The Relation of Reported Imagery to Cognitive Performance

Six groups of subjects with known scores on reported controllability and vividness of imagery were tested on five cognitive tasks. A high ‘controllability of visual imagery’ group performed two divergent thinking tasks better than a low ‘controllability’ group. Self‐rated use of imagery was positively associated [with performance on the divergent thinking tasks and negatively associated with performance on a Gestalt‐type problem task. No relationships were found between reported imagery and performance on two concept tasks, one of which was purely visual.