Creativity and Imagery: A Study of the Relationship between Creativity and Sensory Imagery

Abstract

Theorists in psychology have long argued that mental imagery plays a pivotal role in the creative process. This study focused on sensory imagery - visual imagery, and two dimensions of auditory imagery: the mind’s ear and inner voice and its association with creativity. Considering the multifaceted concept of creativity, four different domains were assessed: Creative process, creative activity domains, creativity recognition, and divergent thinking. The instruments used for assessing sensory imagery were: modified Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (Marks, 1973), Auckland Scale of Auditory Imagery & Inner Speech (ASAIIS; Schelp, Quigley-Tump, Purdy, & Lambert, 2024). Creativity was assessed using self report measures and an objective task : Creative Process Assessment Scale (Gorlich, 2023), Divergent Association Task (Olson et al. 2021), and modified Creative Achievement Questionnaire (Carson et. al. 2005). The data were collected using a Qualtrics survey. The analysis consisted of 167 participants. Four multiple regression analyses were run using SPSS software to find: 1. Associations between dimensions of sensory imagery and creative process assessment, 2. Associations between dimensions of sensory imagery and creative activity domains, 3. Associations between dimensions of sensory imagery and creativity recognition and finally, 4. Associations between dimensions of sensory imagery and divergent thinking. The results of the analyses revealed interesting results. The first three analyses' results indicated associations between sensory imagery dimensions and: creative process, creative activities domains and creative recognition. Further observation on individual predictor variables showed no significant relationship between visual imagery and any of the domains. The central finding of the study is the significant relationship of inner voice with three domains of creativity: creative process, creative activities domain, and creative recognition. The study also found a significant relationship between both dimensions of auditory imagery i.e. mind’s ear and inner voice on creative process assessment even though there was no significant indication of the relationship between mind’s ear and creative activities domains and creativity achievements. There was no evidence of a significant association between sensory imagery and divergent association tasks. The results highlight the role of auditory imagery on self-reported creativity.