Imagination Conditions Research Articles

The role of imagination in facilitating deductive reasoning in 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds

When 4- and 6-year-olds are cued to use their imagination, they can overcome the belief bias effect and demonstrate deductive reasoning ability on syllogisms containing contrary-to-fact material. This study tested whether 2- and 3-year-olds could also reason with incongruent syllogisms when encouraged to use their imagination. Eighty-four 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: no cue, word cue, fantasy planet or imagery. Children were then presented with six syllogistic reasoning problems containing incongruent information. In the imagination conditions, 2- and 3-year-olds performed as competently as 4-year-olds. The findings are discussed in relation to other research which suggests that under certain circumstances 2- and 3-year-olds have the capacity for counterfactual thinking.

Absorption, hypnotizability and context: non‐hypnotic contexts are not all the same

AbstractWe examined the relationship between absorption and hypnotizability when absorption was assessed in two non‐hypnotic conditions: In an ‘imagination’ condition in which we administered the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) with a number of other questionnaires that assessed imagery and imagination, and in a ‘classroom’ condition in which we administered the TAS alone at the beginning of a normal tutorial class. We found a significant correlation between absorption and hypnotizability in the imagination condition (r = 0.24), but not in the classroom condition (r = 0.09). In other words, the assessment of absorption in a condition that elicited imaginative responses led to a higher correlation than the assessment of absorption in a condition that did not encourage imagination. This finding is discussed in terms of how different settings influence the expression of the personality characteristic of absorption. Copyright © 1999 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis

The Two‐Conditions View of Creativity

ABSTRACTIn‐an attempt to overcome the difficulties people face in defining the complex concept “creativity,” the present paper will consider creativity as two basic conditions: (a) as an interaction condition, and (b) as a transformation‐imagination‐fantasy condition. Creativity is a process that is the combination of these conditions of interaction, transformation, imagination, and fantasy. These conditions operate simultaneously in the activities of individuals. Indeed, none of them can stand alone, since one implies the others if creativity is to occur.

Creativity: The imagination condition

Imagination is closely related to creativity. It is also distinct from fantasy. The basic distinction between imagination and fantasy is that while imagination is related to reality, fantasy is related to unreality. The key link between imagination and creativity lies in the opportunity that, based upon reality, imagination provides for innovation and original changes and possibilities. That is creativity itself as well.

Obstacles to self-paced learning for rural physicians

Pennsylvania has seven counties classified as 100% rural according to 1990 census data. The author surveyed all of the registered physicians living in these seven counties with regard to their self-reports of participation in, and preference for, CME activities as they relate to their methods of keeping up to date with innovation and new knowledge. Thirty-eight usable responses were received with a response rate of 42% from all potentially active physicians (91) in the study area. Respondents indicated that the least used types of CME focused on educational methods generally associated with self-paced learning. These methods included video or audio CME, self-assessment programs, and computerized activities. From the findings, two important conclusions were reached. First, this group of physicians exhibited symptoms of distance impairment, the real or imagined condition of geographic isolation experienced by the learner, which contributes to an unwillingness, or inability, to bridge a gap in distance between an educational resource and a personal, educational need or desire. Second, the physicians displayed a lack of desire, or possibly a lack of skill, to participate in various methods of self-directed learning.

A "fair" comparison of progressive and imaginal relaxation.

Progressive and imaginal relaxation-training procedures are difficult to compare because the latter takes many forms. In this study, an imaginal procedure was used that closely followed progressive operations except that muscle tension was imagined rather than experienced. The dependent variable was the total score on the Relaxation Inventory. College students were placed in groups (ns = 50) high and low on suggestibility based on scores on the Creative Imagination Scale, assigned in equal numbers to the imaginal and progressive relaxation conditions and given four sessions of relaxation training. The pre- and posttrials effects were significant within each of the four training sessions. There were no significant differences in reports of relaxation by the progressive and imaginal treatments. The expected cumulative effect of relaxation training across the four sessions was not found; in fact, the imaginal condition showed a significant decrease. The only significant suggestibility effect was an interaction between suggestibility and trials in which highly suggestible subjects reported less pre-session relaxation. These results are consistent with reports of no differences between progressive and imaginal relaxation training.

The eyes in imagery and perceptual processes: first remarks.

Through an echographic system we examined the activity of the crystalline lens of 10 men and women during real perceptual activity and during imagery. Subjects had to perceive near and far stimuli and to imagine reading a word on a page of a book (near imagined stimulus) or seeing a ship on the horizon (far imagined stimulus). Results showed that processes of accommodation (linked to the variations of the optical axis of the crystalline lens) occur in both real and imaginative conditions. The first results suggest an active role of the eye during imagery.

Norwegians' Attitudes Toward New Immigrants

During the 1980s Norway, together with Denmark and Sweden, experienced an influx of immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers from the poorer nations of Asia. Africa and Latin America. The encounter forced Norwegians to confront their established values and attitudes. One of the most homogeneous and uniform countries in the world underwent a unique experiment: new groups and colors changed the traditional picture- and perhaps as a result the nation's self-image. In this paper we analyze the attitudes of Norwegians toward the new immigrants. We explain why some are basically positive while others are not. The theoretical discussion draws on the concept of relative deprivation. The main idea is that the beliefs of individuals represent a relationship between their expectations and their achievement relative to others in the same boat as themselves. Negative attitudes are seen as a result of people feeling deprived in com parison with some standard, or with real or imagined conditions for other people. This empirical analysis is based on a national survey from 1988, which includes more than 2000 respondents. We use multiple regression to evaluate effects of various explanatory variables. The results indicate significant effects of education, age, gender and labor market position, together with mediating influences of social psychological and subjective factors. The strong impact of educational background and indicators of self-reliance are interpreted as supporting the general idea that groups that suffer relative deprivation more than others develop negative attitudes. The findings also suggest that education is essential more as a general resource in a competitive society than as a conveyor of an enlightened perspective.

Imagery ability in recall of distance and location information.

The role of visual imagery in short-term retention of movement end locations and distances was examined by comparing performances of subjects with extreme scores on the space relations section of the Differential Aptitude Test. Twelve HIGHS and twelve LOWS were tested on reproduction accuracy of six distances and six end locations immediately following presentation a 30-sec rest, a 30 sec imaginal rehearsal condition, and a 30-sec imaginal distraction condition. Initial analysis of the data provided little support for the hypothesis that HIGHS would reproduce criterion locations with more accuracy than LOWS. However, when scores of HIGHS reporting use of an imaginal coding strategy (HIGHS) were compared with LOWS who did not (LOWS), several expected findings were disclosed. HIGHS reproduced end locations with significantly less error in the immediate and imaginal rehearsal conditions, and as expected, accuracy scores for HIGHS and LOWS did not differ for the distance task. The findings suggest that when subjects employ an imaginal coding strategy, visual imagery ability may be an important factor in the retention of location information, but of little functional significance in the recall of distance.

Imaginal Recoding of Numbers

Most mnemonic systems require subjects to use mental imagery of one form or another. For instance, the method of loci and the link method among others both rely on mental imagery in aiding recall. It has often been demonstrated that imagery facilitates recall ( 1 ) . If a method could be devised to recode digital information into visual images, there should be an increase in the number of digits later recalled relative to the number of digits recalled without such imaginal recoding. A mnemonic code was developed to recode digit triplets into visual images. The first digit in a triplet was recoded into an image of an animal, the second into an action and the third into an image of a place. Thereby each triplet was transformed into an image of a particular animal performing a certain action in a specified place. The code contained the words for 10 animals, 10 actions (verbs), and 10 places for the 10 digits in the three positions, respectively. Eight undergraduates were paid for their individual participation in the study. The first part of the procedure was a preliminary control free recall test of 15 random digit triplets. The triplets were presented separately for 8 sec. each with a 1-sec. inter-item interval. A cathode ray tube (Model ADM 3A) controlled by an ADS/1800E process control system was used to present items. The second part of the procedure involved subjects' participation in several code-learning sessions. All subjects were trained in the following manner: They learned separately by rote the three word-number lists, then they learned verbal encoding and decoding of the words and digits associated with each list, and finally, they practiced visualizing the animals performing actions in a place. Each session lasted about 1 hr., and an average of 7.88 sessions per subject occurred over five to nine days. Subjects were trained until a nine-second-per-triplet encoding criterion was met in about 6 to 7 hr. of training. Subjects also had to demonstrate they were using the code by describing some of the images they developed of each triplet in two practice tests prior to the final test. The final test was identical to the control test except that a different set of triplets was used and the subjects were instructed to use the imaginal recoding system and store the items in encoded form. At the time of recall they decoded the items into numbers. Different lists were used with different subjects. The mean number of triplets correctly recalled in the control and in the imaginal recoding conditions were 4.12 and 3.25, respectively. Performance was significantly better in the control condition than in the final test condition ( t , = 2.50, p < .05). The failure of the imaginal recoding to increase recall is consistent with the finding that imagery instructions per se do not increase recall ( 2 ) . A more precise delimitation of conditions of effectiveness of imagery is necessary.

Effects on suggestibility of experimenter prestige under hypnotic induction, task motivated, and waking imagination conditions.

Abstract The effects of two factors on Ss' responses to the Barber Suggestibility Scale (BSS) were examined. The factors and levels were: (a) High, Low, and Control experimenter prestige (P); and (b) Suggestibility Facilitation Methods (SFM) of, Hypnotic Induction plus Task Motivation (HITM), Hypnotic Induction (HI), Task Motivation (TM), and Waking Imagination (WI). It was concluded that: (a) P does not affect responsiveness. (b) Administration of the BSS preceded by SFM treatments generally yields scores which are ordered from highest to lowest HITM, HI, TM, and WI. Numerical differences in BSS scores for SFM treatments are small, and significant differences between treatments are not consistently obtained. When significance is obtained, it is most often between the HITM and TM or WI conditions.

Aspects of visual and acoustic imagery

Rates of processing imagined letters for visual properties (VP) and for acoustic properties (AP) are assessed. The most rapid imaginal conditions show that letters of an alphabetic list are processed at almost 2 per second for both visual and acoustic properties. Indirect evidence is presented to show that implicit verbal control of letter sequencing may be involved for both visual and acoustic imagination when processing alphabetic lists, thus revealing a link between visual and verbal coding.