The Relationships between Cognitive Styles and Creativity: The Role of Field Dependence-Independence on Visual Creative Production

Previous studies explored the relationships between field dependent-independent cognitive style (FDI) and creativity, providing misleading and unclear results. The present research explored this problematic interplay through the lens of the Geneplore model, employing a product oriented task: the Visual Creative Synthesis Task (VCST). The latter requires creating objects belonging to pre-established categories, starting from triads of visual components and consists of two steps: the preinventive phase and the inventive phase. Following the Amabile’s consensual assessment technique, three independent judges evaluated preinventive structures in terms of originality and synthesis whereas inventions were evaluated in terms of originality and appropriateness. The Embedded Figure Test (EFT) was employed in order to measure the individual’s predisposition toward the field dependence or the field independence. Sixty undergraduate college students (31 females) took part in the experiment. Results revealed that field independent individuals outperformed field dependent ones in each of the four VCST scores, showing higher levels of creativity. Results were discussed in light of the better predisposition of field independent individuals in mental imagery, mental manipulation of abstract objects, as well as in using their knowledge during complex tasks that require creativity. Future research directions were also discussed

Mental and perceptual feedback in the development of creative flow

Sketching is considered by artists and designers to be a vital tool in the creative process. However, research shows that externalisation during the creative process (i.e., sketching) is not necessary to create effectively. This study examines whether sketching may play a more important role in the subjective experience of creativity by facilitating the deeply focused, optimal state of consciousness termed ‘flow’ (being ‘in the zone’). The study additionally explored whether sketching affects flow by easing cognitive load or by providing a clearer sense of self-feedback. Participants carried out the creative mental synthesis task (combining sets of simple shapes into creative drawings), experimentally simulating the visual creative process. Ideas were generated either mentally before committing to a final drawing, or with external perceptual support through sketching, and cognitive load was varied by using either three- or five-shape sets. The sketching condition resulted in greater experience of flow and lower perceived task difficulty. However, cognitive load did not affect flow and there was no interaction between load and sketching conditions. These findings are the first to empirically demonstrate that sketching increases flow experience, and that this is not dependent on an associated reduction in overall working memory load

Connecting with the image: how art psychotherapy can help to re-establish a sense of epistemic trust

The International Centre for Arts Psychotherapies Training (ICAPT) was established by CNWL NHS Foundation Trust in London in November 2011. The centre was set up to further research and advance clinical practice within NHS mental health settings. At the la unch of the research arm of ICAPT in July 2012, Professor Peter Fonagy spoke on the subject of the future of research in arts psychotherapies. This paper is a response to Professor Peter Fonagy’s presentation (The ICAPT 2012) on the potential arts psychoth erapies have to enhance the development of the therapeutic relationship. During the presentation Fonagy suggested to a group of arts psychotherapists that: ”˜the future of research is trying to understand what you guys do that actually helps re - establish in our patient a sense of epistemic trust, a sense that human knowledge and human communication, as communicated by fellow human beings can be trusted, can be relied on ... ’ A recording of this presentation is followed by a discussion section in which two art p sychotherapists explore and expand upon the ideas presented by Fonagy. They explore his question about what the processes of making and reflecting on images in a therapeutic context can add to the development of ”˜epistemic trust’ within the therapeutic rel ationship. It is suggested that creative arts have the potential to enhance the development of epistemic trust within the therapeutic relationship by offering opportunities for contingency and joint engagement. Individual, group and dyadic art psychotherap y allow for the creation of an external object which is congruent with the maker's internal world. The art making process and the art object itself can create an additional channel of communication which helps the art psychotherapist to understand the client’s inner world. This greater understanding can support the psychotherapist’s capacity to respond in an attuned way to the client. The authors explore the idea that joint engagement in art making can lead to opportunities for enhanced mentalizing and that with sufficient research and theoretical underpinning, this type of model could help to define clinical practice for arts psychotherapies in mental health

Connecting with the image: how art psychotherapy can help to re-establish a sense of epistemic trust.

The International Centre for Arts Psychotherapies Training (ICAPT) was established by CNWL NHS Foundation Trust in London in November 2011. The centre was set up to further research and advance clinical practice within NHS mental health settings. At the la unch of the research arm of ICAPT in July 2012, Professor Peter Fonagy spoke on the subject of the future of research in arts psychotherapies. This paper is a response to Professor Peter Fonagy’s presentation (The ICAPT 2012) on the potential arts psychoth erapies have to enhance the development of the therapeutic relationship. During the presentation Fonagy suggested to a group of arts psychotherapists that: ”˜the future of research is trying to understand what you guys do that actually helps re - establish in our patient a sense of epistemic trust, a sense that human knowledge and human communication, as communicated by fellow human beings can be trusted, can be relied on ... ’ A recording of this presentation is followed by a discussion section in which two art p sychotherapists explore and expand upon the ideas presented by Fonagy. They explore his question about what the processes of making and reflecting on images in a therapeutic context can add to the development of ”˜epistemic trust’ within the therapeutic rel ationship. It is suggested that creative arts have the potential to enhance the development of epistemic trust within the therapeutic relationship by offering opportunities for contingency and joint engagement. Individual, group and dyadic art psychotherap y allow for the creation of an external object which is congruent with the maker's internal world. The art making process and the art object itself can create an additional channel of communication which helps the art psychotherapist to understand the client’s inner world. This greater understanding can support the psychotherapist’s capacity to respond in an attuned way to the client. The authors explore the idea that joint engagement in art making can lead to opportunities for enhanced mentalizing and that with sufficient research and theoretical underpinning, this type of model could help to define clinical practice for arts psychotherapies in mental health.Key Words: Fonagy; mentalization; contingent communication; mechanisms of change; joint engagement

How Visuo-Spatial Mental Imagery Develops: Image Generation and Maintenance

Two experiments examined the nature of visuo-spatial mental imagery generation and maintenance in 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-year old children and adults (N = 211). The key questions were how image generation and maintenance develop (Experiment 1) and how accurately children and adults coordinate mental and visually perceived images (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 indicated that basic image generation and maintenance abilities are present at 4 years of age but the precision with which images are generated and maintained improves particularly between 4 and 8 years. In addition to increased precision, Experiment 2 demonstrated that generated and maintained mental images become increasingly similar to visually perceived objects. Altogether, findings suggest that for simple tasks demanding image generation and maintenance, children attain adult-like precision younger than previously reported. This research also sheds new light on the ability to coordinate mental images with visual images in children and adults