Is there a role of creativity in the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory?

Abstract

While holding items in working memory has been shown to improve delayed long-term recall, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. One potential mechanism is working memory consolidation, which may facilitate the formation of novel associations between items during learning and lead to improved memory search at delayed retrieval. Forming novel associations via consolidation may share mechanisms with creative ability. The present research aims to explore how an individual's creativity relates to the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory. In Experiment 1, participants completed a stimulus identification task that manipulated the need for consolidation followed by a surprise delayed recognition task and measures of objective and self-reported creativity. While creativity scores were correlated with general performance on memory tasks, this effect was not related to working memory consolidation. In Experiment 2, participants were induced into either a creative or a non-creative state prior to completing the stimulus identification and delayed recognition tasks. Performance on these tasks was not significantly different between the groups and was again unrelated to working memory consolidation. The results of these two experiments suggest that creativity is not related to the mechanism underlying the effect of working memory consolidation on delayed recognition.