ABSTRACT
Imagery is important for two major psychological processes: memory recall and problem solving. Imagery allows a creator to form almost an infinite number of variations, to discard those that are inferior, to reshape those that need further work, and to retain those that meet the creator's criteria for excellence. This chapter describes how the brain generates, views or inspects, and manipulates or alters images. Although it primarily discusses visual imagery, similar processes can occur in other sensory modalities. To understand the brain mechanisms that might account for creative imagery, we might find it helpful to review briefly how stimuli are seen, perceived, comprehended, and stored by the brain. The ability to see things that are not there is called imagery or hallucination. Although there are some rare reports of people who have hallucinations and use these hallucinations for creative endeavors such as painting, it is more common for creative people to use imagery intentionally for activities such as writing fiction and painting.
