Mental Imagery as a Strategy to Enhance Creativity in Children

Visual imagery plays a critical role in children's creativity. The ability to think creatively in childhood is linked to the vividness of mental images, but not the ability to transform mental images, a skill that is linked instead to logical thinking. However, a particular mental transformation, synthesis (i.e., combination of images), seems to be related with creativity. Previous research demonstrated that requiring an individual to mentally combine simple shapes can lead to creative products. This procedure, evidence shows, can also be used by children, such that training that involves combining mental shapes leads children to become more creative in making mental synthesis.