Comparisons of convergent thinking: A perspective informed by culture and neural mechanisms

Abstract

Research is gradually becoming oriented toward investigating creativity within socio-cultural contexts. Currently, many cross-cultural studies have focused on divergent thinking (DT) but lack evidence regarding convergent thinking (CT). In this review, we summary the cultural aspects of CT, specifically studies involving the Remote Associates Test (RAT), considering variations in RAT versions, thinking styles, and control strategies. Additionally, we performed summary from the brain activation patterns of C-RAT and E-RAT to support our propositions. We proposed a theoretical framework that differs from previous conclusions, which suggested that CT and DT are independent sub-components of creativity and that CT only benefits from persistence. Variations observed among different RAT sets may partially explain differences in creative performance. Western individuals benefit from a bias towards flexibility, facilitating the formation of more distant and weaker associations to promote CT. Eastern individuals, on the other hand, prioritize the usefulness of solutions and tend to engage in a holistic thinking style to foster CT. The common neural activation across cultures supports the partial reliance of CT on flexibility, while the additional activation observed only in E-RAT can be attributed to individual's cognitive effort to suppress close thoughts in order to form remote associations, and reach a unique solution by the evaluation of potential candidate ideas.