mary J. Martz, Visiting Examiner
2
I)
0
Dedication
To my mother, Barbara Kay Po Hand, for
her endless commitment and support.
To John Regan, whose vision is a guiding
light.
And to my Grandmother and
Grandfather, who helped to make this
dream a reality.
3
0
Page #
Contents
Chapter 1
8
1.1 Abstract
8
9
1.2 Introduction
10
1.3 Summary
12
1.4 What are mental images?
Chanter 2
16
2.1 Problems in the observation of creative behaviors
16
19
2.2 Data validation
20
2.3 Describing mental images
22
2.4 Creativity in education
Chapter 3
23
23
3.1 Literature review
26
3.2 Thinking without words
27
3.3 Reports of mental imagery
27
3.3.1 Galton
29
3.3.2 Myers
4
30
3.3.3 Richardson
3.3.4 McKellar
31
3.3.5 Luria
32
34
3.4 Creative visualization
34
3.5 Mental practice
36
3.6 Mental imagery in healing
c
36
3.7 Stages in the creative process
Chapter 4
39
4.1 Data and analysis
39
40
4.2 Data selection criteria
4.3 Primary data
41
41
4.3.1 Oliver Evans
43
4.3.2 James Nasmyth
45
4.3.3 James Watt, part 1
49
4.3.4 Dimitri Mendeleev
52
4.3.5 Herman Hilprecht
4.3.6 Friedrich Kekule
57
64
4.3.7 Jacques Hadamard
66
4.3.8 Niko la Tesla
4.3.9 Albert Einstein, part 1
73
4.3.10 Albert Einstein, part 2
77
79
4.3.11 John Yellot
4.3.12 Omar Snyder
83
4.3.13 James Watson
85
89
4.3.14 Richard Feynman
92
4.3.15 Stephen Hawking
5
4.4 Secondary data
95
96
4.4.16 Thomas Blanchard
97
4.4.17 Niels Bohr
100
4.4.18 James Watt, part 2
102
4.4.19 Elias Howe
104
4.4.20 Michael Faraday
107
4.5 Thought experiments
108
4.5.21 Galileo Gan lei, part 1
109
4.5.22 Galileo Gall lei, part 2
110
4.5.23 Isaac Newton, part 1
112
4.5.24 Isaac Newton, part 2
113
4.5.25 James Clerk Maxwell
115
4.5.26 Henri Poincare
118
4.5.27 Albert Einstein, part 3
119
4.5.28 Albert Einstein, part 4
120
4.6 Inventors
120
4.6.29 Walter Chrysler
122
4.6.30 Flinders Petrie
124
4.6.31 A. Y. Dodge
125
4.6.32 E. Thompson
127
4.6.33 F. F. Forshee
128
4.6.34 H. A. W Wood
129
4.6.35 Seymour Cray
130
4.7 Poets, painters and composers, etc.
130
4.7.36 Samuel Taylor Coleridge
134
4.7.37 Joan Didion
134
4.7.38 Leonardo da Vinci
135
4.7.39 Max Ernst
136
4.7.40 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
6
4.7.41 Richard Wagner
139
140
4.7.42 Guiseppe Tartini
4.7.43 Hector Berlioz
141
4.7.44 The Eskimo
143
Chanter 5
145
145
5.1 Results of analysis
5.2 Distribution results
169
171
5.3 Conclusions
5.3.1 Possible causes
171
5.3.2 Perceptual modalities
182
184
5.3.3 Stages in the creative process
5.4 Summary
187
References
189
7
Chavter 1
1.1 Abstract
A number of scientists, as well as artists, musicians and writers
have reported experiencing mental imagery in conjunction with
significant creative discoveries. Is it possible to learn about the
creative from these reported experiences? This study presents a
total of 44 separate accounts reporting mental imagery experiences
associated with creative discoveries. The data include 29 different
scientists and 9 artists, musicians and writers. Thirty-three (33) of
the incidents were reported by the subjects themselves, and 11 were
written by biographers and historians. The reports were collected
from research into the literature concerning "mental imagery," "the
creative process," and "scientific discovery."
Do these reported experiences have any characteristics in
common? Do they suggest a connection between mental imagery and
creative problem solving? This study analyzed reports of mental
imagery according to these three factors:
1. Possible causes for the re4)orted perception of mental
imagery, including behavioral, psychological and environmental
factors. What was the person doing and thinking at the time? Could
that behavior have facilitated the reported imagery? Were other
incidents of mental imagery reported, either in association with the
experience in question or not?
2. What perceptual modalities were involved in the reported
mental imagery? Though mental imagery is often associated with
the visual modality, it is not limited to perceptions in the visual
mode (see what are mental images below). Were non-visual
modalities involved? Are multiple modalities indicated? Is there a
8
of
connection between the specific type of problem and the mode
perception?
3. At ssh41.5.1age_In the problem solving process was imagery
reportedly involved? What function did the reported mental
imagery perform in facilitating the problem solving process? To
what degree, if any did the reported imagery contribute to the
completed solution?
The purpose of the analysis is to develop a profile that outlines
both the range and frequency of the data within each of three
factors, insofar as it may be determined from the accounts presented.
that
It is possible to determine any common factors in these reports
might provide insight into the creative process? Are there ways to
40
develop this kind of (reported) creative behavior, or to teach it to
others?
Such reports are unverifiable because they represent purely
cognitive phenomena. However, the significance of the discoveries
associated with the accounts of imagery presented here warrants
consideration of the reported circumstances involved.
1.2 Introduction
Mental imagery is more commonly associated with the arts,
solving.
such as painting and poetry, than with the scientific prc ilem
This study documents reported incidents of mental imagery in a
wider context, specifically broadening the scope to encompass the
field of scientific discovery. Mental imagery has been reported in
for
conjunction with a number of significant discoveries. Einstein,
first conceived
example, reported that the Theory of Relativity was
the role of mental imagery
as a mental image. This study examines
broader, as well as a
in scientific discoveries in an effort to develop a
deeper understanding of the creative process.
9
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