Generation of Novel Ideas: Creativity in Alzheimer’s Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Healthy Older Adults

Abstract

ABSTRACT Creativity refers to the ability to produce ideas or actions that are novel and useful, incorporating convergent and divergent thinking. Currently, limited attention has been paid to changes in creativity with disease progression (e.g. mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease). Therefore, this study examined the patterns of creativity between healthy controls (n = 36), adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 23), and adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD; n = 21). The study explored whether performance on creativity tasks can predict clinical group and contributing cognitive processes. Various cognitive tests were administered to participants, including measures of creativity. Our findings suggested that creative thought is reduced in individuals with MCI and AD, such that the AD group generated the lowest number of correct responses and made the most errors on all creativity tasks, indicating that creative ability decreases as dementia progresses. Performance on creativity tasks could also predict clinical group (depending on the task, ranging from 49% to 82% of those having MCI), indicating sensitivity to novel idea generation, which has been linked to frontal lobe impairment. Our findings suggested that core cognitive processes underlying creativity, including semantic knowledge and executive functions, are critical for producing new creative thoughts.