Visual Creativity Research Articles

Spontaneous Activity in Primary Visual Cortex Relates to Visual Creativity.

Cognitive and neural processes underlying visual creativity have attracted substantial attention. The current research uses a critical time point analysis (CTPA) to examine how spontaneous activity in the primary visual area (PVA) is related to visual creativity. We acquired the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of 16 participants at the resting state and during performing a visual creative synthesis task. According to the CTPA, we then classified spontaneous activity in the PVA into critical time points (CTPs), which reflect the most useful and important functional meaning of the entire resting-state condition, and the remaining time points (RTPs). We constructed functional brain networks based on the brain activity at two different time points and then subsequently based on the brain activity at the task state in a separate manner. We explore the relationship between resting-state and task-fMRI (T-fMRI) functional brain networks. Our results found that: (1) the pattern of spontaneous activity in the PVA may associate with mental imagery, which plays an important role in visual creativity; (2) in comparison with the RTPs-based brain network, the CTP-network showed an increase in global efficiency and a decrease in local efficiency; (3) the regional integrated properties of the CTP-network could predict the integrated properties of the creative-network while the RTP-network could not. Thus, our findings indicated that spontaneous activity in the PVA at CTPs was associated with a visual creative task-evoked brain response. Our findings may provide an insight into how the visual cortex is related to visual creativity.

The intensive image

The cult of María Lionza is an Afro-Latin American religion native to Venezuela which usually involves episodes of spirit possession. Its most notable figure is María Lionza, a plural goddess imagined and represented in different ways (as an Indian, White, Mestizo, and, although rarely, Black woman), and constantly reinvented. In this article, I propose to define the image of María Lionza as an intensive image, that is, as a multiple and ever-changing image, permanently open to a process of differentiation. My main argument is that this image may function as a medium—thus facilitating contact between “believers” and the “spiritual entities” themselves—insofar as it is constantly reinvented through acts of visual creativity. I also discuss the affinities between the concept of “intensity” and that of “transculturation,” a term initially coined by Fernando Ortiz.

Roger Canals, <i>A Goddess in Motion: Visual Creativity in the Cult of María Lionza</i>

Roger Canals, A Goddess in Motion: Visual Creativity in the Cult of María Lionza (New York: Berghahn Books, 2017), 202 pp., $120 (cloth).

EEG signals respond differently to idea generation, idea evolution and evaluation in a loosely controlled creativity experiment

Many neurocognitive studies endeavor to understand neural mechanisms of basic creative activities in strictly controlled experiments. However, little evidence is available regarding the neural mechanisms of interactions between basic activities underlying creativity in such experiments. Moreover, strictly controlled experiments might limit flexibility/freedom needed for creative exploration. Thus, this study investigated the whole-brain neuronal networks’ interactions between three modes of thinking: idea generation, idea evolution, and evaluation in a loosely controlled creativity experiment. The loosely controlled creativity experiment will provide a degree of flexibility/freedom for participants to incubate creative ideas through extending response time from a few seconds to 3 min. In the experiment, participants accomplished a modified figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT-F) while their EEG signals were recorded. During idea generation, a participant was instructed to complete a sketch that was immediately triggered by a sketch stimulus at first sight. During idea evolution, a participant was instructed to complete a sketch that is radically distinctive from what was immediately triggered by the sketch stimulus. During the evaluation, a participant was instructed to evaluate difficulties of thinking and drawing during idea generation and evolution. It is expected that participants would use their experience to intuitively complete a sketch during idea generation while they could use more divergent and imaginative thinking to complete a possible creative sketch during idea evolution. Such an experimental design is named as a loosely controlled creativity experiment, which offers an approach to studying creativity in an ecologically valid manner. The validity of the loosely controlled creativity experiment could be verified through comparing its findings on phenomena that have been effectively studied by validated experimental research. It was found from our experiment that alpha power decreased significantly from rest to the three modes of thinking. These findings are consistent with that from visual creativity research based on event-related (de)synchronization (ERD/ERS) and task-related power changes (TRP). Specifically, in the lower alpha band (8–10 Hz), the decreases of alpha power were significantly lower over almost the entire scalp during idea evolution compared to the other modes of thinking. This finding indicated that idea evolution requires less general attention demands than the other two modes of thinking since the lower alpha ERD has been reported as being more likely to reflect general task demands such as attentional processes. In the upper alpha band (10–12 Hz), the decreases of alpha power were significantly higher over central sites during the evaluation compared to idea evolution. This finding indicated that evaluation involves more task-specific demands since the upper alpha ERD has been found as being more likely to reflect task-specific demands such as memory and intelligence, as was defined in the literature. In addition, new findings were obtained since the loosely controlled creativity experiment could activate multiple brain networks to accomplish the tasks involving the three modes of thinking. EEG microstate analysis was used to structure the unstructured EEG data to detect the activation of multiple brain networks. Combined EEG-fMRI and EEG source localization studies have indicated that EEG microstate classes are closely associated with the resting-state network as identified using fMRI. It was found that the default mode network was more active during idea evolution compared to the other two modes of thinking, while the cognitive control network was more active during the evaluation compared to the other two modes of thinking. This finding indicated that idea evolution might be more associated with unconscious and internal directed attention processes. Taken together, the loosely controlled creativity experiment with the support of EEG microstate analysis appears to offer an effective approach to investigating the real-world complex creativity activity.

Bilingual model of future specialists’ training by means of artistic design

The article presents the authors’ bilingual model of future specialists’ training by means of artistic design. It outlines the content, forms, methods, criteria, and indicators of future specialists’ training in the conditions of bilingual educational process. The authors demonstrate that the development of the bilingual model contributed to the variety of students’ artistic and creative activities forms (team, group, individual) and to a wide range of methods used. The formation of the analyzed skills manifests itself in the level scale (primary, sufficient, high). The primary level of creative skills formation is realized on the basis of the developed criteria (motivation-oriented, content-procedural, evaluative-reflexive). The experimental study was carried out in several stages using theoretical, empirical methods of research. The authors also used the Pearson’s consistency criterion x2 to analyze statistical hypotheses based on observational data. The research outlines the levels of future specialists’ abilities development (association, visual (figurative) creativity, transformations, variability of thinking). The authors used the N. Vyshniakova and R. Tkach’s "Creativity" test, the S. Zievert’s "Freedom of associations" modified test.

‘Matatu’ Graffiti as An Avenue for Self-Expression and Social Commentary Among the Youth in Nairobi, Kenya

This paper seeks to examine urban Art in Kenya as an integral part of urban culture with particular emphasis on ‘matatu’ graffiti, (an off-shoot of ‘mural’ graffiti that is depicted on medium-sized vehicles used for urban public transport) as an avenue for self-expression among the youth in Nairobi, Kenya. It will also examine other forms of related art, such as the genre of painting referred to as street art and explore the genesis of themes and subject matter that interest the youth. In order to generate a chronology of thoughts, the paper approaches the above first from the broad spectrum of urban culture and what it entails and then breaks it down to one of the most critical and visible elements of urban culture which is urban Art which, in turn, encompasses many forms of visual creativity both in two dimensional and three-dimensional dispensations that manifest themselves within an urban environment. The paper delves substantively on the generation of broad themes that form the basis of varied subject matters that are regularly depicted in matatu graffiti. These broad themes often derive or emanate from sociocultural, socioeconomic, religious and political factors. The paper also examines the age bracket (herein referred to as The Youth) which embraces urban Art both in terms of its execution and its consumption as well as the underlying factors that seem to make it broadly attractive and acceptable as a means of self-expression, collective discourse and social commentary among the youth. The paper finally examines the relationship between matatu graffiti and hip-hop, a genre of music characterized by terse verbal symbolism and which is increasingly associated with urban culture and the complexities of social expression in the contemporary urban world.

Is Visual Creativity Embodied? Thinking Aloud While Performing the Creative Mental Synthesis Task.

Over time, the view that creativity is embodied has emerged. In order to explore if visual creativity is supported by embodied mechanisms, the simulation approach was used as a framework of reference. The idea that visual creativity relies on mental representations that implement motor processes was faced. Participants were instructed to think aloud while carrying out the Creative Mental Synthesis Task, which allows to form pre-inventive structures and interpret them according to a specific category. Two independent judges scored verbal protocols in terms of the number of motor, spatial, and visual thoughts reported during the pre-inventive and inventive phases, and also evaluated the final objects according to originality and appropriateness. Originality was predicted positively by inventive motor thoughts and by pre-inventive spatial thoughts, but negatively by inventive spatial thoughts; appropriateness was only predicted by inventive visual thoughts. These results suggest that actions for future object utilization were simulated while interpreting pre-inventive structures, increasing originality of objects. In addition, spatial transformations are useful to construct the pre-inventive structures, but not to interpret them. Yet, thinking of the pictorial details of the object is also essential to classify it in a given category. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Journal Digest: Home Environment; Postpartum Mental Illness; Placebo in Psychedelic Study; Single Gene Mutation; Topiramate

Journal Digest: Home Environment; Postpartum Mental Illness; Placebo in Psychedelic Study; Single Gene Mutation; Topiramate

Review: A Goddess in Motion: Visual Creativity in the Cult of María Lionza, by Roger Canals

Review: <i>A Goddess in Motion: Visual Creativity in the Cult of María Lionza</i>, by Roger Canals

A Visual Remote Associates Test and Its Validation

The Remote Associates Test (RAT) is a widely used test for measuring creativity, specifically the ability to make associations. The Remote Associates Test normally takes a linguistic form: given three words, the participant is asked to come up with a fourth word associated with all three of them. While visual creativity tests do exist, no creativity test to date can be given in both a visual and linguistic form. Such a test would allow the study of differences between various modalities, in the context of the same creative process. In this paper, a visual version of the well-known Remote Associates Test is constructed. This visual RAT is validated in relation to its linguistic counterpart.

Theoretical Review of the Creativity, the Key Factor in Education With Visual Impairment

This research dealing with the relationship between blindness and creativity, sustain the consideration that they are incapable to achieve an interaction with a predominantly visual creative activity. Nowadays, we know that this is false. Education represents a fundamental pillar of society, and all children have the same right to educational access to achieve their full potential cognitive, emotional, and creative abilities. The following article explains the importance of education for people with visual functional diversity with key elements such as creativity and divergent thinking, emphasizing the value creativity as a teaching tool. The main aim is the review of the studies of visual disability and creativity through the methodology of theoretical review. This study ambitions a systematic reflection of the synthetic quantitative estimate of all of the available studies, proposing to establish a theoretical framework linking creativity in the education of students with visual impairment, providing personal assessments about the above mentioned variables in this study. Within the findings, the function of creative potential, through divergent thinking in the creation of concepts and ideas, solving problems, and with interest not only in education however in any area of life, is evident. Art is an educational tool that is as valid as others, being an instrument of personal growth and improvement, and a means of integration for different educational areas.

Analysis and Discussion on the Creative Design of Architectural Visual Modeling Elements

With the improvement of people’s living standards, the socio-economic development and the advancement of urbanization, the number of construction projects has gradually increased, and people have higher and higher requirements for building quality and living environment. More and more new building materials are used in construction work, which not only enhances the quality of the building to a certain extent, but also brings a richer visual impact to the building’s shape design. [1] Based on this, this article will briefly analyze the theme of “architectural visual modeling element design creativity” and analyze the application of architectural visual modeling elements in architectural engineering construction, which will bring about the role of architectural engineering construction.

Influence of verbal, auditory and visual incentives on art perception and reception of primary school students

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Introduction. Art reception and experiencing is a complex process, containing creative components. The experience of a work of art involves reproduction, in the viewer's consciousness, of the experiences and excitement that the artist himself or herself have undergone in the process of creating the same works of art. When viewing visual images, our perception is directed towards the identification of objects, and when viewing visual images as works of art, we also tend to experience them - we subjectively react to elements, such as stylistic and structural characteristics. The aim of the research is to examine the effectiveness of the experimental program named the Impact of Verbal, Auditory and Visual Incentives, designed to foster students' visual perception and visual reception during art education. Methods. The experimental method with parallel groups was used. The research included the sample consisting of 98 students, out of which 45 belonged to experimental group while 53 were control students from Trebinje region. Test LV1, examining visual creativity, as well as visual perception and visual reception (art appreciation), was used. Results. The results indicated that the experimental program influenced the development of the visual perceptive (F = 3.76; p = 0.05) and visual receptive (F = 8.01; p = 0.00) abilities among students during art education because the experimental group students achieved significantly better results than the control group students. The experimental program was aligned with the curriculum and designed to influence the development of students' visual-perceptual and visual-receptive abilities. Conclusion. The obtained results indicate that it is possible to influence the development of students' visual-perceptual and visual-receptive abilities by using a specially designed program, aimed at stimulating verbal, auditory and visual aspects of visual expression.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Computer-enabled visual creativity: an empirically-based model with implications for learning and instruction

This study focuses on visual creativity and how it can be supported with computer technologies and thereby be used to support learning and instruction. However, studies related to computer-enabled visual creativity have not been frequently explored. As such, the current research proposes a model consisting of four major factors: (a) computer-aided visual art self-efficacy, (b) computer self-efficacy, (c) general creative self-efficacy, and (d) visual creativity. The aim is to explore the causal relationships among these factors so that they can then be used to support creativity, especially in the context of learning and instruction. To test the proposed model, this study firstly collected a total of 736 responses from an American public university to construct a scale using exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses for three factors: (a) computer self-efficacy, (b) computer-aided visual art self-efficacy, and (c) general creative self-efficacy. Later, 164 responses were collected to analyze those hypothesized predictors of visual creativity and their relationships using structural equation modeling with Mplus. The results of the study indicate that computer self-efficacy was a significant predictor of computer-aided visual art self-efficacy, which in turn was a significant predictor of general creative self-efficacy. General creative self-efficacy, in turn, was a significant predictor of visual creativity. Finally, the study yielded a significant indirect effect of computer-aided visual art self-efficacy on visual creativity as mediated by general creative self-efficacy. Implications for learning and instruction are discussed as well as future studies to further research to develop relevant models of visual creativity in support of learning.

0261 Shifting Circadian Phase and School-night Bedtime Earlier Improves Visual Creativity and Inhibition in Adolescents

0261 Shifting Circadian Phase and School-night Bedtime Earlier Improves Visual Creativity and Inhibition in Adolescents

Creativity on Icon Design of Mobile Apps

The icon design of mobile APPs could have a crucial effect on success of businesses since the initial contact with a business or service relies on the visual evaluation on the icons. It seems to be a challenge for designers to incorporate all the information within a tiny space of an icon, not to mention how making it attracted. Creativity has thus played its role in winning the game in the market of mobile APPs. Taking advantage of aesthetics, creativity not only makes a product more appealed but saleable in the markets. Similar to product design, icon design requires not only visual aesthetics, but all creative imperatives. In the competitive market, the fact is that there are only a few mobile APPs that have received awareness and survived every year since new product design with visual aesthetics and creativity is not without difficulty. It is the aim of the present research to examine the key factors of graphic design and the effect of creativity on the popularity of mobile APPs across different categories. The research intends to inspect the mobile APP’s key characteristics and visualization. Theoretically, the research contributes to the mobile APPs literature through its findings on dimensional analysis and its relationships with creativity. In addition, results of the research provide useful insights into how companies or services adopt a strategic tactics to make their icon symbols more creative in the market of mobile APPs.

Estudio de la creatividad de una perspectiva educativa en deficiencia visual

En el siguiente trabajo se plantea la importancia en la educación de elementos clave como son la creatividad y el pensamiento divergente. Esta exposición tiene como principal objetivo la revisión de los estudios de discapacidad visual y creatividad. Pretendemos una reflexión sistematizada de la estimación cuantitativa sintética de todos los estudios disponibles, planteando un marco teórico relacionando la creatividad en la educación de alumnos con deficiencia visual, aportándose valoraciones personales. Dentro de las conclusiones obtenidas, se evidencia la función del potencial creativo, por medio del pensamiento divergente en la creación de conceptos e ideas, para la resolución de problemas, con interés no solo en la educación, sino en cualquier ámbito de la vida.

Re-engaging disenfranchised Australian youth with education through explorations of self-identity, experiences and expression in Art

Abstract This small scale research project undertaken in Australia investigates how an art-based approach can re-engage disenfranchised young people into education. The project was undertaken as part of Postgraduate Certificate in Education programme by the main researcher in Australia, at an educational setting for disenfranchised young people. The collection and analysis of qualitative data demonstrates how art stimulates students’ interest and provides support in self-expression and com­munication. Methodological strategies involved visual art activities that promote self-confidence and self-esteem, which enhance well-being and supportive teach­ing relationships. Using self-reflexivity through visual creativity was found to help participants in developing more positive self-image and enhanced their self-confi­dence as learners.

Canals, Roger. A goddess in motion: visual creativity in the cult of María Lionza. ix, 202 pp., illus., bibliogr. Oxford, New York: Berghahn Books, 2017. £85.00 (cloth)

Canals, Roger. A goddess in motion: visual creativity in the cult of María Lionza. ix, 202 pp., illus., bibliogr. Oxford, New York: Berghahn Books, 2017. £85.00 (cloth)

CREATIVITY AS THE PERFORMANCE OF VISUAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT

The actual problem of studying creativity as properties of visual thinking and development of its procedural and substantive characteristics is considered. By visual creativity, we mean the empirical characteristic of visual thinking, which is related to its creative function and is aimed at creating new visual images, symbols, models through visualization operations based on verbal and visual stimuli. The processual components of visual and thinking creativity are the activity of hypothesizing, productivity, visual originality . The relevance of the study is related to the need to study visual thinking as one of the mechanisms of creativity in various fields of human activity, which is not sufficiently studied and requires a more in-depth study, in particular, one of its main properties - visual creativity and its development. The purpose of our research is to study the visual creativity and development of its procedural and substantive characteristics. By visual creativity, we mean the empirical characteristic of visual thinking, which is related to its creative function and is aimed at creating new visual images, symbols, models through visualization operations based on verbal and visual stimuli . The general methodology of empirical research includes the following methods, observation, analysis of product activities, the method of P. Torrance's test; U. Ave-Lallemant’s Stars and Waves Graphic Test and the methods of mathematical statistics, the Student's t-test, the correlation analysis, and others. The research sample was 125 adolescents aged 10 to 14 years (25 students in each age group). The analysis of the results of the empirical research has shown that the age of 10 and 13 is favorable for the development of both procedural and content characteristics of visual creativity. The obtained results allow us to make a generalization that the development of content components of visual creativity occurs in parallel with the development of its procedural characteristics. Both content and procedural components have in their development both favorable periods and periods of decline, which coincide in time, but there is a clear tendency towards their development in adolescence and the formation of visual-thinking creative strategies. Key words: visual thinking, visual creativity, procedural characteristics, hypothesizing activity, performance, visual originality, content characteristics доктор психологічних наук , професор , Симоненко С . М ., кандидат психологічних наук , доцент Розіна І . В . К реативність як властивість візуального мислення та її розвиток / Державний заклад « Південноукраїнський національний педагогічний університет імені К . Д . Ушинського », Україна , Одеса Розглянута актуальна проблема вивчення креативності як властивості візуального мислення та розвитку її процесуальних та змістових характеристик. Під візуальною креативністю ми розуміємо емпіричну характеристику візуального мислення, що пов’язана з його креативною функцією і спрямована на створення нових наочних образів, символів, моделей за допомогою операцій візуалізації на основі вербальних та візуальних стимулів. Процесуальними компонентами візуально-мисленнєвої креативності є активність висування гіпотез, продуктивність, візуальна оригінальність. Актуальність дослідження пов’язана з необхідністю вивчення візуального мислення як одного з механізмів творчості в різних галузях людської діяльності, що є недостатньо вивченим і потребує більш глибокого дослідження, зокрема, однієї з його основних властивостей - візуальної креативності та її розвитку. Метою нашого дослідження є вивчення візуальної креативності та розвитку її процесуальних та змістових характеристик. Під візуальною креативністю ми розуміємо емпіричну характеристику візуального мислення, що пов’язана з креативною функцією візуального мислення і спрямована на створення нових наочних образів, символів, моделей за допомогою операцій візуалізації на основі вербальних та візуальних стимулів. В загальну методику емпіричного дослідження увійшли такі методи, як спостереження, аналіз продуктів діяльності, методика П. Торренса, методика У. Аве-Лаллемант, Графический тест «Звезды и волны». Та методи математичної статистики, Критерій Ст’юдента, кореляційний аналіз та інші. Дослідницьку вибірку склали 125 підлітків віком від 10 до 14 років (по 25 учнів в кожній віковій групі). Аналіз результатів емпіричного дослідження показав, що сприятливим для розвитку як процесуальних, так і змістових характеристик візуальної креативності є вік 10 та 13 років. Одержані результати дозволяють зробити узагальнення про те, що розвиток змістових компонентів візуальної креативності відбувається паралельно із розвитком її процесуальних характеристик. Як змістові так і процесуальні компоненти мають у своєму розвитку як сприятливі періоди, так і періоди спаду, які співпадають у часі, але є чітка тенденція до їх розвитку у підлітковому віці та становлення візуально-мисленнєвих творчих стратегій. Ключові слова: візуальне мислення, візуальна креативність, процесуальні характеристики, активність висування гіпотез, продуктивність, візуальна оригінальність, змістові характеристики