Externalizing Imagery: Exploring the Phenomenology of Outsight

We adapted Irving’s (2014) Image Control and Recognition Task (ICRT) to explore a phenomenon we term outsight. The ICRT is a visual synthesis task: Participants construct a mental image of an object following stepwise instructions. They are then asked to name and subsequently draw the imagined object. We focus on trials when participants after having failed to name their mental image, could do so after having drawn it. In this exploratory study, such outsight recognition occurred on 29% of the ICRT trials. In addition, outsight recognition was accompanied by some of the phenomenological markers associated with aha! experiences. We offer some reflections on the importance of reified imagery for creativity.