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Before the Prompt_Heteromorphic Imagination and the Cognitive Cost of Premature Crystallization in Human-AI Co-Creativity843.65 kB
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Conference paper
Before the Prompt: Heteromorphic Imagination and the Cognitive Cost of Premature Crystallization in Human-AI Co-Creativity
Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Computational Creativity, pp 451-455
28 Jun 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011540
Abstract
Generative AI systems can enhance individual creative output while reducing the collective diversity of produced works. Current explanations for this paradox focus primarily on artifacts, model distributions, or design fixation. This paper proposes a complementary cognitive-phenomenological account grounded in the distinction between two modes of imaginative cogni-tion: heteromorphic imagination, characterized by pre-articulatory associative play across real and unreal com-binatory spaces, and creative imagination, in which emergent patterns achieve sufficient resonance to warrant articulation. We argue that prompt-based interaction imposes a demand for premature crystallization: a pressured translation from heteromorphic exploration into linguistically structured, model-interpretable expression. This demand can incentivize bypassing a cog-nitive phase that helps generate semantically remote, personally resonant, and meaning-bearing possibilities before they stabilize as concepts. Drawing on work on the Default Mode Network, divergent thinking, and dynamic switching between spontaneous and controlled cognition, we frame the neural component as a falsi-fiable hypothesis rather than an established effect. The resulting implication for computational creativity is that evaluation of human-AI co-creative systems should extend beyond outputs to upstream human cognitive processes and their possible long-term modification.
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Details
- Title
- Before the Prompt: Heteromorphic Imagination and the Cognitive Cost of Premature Crystallization in Human-AI Co-Creativity
- Creators
- Emil Polyak (Author) - Drexel University, Digital MediaRghad Ahmed Balkhyoor (Contributor) - Drexel University, Digital Media
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Computational Creativity, pp 451-455
- Conference
- International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC), 17 (Coimbra, Portugal, 28 Jun 2026–02 Jul 2026)
- Publisher
- Association for Computational Creativity
- Copyright
- © 2026 Emil Polyak and Rghad Balkhyoor. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
- Resource Type
- Conference paper
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Digital Media
- Other Identifier
- 991022202859104721