Abstract
Approaches to foster motor creativity differ according to whether creative movements are assumed to be enacted creative ideas, or solutions to emerging motor problems that arise from task and environmental constraints. The twofold aim of the current study was to investigate whether (1) an enriched physical education (PE) intervention delivered with a joint constraints-led and cognitive stimulation approach fosters motor creativity, and the responsiveness to the intervention is moderated by baseline motor and cognitive skills and sex; (2) the intervention may benefit motor creativity through gains in motor coordination, executive function, and creative thinking. Ninety-five children, aged 6–9 years, participated in a 6-month group randomized trial with specialist-led enriched PE vs. generalist-led conventional PE. Before and after the intervention, Bertsch’s Test of Motor Creativity, Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Random Number Generation task and Torrance Test of Creative Thinking were administered. Linear mixed models were run accounting for the random effects of data clusters. Multiple mediation analysis was performed to assess whether motor coordination, executive function and creative thinking mediated any improvement of motor creativity. Results showed that (1) specialist-led enriched PE, compared to generalist-led conventional practice, elicited a more pronounced improvement in all motor creativity dimensions (fluency, flexibility, and originality) independently of baseline levels of motor and cognitive skills and sex; and (2) improved motor creativity was partially mediated by improved motor coordination and, as regards motor flexibility, also by improved inhibitory ability. In conclusion, enriching PE with tailored manipulations of constraints and variability may enhance the ability to create multiple and original task-pertinent movements both directly and through indirect paths. The results are discussed extending to motor creativity a theoretical framework that distinguishes different creativity modes. The intervention may have fostered the generation of creative movements directly through the exposure to variation in constraints, activating the sensorimotor ‘flow’ mode of creativity that bypasses higher-order cognition, but also indirectly through a systematic and conscious convergence on solutions, activating the ‘deliberate’ mode of creativity that relies on inhibition to reject common or task-inappropriate movement categories.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) is increasingly acknowledged by exercise scientists as an investment in human capital, with PA outcomes framed as capitals in the physical, mental, and socio-emotional domains (Bailey et al, 2013)
Regression analyses were performed on pre, post-intervention, and pre-post delta data to assess the effects of: (1) the independent variable (X: physical education (PE) intervention type) on the dependent variable (Y: individual motor creativity dimensions); (2) the independent variable on each mediator (M: total motor impairment, inhibition, working memory, total creative thinking); (3) the independent variable (X) and the potential mediators (M) on the dependent variable (Y)
Creative problem solving and decision making exercised in PA and sport when coping with movement challenges under varying constraints is proposed to contribute to the development of motor creativity and physical literacy (Rudd et al, 2020), which in turn may lead to positive physical, mental and social health outcomes (Cairney et al, 2019)
Summary
Physical activity (PA) is increasingly acknowledged by exercise scientists as an investment in human capital, with PA outcomes framed as capitals in the physical, mental, and socio-emotional domains (Bailey et al, 2013). Creativity researchers point to the age of human capital we are living in and propose that creativity is the currency of the modern era (Kell et al, 2013). At the crossroad of these two perspectives on the role of physical activity and creativity to build human capital lies the domain of proficient and creative movement. Recent attempts to broaden the scope of motor competence have proposed to shift the focus from ‘fundamental’ to ‘foundational’ skills. They encompass ‘non-fundamental’ movement skills considered important for promoting PA (e.g., cycling; Hulteen et al, 2018), or a wider range of variable skills that emerge through exploration and detection of opportunities for action (Ng and Button, 2018) referred to as ‘functional’ movement solutions (Rudd et al, 2021a)
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