The definition of imagination in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2011) is as follows: “An act or power of
forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality;
creative ability; fanciful or empty assumption.” This concept of image synthesis is also mentioned in the
definition of imagination in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (2008): “Most directly, the faculty of reviving
or especially creating images in the mind’s eye. But more generally, the ability to create and rehearse possible
situations, to combine knowledge in unusual ways, or to invent thought experiments.” In this study,
“imagination” thus refers to “the process of transforming the inner imagery of students when they face a given
assignment.” Such images are usually developed from an individual’s memory of images and shaped into
something new.