THINKING, IMAGERY AND MEMORY 



match (requiring milliseconds) is forthcoming, recog- 

 nition or perceptual identification is said to have 

 occurred. Low-level resolution of the task has resulted 

 short of thinking. 



At the very beginning of the first stage, the available 

 array of organized avenues of input and output (the 

 Modality or directional Factor D of Halstead) is 

 scanned for pertinence. The prototype question here 

 is, "How should I look at (conceive of I this problem?"'; 

 "What organized response is required?" 



presolution period of search. When in the face 

 of an 'emergent' or new situation resolution has not 

 been successful at the first stage, the individual is 

 delayed in adaptive response until more information 

 is available to the neural pool through further ex- 

 ploration. At this point 'milking' of the stimulus for 

 its parameters (the relata and relations of Kliiver) 

 proceeds. The prototype question ""What is this?" 

 changes to "What could this be?" Here nonspecific 

 memory traces are scanned (the M Factor of Halstead ) 

 and tested for pertinence. Appropriate degrees of 

 'arousal' or power (the P Factor of Halstead ) improve 

 the signal-to-noise ratio of the task or 'nonsensory 

 image' (Hebb) carried neurally at this stage, pri- 

 marily by nonspecific afferent loops and afferent 

 feedbacks. As in the first stage tin- quest for 

 appropriate D Factor is sustained. Depending upon 

 the complexity of the task, the information available 

 and the stress demands lor action, the need for higher 

 'arousal' or P Factor to protect the task from the 

 ambient noise of individual ground fluctuations 

 increases. 



period of vicarious testing of tentative SOLUTION. 

 In the face of mounting tension or frustration, held 

 in regulation by appropriate levels of P Factor, the 

 individual begins to make abortive or vicarious 

 attempts at response (the vicarious trial-and-errors, 

 V.T.E., of Tolman). Here the prototype question is, 

 "What happens if I handle the problem this way?" 

 At this point specific and nonspecific memory traces 

 are scanned and melded with abortive afferent feed- 

 backs (proprioception). The "as if (Yahinger) of 

 incipient action feeds preliminary data into the 

 neural pool. At this stage of the task the individual 

 exhibits mimetic signs of impending consummatory 

 response, notably the autonomic changes described 

 by Kellogg el nl. (29), Lacey & Smith (36) and 

 Malmo et al. (41, 42), and the electromyographic 

 changes observed lay Max (43) and Jacobson (25). 



ACT OF CLOSURE AND REGISTRY OF A MEMORY TRACE. 



In the preceding stages the task has been held 'open' 



to the repetitive mechanisms of scanning, permitting 

 reattending to the sensory input or to relevant 

 memory traces, raising the affective loadings of some, 

 lowering that of others. This latter landscaping or 

 equalizing' of the pertinent elements of the task 

 appears to precede slightly the act of closure and the 

 registry of an enduring memory trace. It is perhaps 

 this fact that makes the content of organized categories 

 equiavailable to recall as opposed to the differential 

 availability of unorganized elements according to 

 Halstead (14). It may also be economical to the 

 organism in that the events of the third stage, in- 

 volving vicarious trial-and-error testing of tentative 

 solutions, are protected from premature registry of 

 enduring fragmented memory traces. The enduring 

 trace is somehow held in abeyance until solution is 

 reached. 



The act of closure involves the final stage in the 

 phenomenal selection and organization of the in- 

 formation in the neural pool. Essential similarities 

 have been grouped into prevailing figure; nonessential 

 elements and detail have been rejected from the 

 figure. Then suddenly, 'as in a flash' (as emphasized 

 by Poincaire and Wertheimer), closure or insight 

 occurs. All of the necessary and sufficient elements of 

 the task fall into place, including the appropriate 

 modality or response svstem for exteriorization, the 

 'final common pathway 3 of Sherrington. A solution 

 has been reached; the answer has been found. Less 

 than one per cent of the general population perceives 

 in milliseconds the visual information of figure 1 as a 

 cow. Yet it is actually a very grainy, face-on photo- 

 graph of a white-faced cow (black ears, black muzzle, 

 white body). With this important 'modality clue," 

 the reader may wish to re-explore the information of 

 figure 1. He ma\ 'see' main fragmentary forms or 

 details before the organization of the picture .1- a 

 whole becomes compelling. Once this occurs, how- 

 ever, the associated memory trace will be enduring 

 indefinitely (15). 



appropriate action. In general, closely related in 

 time to the events of the fourth stage is the adoption 

 of a 'correct' response or mode of action appropriate 

 to the task. This consummatory response or action 

 proceeds with great certainty (low anxiety) as to the 

 outcome. The emotional tension induced by the sus- 

 tained task is relieved. The thinking job is finished. 

 The board (neural pool) is somehow cleared for new- 

 tasks. 



The time dimension for thinking behavior is ex- 

 tremely elastic. While the evidence is essentially intro- 

 spective in character, creative thinkers in the arts. 



