Is more time better for divergent thinking? A meta-analysis of the time-on-task effect on divergent thinking

Abstract

Performance on divergent thinking (DT) tests varies by different testing conditions. Although many studies documented that DT performance increases when more time is provided, it still remains unanswered whether DT performance continues to increase linearly or follows a rather non-linear pattern as more time is allowed. The present study examined a potential curvilinear pattern in DT performance by synthesizing 237 effect size in 22 studies using a three-level approach to account for the nested structure of data. Results indicated that liberal time conditions provided significantly better DT performance than the restricted time conditions with the mean effect size (g = 0.666) being considered moderate to large. The effect size was small to moderate (g = 0.493) in a group of studies that merely compared “timed” and “untimed” conditions. The effect was larger (g = 0.901) in a group of studies comparing varying amounts of time. The quadratic term of time difference between the shorter and longer time conditions turned out significantly negative indicating the inverted J-shaped relationship between time-on-task and DT performance: the DT performance increases with more time, and the growth slows down at some point. Implications for testing DT are explored.