Mental imagery and creative thinking

Relationships between imagery and creative thinking were evaluated in a sample of 560 high school students. The Spatial Test of Primary Mental Abilities (Thurstone & Thurstone, 1989) was used to evaluate imaging ability, the Gordon Test of Visual Imagery Control (Richardson, 1969) was used to evaluate image control; and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Torrance & Ball, 1992) was used to evaluate creativity. Significant correlations were detected between imaging ability and creative thinking. Fluencey, originality, and resistance to premature closure correlations were stronger for students with high IQs than for those with low IQs. Analyses of variance indicated that imaging ability had significant effects on fluency, originality, elaboration,and resistance to premature closure.