Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity
Summary: Creativity is a highly valued and beneficial skill that empirical research typically probes using “divergent thinking” (DT) tasks such as problem solving and novel idea generation. Here, in contrast, we examine the perceptual aspect of creativity by asking whether creative individuals are m...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-10-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422201375X |
| _version_ | 1818058198976823296 |
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| author | Antoine Bellemare Pepin Yann Harel Jordan O’Byrne Geneviève Mageau Arne Dietrich Karim Jerbi |
| author_facet | Antoine Bellemare Pepin Yann Harel Jordan O’Byrne Geneviève Mageau Arne Dietrich Karim Jerbi |
| author_sort | Antoine Bellemare Pepin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Creativity is a highly valued and beneficial skill that empirical research typically probes using “divergent thinking” (DT) tasks such as problem solving and novel idea generation. Here, in contrast, we examine the perceptual aspect of creativity by asking whether creative individuals are more likely to perceive recognizable forms in ambiguous stimuli –a phenomenon known as pareidolia. To this end, we designed a visual task in which participants were asked to identify as many recognizable forms as possible in cloud-like fractal images. We found that pareidolic perceptions arise more often and more rapidly in highly creative individuals. Furthermore, high-creatives report pareidolia across a broader range of image contrasts and fractal dimensions than do low creatives. These results extend the established body of work on DT by introducing divergent perception as a complementary manifestation of the creative mind, thus clarifying the perception-creation link while opening new paths for studying creative behavior in humans. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:56:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bdbf1f32768048feb744bd66f53c1d41 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:56:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-bdbf1f32768048feb744bd66f53c1d412022-12-22T01:48:04ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422022-10-012510105103Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativityAntoine Bellemare Pepin0Yann Harel1Jordan O’Byrne2Geneviève Mageau3Arne Dietrich4Karim Jerbi5Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2S9 Québec, Canada; Department of Music, Concordia University, Montréal, H4B1R6 Québec, Canada; Corresponding authorDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2S9 Québec, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2S9 Québec, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2S9 Québec, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, LebanonDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2S9 Québec, Canada; MILA (Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute), Montreal, Quebec, Canada; UNIQUE Center (Quebec Neuro-AI Research Center), Montreal, Quebec, CanadaSummary: Creativity is a highly valued and beneficial skill that empirical research typically probes using “divergent thinking” (DT) tasks such as problem solving and novel idea generation. Here, in contrast, we examine the perceptual aspect of creativity by asking whether creative individuals are more likely to perceive recognizable forms in ambiguous stimuli –a phenomenon known as pareidolia. To this end, we designed a visual task in which participants were asked to identify as many recognizable forms as possible in cloud-like fractal images. We found that pareidolic perceptions arise more often and more rapidly in highly creative individuals. Furthermore, high-creatives report pareidolia across a broader range of image contrasts and fractal dimensions than do low creatives. These results extend the established body of work on DT by introducing divergent perception as a complementary manifestation of the creative mind, thus clarifying the perception-creation link while opening new paths for studying creative behavior in humans.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422201375XCognitive neuroscienceSocial sciencesPsychology |
| spellingShingle | Antoine Bellemare Pepin Yann Harel Jordan O’Byrne Geneviève Mageau Arne Dietrich Karim Jerbi Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity iScience Cognitive neuroscience Social sciences Psychology |
| title | Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity |
| title_full | Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity |
| title_fullStr | Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity |
| title_short | Processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns: Pareidolia as a sign of creativity |
| title_sort | processing visual ambiguity in fractal patterns pareidolia as a sign of creativity |
| topic | Cognitive neuroscience Social sciences Psychology |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422201375X |
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