Imagery as a Style of Thinking

Abstract

This article reflects the author's efforts to synthesize image formation and its relationship to development and role in learning. References include material on the creative process with a specific focus on “image formation as a style of thinking and learning.”Read (1960) and Horowitz (1970) are discussed at length—the former for his interest in art and education and the latter for his interest in the process of image formation in the treatment of psychotic patients. Horowitz's work also includes a historical review of the literature pertaining to thought and perception and the role of environment in producing a style of thinking.Some attention is given to recent right brain/left brain research and the author offers some of her own clinical case material to illustrate these phenomena. A major developmental issue regarding the sequential emergence of words versus image is discussed and significant investigators including Segal (1971), Paivio (1971), Haber (1971) and Chall and Mirsky (1978) are cited.In th...