Suggesting strategies improves creative visual synthesis

An experiment assessed whether a figural or an interpretative strategy can enhance creative visual synthesis. 45 undergraduates were presented a set o f simple figures and asked to imagine combining them to obtain a whole patt ern corresponding to a creative product. In the figurative condition partic ipants were instructed to combine figures in unusual ways; in the interpret ative condition they were induced to look for unusual meanings embedded in the combinations; in the control condition no strategy was suggested. Resul ts showed that certain strategies induced a more flexible visual synthesis.