Abstract

Divergent thinking as a creative ability and perceptual switching between different interpretations of an unchanging stimulus (known as perceptual multistability) are thought to rely on similar processes. In the current study, we investigate to what extent task instructions and inherent stimulus characteristics influence participants' responses. In the first experiment, participants were asked to give as many interpretations for six images as possible. In the second experiment, participants reported which of two possible interpretations they saw at any moment for the same line drawings. From these two experiments, we extracted measures that allow us direct comparison between tasks. Results show that instructions have a large influence over the perception of images traditionally used in two different paradigms and that these images can be perceived in appropriate ways for both tasks. In addition, we suggest that the connection between the two phenomena can be explored interchangeably through three experimental manipulations: a) using a common set of images across both experiments, b) giving different task instructions for the two tasks, and c) extracting comparable metrics from both experimental paradigms.

DOI

10.26913/80s02017.0111.0012

Publication Date

2017-11-21

Publication Title

AVANT. The Journal of the Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard

Volume

VIII

Issue

Special

Publisher

The Centre for Philosophical Research

ISSN

2082-6710

Embargo Period

2024-11-22

First Page

121

Last Page

133

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