Exploring the Effect of Copying Incomprehensible Exemplars on Creative Drawings

Although cognitive studies have reported that exemplars negatively influence people’s creativity, they have not focused on the effect of varying the type of exemplar. In this study, we examined how copying incomprehensible exemplars affects students’ creative drawing ability. Participants who had copied these types of picture produced more creative drawings than those who had not copied them. Participants’ cognitive processes were investigated in detail, based on interviews and online protocol data. Copying incomprehensible exemplars seemed to help them to consciously construct a new representation for understanding the exemplars. Our data also indicated that participants who had copied exemplars produced creative drawings by applying their new representations. These findings suggest that exemplars have the potential to facilitate artistic creativity.