Abstract
Prior research has shown that free walking can enhance creative thinking. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether bidirectional body-mind links are essential for the positive effect of free walking on creative thinking. Moreover, it is unknown whether the positive effect can be generalized to older adults. In Experiment 1, we replicated previous findings with two additional groups of young participants. Participants in the rectangular-walking condition walked along a rectangular path while generating unusual uses for chopsticks. Participants in the free-walking group walked freely as they wished, and participants in the free-generation condition generated unconstrained free paths while the participants in the random-experienced condition walked those paths. Only the free-walking group showed better performance in fluency, flexibility, and originality. In Experiment 2, two groups of older adults were randomly assigned to the free-walking and rectangular-walking conditions. The free-walking group showed better performance than the rectangular-walking group. Moreover, older adults in the free-walking group outperformed young adults in the rectangular-walking group in originality and performed comparably in fluency and flexibility. Bidirectional links between proprioceptive-motor kinematics and metaphorical abstract concepts can enhance divergent thinking for both young and older adults.
Highlights
Creativity is essential for the advancement of humanity
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate whether the bidirectional links between sensorimotor and metaphorical abstract concepts are critical for observing the benefits of free walking on divergent thinking
Hearts and Flowers Task Accuracy was at the ceiling for all three blocks, and there was no significant difference in reaction times (RTs) among groups in each block (p > 0.30)
Summary
Creativity is a core activity in arts, sciences, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the workplace. It has been demonstrated that people with higher levels of creativity possess greater occupational self-efficiency (Tierney et al, 1999), healthier psychological functioning (McCracken, 1991; Terr, 1992; Russ, 1998; Kin and Pope, 1999), subjective well-being and successful adaption to daily demands (Reiter-Palmon et al, 1998), and better interpersonal relations (Livingston, 1999). Creativity contributes to successful aging by encouraging flexible problem-solving skills and promoting self-efficacy in older adults (Fisher and Specht, 1999). In the era of aging and aged societies, empowering older adults with skills geared toward successful aging significantly affects society. Divergent thinking is a core process of creativity (Guilford, 1967). Divergent thinking entails exploring many alternative and original ideas that differ from the standard responses to a given
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