Ernest R. Hilgard, has extensively commented on Ahsen's work in the area of eidetic imagery and has
the following to say as a prelude to imagination and the imagery potential in the conext of eidetics.

(Imagery and Imagination on American Psychology, 1981, Journal of Mental Imagery, V. 5, #1, 1-18)

"When imagination is goal-directed toward the production of pleasing, beautiful, useful, socially desirable effects, it is commonly called creative. Hence creative imagination ordinarily is meant to include an evaluative connotation that goes beyond mere originality. It might be said that the most original production would be nonsense, because it would be unrelated to anything else. A truly creative product is not nonsens; it solves a problem, results in an admired work of art, or literature, or music, or provides leadership to get something done that needs doing. Hence in creative imagination so described there are features of richness beyond the mechanics of image formation and memory retrieval. Any broad discussion of imagery must give attention to the sources and nature of the products of
cerative imagination."

Hilgard expands on this view in the same article saying: "In two major reviews by Ahsen (1977a) and Haber (1979) the problems concerning eidetics become more clearly defined and he quotes Ahsen in this respect:

"Allport's excellent summary of the child's need for eidetic re-enactment and the adolsescent's relative neglect of eidetic images is followed by a rather strange statement: 'In later life there is no need for detailed images. In any case eidetic imagery is an anomaly in adult life. Its true function is performed only in the earlier years of mental development, when by preserving and elaborating sensory data it enhances the meaning of the stimulus situation for the child and enables him to perfect his adaptive responses' (Allport, 1924, p. 119). This position contradicts the obvious clinical fact that many emotional issues of a person's life remain unresolved and reqauire later re-evaluation; and, therefore, the need to replay centrally important segments of imagery in an eidetic manner remains. Allport's bungle shows a lack of exposure to clinical facts."

Hilgard, following the above eluciation proceeds to describe Ahsen's method in context of current research and practice of imagery:
Ahsen (1977a) classified the two methods of testing by the use of pictures as the search for the "typographic eidetic," and of instructions simply to imagine as a search for the "structural eidetic." Haber's method represents the former; Ahsen's as used in his Eidetic Parents Test (Ahsen, 1972), represents the latter (see also Ahsen, 1979).

In his response to the article titled "The Nature and Function of Eidetic Images" by Marks & McKellar, (1982, Journal of Mental Imagery, V. 6, #1, 1-28) Hilgard emphasized the need for an appropriate direction in the eidetic research (pages 59-60).
"What apparently is needed is an extention of the kinds of studies that Haber (see Haber, 1979) did, but applicable to the realm of the structural, as stated by Ahsen (1977a). There are many techniques within the currently expanding cognitive psychology that are possible, but these were largely neglected in their review.

Takao Hatakeyama (Yamagata University, Japan) and Tadashi Onizawa (Iwate University, Morioka, Japan, 1982, p. 56-59) both agreed with Hilgards perspective on eidetic research saying:

"Another point we will consider is the "subtypes." We think "scrying" can be regarded as EI, assuming that a crystal can be regarded as a kind of projection field. However, as a crystal seems to have ambiguous sensory elements, such as shadows and colors, it is similar to an inkblot in its function. Therefore, individuals who possess the crystal vision should be examined with EI tests. Next, all the "ghosts, spirits and apparitions" cannot be interpreted as the EI-origins. Similarly, all the "imaginary playmates" cannot. We think these phenomena are caused by imagination imagery. Though EI can be regarded as memory or imagination imagery which is projected outside, all the imagination imagery cannot be EI.

Marks and McKellar compare EI with various imagery types, including hypnagogic imagery, and indicate that common mechanisms are involved. This assertion may be an important clue regarding the mechanisms of EI. Onizawa and Kato (1971) reported another case that resembles these types of imagery; this is, an after-image can be transformed into an imagination image which is vivid and bizarre, and occasionally can be projected outside the subjects. The characteristics which distinguish imagery types are, according to Marks and McKellar, lucidity and level of arousal. EI is considered to be lucid and elicited in a high arousal level, which is in conformity with pseudohallucination and probably with Onizawa and Kato's phenomenon. Then one of the most hopeful methods to study the mechanisms may be a physiological one, especially EEG. Furst, Gardner, and Kamiya (1974) investigated four eidetic children and found that high-amplitude occipital alpha activity occurs during eidetic periods, and that these children have higher resting baseline alpha than their classmates. If this kind of research is accmulated, EI will hopefully not
be enigmatic.

We must accumulate the empirical data to know in what sort of individuals and conditions or situations EI is evoked. To clarify the function of EI, we shold know much more about the eidetic experiences in daily life (e.g., Hatakeyama, 1974, 1978; Onizawa and Eito, 1976).

EIDETIC PARENTS TEST & ANALYSIS
by AKHTER AHSEN, PH.D.

Ahsen's work has been widely acclaimed by authorities in the diverse schools of behaviorism and
psycho-analysis as of "historic importance."

It has been called a "breakthrough" which complements the currently accepted principles of developmental psychology as exemplified in Freudian psychoanalytical thinking and in the psychology of Piaget. His work reveals the importance of hiteherto unrecognized aspects of human development and mental funtioning. Called "a milestone in the evolution of a truly integrative and comprehensive system of effective psychotherapy," it paves the way for a long overdue synthesis.

Eidetic Parents Test and Analysis is not a "new school" in psychotherapy but a unique work providing an original, insightful, scientific view on the effective, practical use of eidetic imagery. Ahsen shows the use of eidetics in their qualities of spontaneity, interiority, demonstrability, and repeatability, and in their tendency to appear in the areas of conflict. In precise, multilevelled examinations of the eidetic parents, the author deals primarily with the practical application of eidetics in the clinic.

Thus, achieving a profound contribution to the present body of knowledge concerning imagery and the functioning of mind in its deeper layers. Ahsen's analysis of imagery makes the visual image a truly wholistic mind model. The active analytic use of eidetics departs radically from the inactive stance of the traditional psychoanalytic approach. The active learning which the eidetics induce extends the narrow boundaries of conventional behavior therapy by involving insights, symbolic materials, and cognitive-affective interchanges. Because the Eidetic Parents Test eliminates dependence on mere intuition, it unites behaviorism and psychoanalysis in the demonstrable realities of the subjective phenomena.

Eidetic Parents Test and Analysis concentrates on internal eidetic phenomena and how the individual relates to them. It describes parent-parent, father-child, mother-child interaction, reconstructing these relationships in their original developmental complexity through the eidetics. In these highly elusive and complicated areas of interaction the test replaces over-simplifications, hunches, and surmises with the realities of perception.
     
The test quickly brings developmental themes to the surface and provides an objective basis on which to build intimate and meaningful perceptual experience. The eidetics spontaneously emerge and expand the awareness of the individual and enable him to experientially recognize how his symptoms are linked with difficulties in the developmental past. This book articulates illuminating eidetic procedures which practitioners of diverse theoretical persuasions can readily incorporate into their own methods.
     
Eidetic Parents Test and Analysis is aimed at achieving precision, objectivity, and speed in most areas of clinical importance. Detailed procedures for administration of the test, comprehensive analysis of the material revealed, and the use of the material for writing a psychological report, marriage counseling, and general guidance of personal analysis prepares the ground for successful use of the test in the clinic. A detailed index completes the well-rounded format and enables testers and therapists to educate themselves in the intricacies of eidetic analysis. The material has been written in simple language with systematic presentations, making it understandable to the professional and introspective layman alike.