Imagining—also known as imaging—is the skill of picturing something in your mind. Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein, in their chapter on imaging, describe the various levels at which people can do this. For many, it’s easiest to imagine a shape—say, a triangle—if they trace it in the air first. More advanced imaginers can picture it behind their eyelids. The most advanced can visually superimpose the shape in front of whatever they’re looking at.
Imaging goes beyond just seeing; it includes evoking physical sensations, emotions, even taste or smell. Being able to envision something in full detail is the first step toward creating something new. It applies to creative problem-solving, of course, but also to how we design our lives. Imagination gives us agency to live in alignment with what we desire.
In this article, I’ll share some of the common issues that interrupt the normal cognitive development of imagination—and offer tools for recovering those skills, even well into adulthood.
The Decline of Imagination
Unfortunately, imagination is shrinking. In the 2011 study The Creativity Crisis, Kim analyzed Torrance Test scores from school-aged children and found that while IQ scores rose after 1990, creative thinking scores sharply declined—especially in children from kindergarten through third grade. The steepest drop occurred between 1998 and 2008.
Kim attributes this to several cultural factors: a decrease in unstructured time, an increase in screen time, and an overemphasis on standardized testing. He also recommends that schools teach more “problem finding,” not just problem solving.
As an educator, I’ve seen the consequences of this firsthand.
Rushing Reading, Replacing Play
Under the pressure of high-stakes testing, many adults now push reading onto children as early as ages 3 or 4. While some children may naturally be interested earlier, it’s telling that Kim’s study shows the greatest creativity loss among kindergartners to third graders. This developmental window—before age 7, when children typically begin losing teeth—is a critical time when imagination and play are the most complex learning tools available.
Jean Piaget (1962) emphasized that symbolic thinking emerges around age 7, when children begin to gravitate toward systems and rules (like written language and social norms). Before this, play is their primary language.
Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2006) studied paracosms—elaborate imaginary worlds created by children—and found that those who engaged deeply in such play were more likely to become MacArthur Fellows. If kids skip this stage and go straight into rule-based systems, they miss out on one of the most sophisticated cognitive capacities available: imagination.
Screens Are Not Substitutes
Screen activities—yes, even “educational” ones—are not a replacement for this kind of imaginative play. When a screen produces the image and story for a child, their prefrontal cortex isn’t activated in the same way. They lose the opportunity to form internal pictures and associations, which are essential for higher-order thinking and decision-making.
Reading aloud to children without showing them pictures gives them the chance to create the world themselves. That’s real power. It’s the first rehearsal for life design.
Recovering Imagination in Teens and Adults
I’ve worked with many teen and adult artists who didn’t experience much imaginative play as children. At first, they struggle to elaborate on an idea. But I’ve witnessed these same individuals grow in fluency and confidence over time.
Two skills I teach that help recover and strengthen imagination are synthesis and imaging.
Synthesis: Building New Worlds
Synthesis means combining ideas. I love to strengthen this skill through unlikely pairings and synesthesia.
-
Unlikely pairings might involve merging two random objects into one, or matching unexpected images with found text. It encourages flexibility and innovation.
-
Synesthesia is when senses blend—like tasting colors or hearing textures. Though it naturally occurs in just 1–4% of people (Carmichael & Simner, 2013; Cytowic, 2018), we were all synesthetic as toddlers before synaptic pruning kicked in. So in a way, we’re just remembering.
Using synesthesia in art-making invites participants to access pleasure and surprise through the sense-body. It unlocks delight and depth.
Imaging: Strengthening the Mind’s Eye
To support imaging, I use two practices: imagination drawings and pareidolia.
-
An imagination drawing is where you try to draw something from your mind. For example: “Draw a picture of you and your friends doing something fun,” or “Draw a scene from your life five years from now.” It strengthens visual memory and detail.
-
Pareidolia is the name for seeing images in ambiguous forms—like clouds or stains. I like to begin with a dried watercolor blob and ask students to turn it into a scene using a fine-tip marker. As they draw, I encourage the question, “What else?” This builds the creative muscle of elaboration.
While elaboration isn’t the same as imaging, it’s a measurable aspect of creativity (Torrance, 1972) that helps people stay with an imaginative challenge longer—and that persistence strengthens imaginative capacity.
Imagination is Liberation
Imagining is a skill—and like all skills, it can be trained. And regained.
In a world where creative capacity is shrinking, it’s more important than ever to support spaces where imagination can flourish. That’s why I offer workshops on this very topic—but in truth, this capacity grows through all my workshops.
Imagination is the seed of change—for ourselves, and for the world we want to build.
References
Carmichael, D., & Simner, J. (2013). The immune hypothesis of synesthesia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 563. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00563
Cytowic, R. E. (2018). Synesthesia. MIT Press.
Kim, K. H. (2011). The creativity crisis: The decrease in creative thinking scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Creativity Research Journal, 23(4), 285–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2011.627805
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood (C. Gattegno & F. M. Hodgson, Trans.). W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1945)
Root-Bernstein, M., & Root-Bernstein, R. (1999). Sparks of genius: The thirteen thinking tools of the world’s most creative people. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Root-Bernstein, M., & Root-Bernstein, R. (2006). Imaginary worldplay in childhood and maturity and its impact on adult creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 18(4), 405–425. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1804_2
Torrance, E. P. (1972). Can we teach children to think creatively? Journal of Creative Behavior, 6(2), 114–143. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1972.tb00916.x
© 2025 Andrea Merello. All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce this content without permission.
