Creative Task Performance Research Articles

Examining the asymmetrical effects of goal faultlines in groups: A categorization-elaboration approach.

The purpose of this study was to use the categorization-elaboration model (CEM) to examine the asymmetrical effects of goal faultlines in groups, which are present when hypothetical dividing lines are created on the basis of different performance goals, splitting the group into subgroups. On the basis of the CEM, we expected groups with goal faultlines to exhibit higher levels of creative task performance than (a) groups with specific, difficult goals and (b) groups with do-your-best goals. We expected the benefits of goal faultlines to be due to increases in reflective reframing, which occurs when group members build on each other's ideas by shifting to alternate frames. However, we expected groups with goal faultlines to exhibit lower levels of routine task performance than (a) groups with do-your-best goals and (b) groups with specific, difficult goals, due to increased perceptions of loafing. Results from 87 groups generally supported our hypothesized model. Implications are discussed as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

When sad groups expect to meet again: Interactive affective sharing and future interaction expectation as determinants of work groups' analytical and creative task performance

The present study examines the moderating role of future interaction expectation in the relationship between affective sharing and work groups' task performance. We argue that group affect, a group defining characteristic, becomes more salient to its members when it is interactively shared, and that the anticipation of future interaction may strengthen the effects of group defining characteristics on subsequent group member behaviour. As a consequence, interactive sharing (vs. non-interactive sharing) of negative affect is more likely to influence work group outcomes when group members expect to meet again. Results from a laboratory experiment with 66 three-person work groups indeed show that interactively shared (vs. non-interactively shared) negative affect facilitated work groups' analytical task performance, whereas it inhibited performance on a creative fluency task when groups have expectations of future interaction and not when they do not have such expectations. The discussion focuses on how these results add to theory on group affect and contribute to insights in the effects of future interaction expectation.

Impact of employees’ character strengths of wisdom on stress and creative performance

Both conventional understanding and positive psychology recognise an important link between people’s character strengths and how they perform their jobs. However, no research to date has focused on the relationship of employees’ wisdom strengths, potential mediating effects and creative task performance. Utilising a large heterogeneous sample (N = 974) of working adults, this study found that participants’ levels of the character strengths of wisdom were positively related to their performance on a creative task and negatively related to their reported level of stress. In addition, stress was found to be negatively related to creative task performance, with reported stress partly mediating the relationship between participants’ wisdom and their performance on the creative task. Implications for incorporating character strengths in the development of HRM theory and practice conclude the article.

Leader Positivity and Follower Creativity: An Experimental Analysis

AbstractUsing an experimental research design, 191 working adults were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions in order to test a theoretical model linking leader and follower positive psychological capital (PsyCap). Multiple methods were used to gather information from the participants. We found when leader PsyCap was manipulated experimentally, it was positively related to follower PsyCap. Subsequently, follower PsyCap was significantly related to employee's originality of ideas; one important component of creativity in the workplace. We discuss the theoretical contributions of linking leader and follower PsyCap in what emerges as a directional contagion effect, and the mediating role of follower PsyCap in enhancing follower creative task performance. Further, employee selection and development as well as leadership development practical implications are discussed. We conclude with a discussion of limitations and future research directions.

Examining the Effect of Illumination Color on Cognitive Performance

This study investigated the effect of color illumination on human behavior, especially cognitive performance. A series of experiments examined the hypothesis proposed by Mehta and Zhu (2009). The hypothesis was that red induced avoidance motivation enhancing the performance of tasks which needed attention to details, while blue induced approach motivation improving the performance in creative tasks. We employed some of the experimental tasks used in their study as well as our original ones. The task performances under red and blue illumination were compared. The results showed that memory performance increased in red condition compared to blue condition. However, the performance in the other cognitive tasks did not show any difference between the two illumination conditions, although subjective evaluation of the illumination colors showed different profiles between them. These results indicate that red illumination possibly enhances attention and/or focusing properties than blue, but that blue does not necessarily enhance performance in creative tasks than red.

Creativity and Narrative Task Performance: An Exploratory Study

Methods of communicative and task‐based language teaching often employ tasks that require students to use their imagination and to generate new ideas. These tasks might provide creative learners with more chance to practice and to produce more comprehensible output, which could lead to greater success in second language acquisition (SLA) (Swain, 1985). Therefore, creativity, which involves imagination, unconventionality, risk‐taking, flexibility, and creating new classifications and systematizations of knowledge (Sternberg, 1985a), might be a potential factor that affects language learning outcomes. Despite its potential relevance, creativity has been a neglected individual difference variable in the field of SLA. Our study is the first attempt to examine the role of creativity in second‐language oral task performance. Participants in the study were Hungarian secondary school learners of English whose creativity was measured with a standardized creativity test and who performed two versions of a narrative task. We examined the relationships among three aspects of creativity—originality, flexibility, and creative fluency—and different measures of task performance, which included the number of words and narrative clauses, subordination ratio, lexical variety, and accuracy. The findings suggest that creativity is best hypothesized as a multifaceted trait, as students scoring high on various components of creativity seemed to complete the same task in different ways. Students who invented a high number of solutions on a creativity test were found to engage in more talk; thus, in a foreign language setting, they might create more opportunities for themselves to use the language. The learners characterized by a higher level of originality tended to speak less and created more complex stories in terms of the narrative structure, but at the same time, they might deprive themselves of the beneficial effects of more output. No significant relationship among creativity and accuracy, complexity, and lexical variety was found. The magnitude of the correlations, however, indicates that creativity affects participants’ output in narrative tasks only moderately. The results of the study reveal that in addition to investigating the effects of individual variables on global measures of foreign language performance, it is also possible to study their influence on specific tasks. Based on our study, we conclude that different aspects of creativity might have an effect on the amount of output students produce but not on the quality of narrative performance. Nevertheless, further research involving more participants and using different types of tasks would be necessary to be able to generalize these findings to other contexts.

Impact of employees' character strengths of wisdom on stress and creative performance

Both conventional understanding and positive psychology recognise an important link between people's character strengths and how they perform their jobs. However, no research to date has focused on the relationship of employees' wisdom strengths, potential mediating effects and creative task performance. Utilising a large heterogeneous sample (N = 974) of working adults, this study found that participants' levels of the character strengths of wisdom were positively related to their performance on a creative task and negatively related to their reported level of stress. In addition, stress was found to be negatively related to creative task performance, with reported stress partly mediating the relationship between participants' wisdom and their performance on the creative task. Implications for incorporating character strengths in the development of HRM theory and practice conclude the article.

Tensions and dilemmas of teachers in creativity reform in a Chinese context

This study aimed at revealing the problems experienced by primary teachers of Hong Kong SAR, China, in their initial school-based creativity teaching, through reviewing the teacher reflections in 75 action research reports. A number of teacher tensions and dilemmas emerged. Lack of teaching time and undesirable student performance in creative tasks were the most common problems reported by teachers in Hong Kong. And the most frequently mentioned reasons of teacher tensions were students’ original thinking and learning habits, and the original heavy and tight curriculum. In analysis, the present study discovered three groups of teacher tensions and five types of teacher dilemmas. They included tensions from lack of resources, undesirable student responses, various teaching demands and changes, and dilemmas in pedagogical arrangements, teacher role, educational value, teaching style and ethical choice. As revealed in the teacher reflections, these tensions and dilemmas were originated from problems of several levels, including the individual level, system level and cultural level. From further analysis, these problems together reflect the existence of some fundamental discrepancies, which educators should not neglect, including those discrepancies between creativity and knowledge learning, creativity culture and Chinese culture, and creativity reformers and traditional educators. Furthermore, this study discovered an additional explanation to the hardship of the reform. Evidence indicated that some of these educational factors might have formed causal loops, creating multiplying negative impacts on teachers. In future, apart from coping with individual tensions and dilemmas, educators need to find ways to resolve the problems of various levels, addressing the interconnectedness of various factors and the complexity of the issue.

Leadership style and activating potential moderators of the relationships among leader emotional displays and outcomes

The present study argues that leader emotional displays are important to consider both within and outside of transformational/charismatic paradigms and must look beyond positive and negative affect. Accordingly, this experiment examined the effects of emotion valence as moderated by leadership style (transformational vs. transactional) and activating potential (high vs. low) on follower satisfaction, evaluations of the leader, and creative task performance. Findings showed differential effects of positive and negative emotions for different leader styles for evaluations of transformational leadership and leader effectiveness and for follower performance. Additionally, positive emotions with higher-activating potential resulted in more desirable outcomes than those lower in activating potential, but the reverse was true for negative emotions. Findings are discussed in light of research and practical implications.

Gender-Related Differences in Changes in the Coherence of Cortical Biopotentials during Image-Based Creative Thought: Relationship with Action Efficacy

The aim of the present work was to study the characteristics of cortical interactions during performance of an image-based creative task in men and women with high and low levels of creativity. Subjects were divided into groups on the basis of the median originality score. EEG recordings were made in baseline conditions and during performance of the task (the Torrance Tests of Creating Thinking, "Incomplete Figures"). EEG coherence was calculated in six frequency ranges, from theta1 to beta2. Total coherence was analyzed for each of 16 leads calculated separately for intrahemisphere and interhemisphere coherence links. Differences in changes in coherence evoked by performing the task between subjects with high and low levels of originality were seen at the theta2, alpha1, and alpha2 frequencies. These differences resulted from decreases in coherence at low levels of originality, accompanied by increases in coherence in the theta1 and alpha 2 ranges and, at high levels of originality, a less significant decrease in the alpha2 range. The alpha2 range also showed an interaction between the gender, creativity, laterality, and electrode position factors on analysis of task performance-linked intrahemisphere coherence of cortical biopotentials. The patterns of the spatial distributions of coherence across the hemispheres were found to be similar in men and women with opposite levels of creativity, while task-linked changes in coherence in the anterior areas of the left and posterior areas of the right hemisphere were larger in high-creativity men as compared with those with low creativity. The results are evaluated in relation to the possibility that men and women use different cognitive strategies to achieve identical results from creative activity.

Changes in the Coherence of Cortical Biopotentials during Performance of a Verbal Creative Task in Men and Women

Changes in EEG coherence patterns evoked by performance of a verbal creative task were studied in 14 men and 13 women (university students). EEG coherence was calculated in six frequency ranges from 4 to 30 Hz. The experiment consisted of two series: in the first, the task was performed with the instruction to "create a sentence;" in the second, the instruction was to "create an original sentence." Independently of the instruction given, the reactivity of total coherence of biopotentials (experimental data minus the corresponding baseline measure) in all subjects was negative in the theta-1 and alpha-2 frequency ranges, while reactivity in the beta-2 range was positive. Gender-related differences linked with the type of experimental instruction were seen in changes in intrahemisphere coherence of biopotentials, and these were indifferent in relation to EEG frequencies. Performance of the verbal creative task with the instruction to "create an original sentence" was accompanied in women by substitution of right-hemisphere dominance (greater levels of coherence in the right hemisphere compared with the left) by left-hemisphere dominance as compared to performance with the instruction to "create a sentence," while the reverse changes were seen in men.

The Effects of Background Auditory Interference and Extraversion on Creative and Cognitive Task Performance

The present study examined the effects of different types of background auditory stimuli on the cognitive and creative task performance of introverts and extraverts. A sample of 77 high-school students completed two cognitive tasks (Baddeley Reasoning Test and sentence-completion) and a creative task (Alternate-Uses Test of divergent thinking) under one of four different background auditory conditions (speech, noise, music, or silence), as well as being assessed on Extraversion. Results showed no significant main or interactive effects of background auditory stimuli and personality on either cognitive task performance. However, there was a significant interactive effect on creative performance, with extraverts performing better in the presence of music than introverts. Consistencies and discrepancies with past literature are discussed.

Comparison of the effects of the subjective complexity and verbal creativity on EEG spectral power parameters

The EEG recording was made when the subjects performed tasks that involved overcoming the stereotype (creative) and retrieving information from memory (noncreative) with the usual and complicated presentation of the initial material (incomplete proverbs and sayings without concluding words). The subjective complexity of the task performance under different conditions was assessed. The EEG power from 19 EEG derivations was compared in the β2 and γ frequency bands. The creative task performance was associated with a marked increase in the EEG power; significantly more complicated noncreative tasks were not accompanied by marked changes in the EEG power in these bands.

Correlations between EEG power and figural creativity scores: Influence of sex and creative achievements

Event Abstract Back to Event Correlations between EEG power and figural creativity scores: Influence of sex and creative achievements Irina Tarasova1*, N.V Volf1, O.M Razumnikova1 and M.A Onischenko1 1 Institute of Physiology, Russia It is determined now that successful creative thinking is associated with specific spatial-temporal patterns of EEG activity. On the other hand, in our previous studies it has been shown that men and women demonstrated different patterns of neural activity during creative problems solving. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between EEG power and an efficiency of figural creative thinking in men and women. The right-handed university students participated in the experiment. EEG was recorded from 16 sites with a common earlobe reference in rest and during a figural creative task performance. EEG power was computed for six frequency ranges: theta1 (4-6 Hz), theta2 (6-8 Hz), alpha1 (8-10 Hz), alpha2 (10-12 Hz), beta1 (13-20 Hz) and beta2 (20-30 Hz). An efficiency of figural creative thinking was defined on the base of originality scores. Those scores were obtained on the basis of the normative sample that was composed of 342 male and female students aged 19-23 years. The Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to reveal relationships between task-related changes EEG power (synchronization or desynchronization) and originality scores. Statistical analysis was performed in all participants (n=42) and separately in groups differentiated with respect to sex and creative achievements. In all participants significant positive correlations were found between synchronization of the theta1 and alpha2 rhythms and originality scores. In the theta1 range, correlations were observed for EEG power in occipital loci of the both brain hemispheres and in the alpha2 rhythm correlations were found for power in all electrode sites. Sex differences in the relationships between theta1,2 and beta1,2 power and an efficiency of figural creative thinking were found. In women there were numerous significant positive correlations between an originality and theta2 synchronization in all loci, except for temporal and temporo-parietal. In men the similar effect was revealed in the beta1 range for EEG power in positions F8, T4 and C4, and in the beta2 range for EEG power in sites C3, C4. In addition, in low creative men negative correlations were found between theta1 power in sites F3 and F7 and originality scores. In low creative women positive correlations were revealed between originality and theta1 power in sites F4, C4, P4, O2, T6, and beta2 power in loci FP1 and FP2. Previously we have shown special importance of the theta and beta oscillations for differentiation of neurophysiological basis of creative thinking between men and women. Furthermore, a number of authors have revealed that a necessary condition for successful creative thinking is the alpha power increase. The mentioned facts are corresponding with the data obtained in our study. The present results will be discussed in context of sex differences of cognitive strategies to achieve creative productivity. This research was supported by the Russian Humanities Science Research Foundation (№ 08-06-00614a, 08-06-00615a). Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Abstracts Citation: Tarasova I, Volf N, Razumnikova O and Onischenko M (2008). Correlations between EEG power and figural creativity scores: Influence of sex and creative achievements. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.087 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 02 Dec 2008; Published Online: 02 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Irina Tarasova, Institute of Physiology, Novosibirsk, Russia, iriz78@mail.ru Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Irina Tarasova N.V Volf O.M Razumnikova M.A Onischenko Google Irina Tarasova N.V Volf O.M Razumnikova M.A Onischenko Google Scholar Irina Tarasova N.V Volf O.M Razumnikova M.A Onischenko PubMed Irina Tarasova N.V Volf O.M Razumnikova M.A Onischenko Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Changes in EEG coherence during tests for nonverbal (Figurative) creativity

Brain neurodynamics was studied by the EEG method during the performance of a task for figurative (or imaginative) creativity. The EEG was recorded in 19 standard derivations according to the international 10–20 system in 30 subjects. The following creative tasks were presented to subjects to involve them in the creative process: (Crl) thinking up and drawing an original picture; (Cr2) drawing a face, a house, and a clown in an original manner; (C1) drawing a picture from memory; and (C2) drawing geometric figures without any system. All the tasks had to be performed using a given set of geometric figures (a circle, semicircle, triangle, and rectangle). Statistical analysis of the EEG coherence function in these states for the frequency bands Δ, θ, α1, α2, β1, β2, and γ showed that the performance of creative and control tasks was associated with significant coherence changes in all the EEG frequency bands. As compared to the control tasks, performance of creative tasks caused an increase in the coherence of the α1-and α2 bands, more pronounced when creative tasks were compared with the second control task. In addition, the performance of the creative tasks (as compared to the control tasks) was accompanied by a decrease in the interhemispheric coherence of high-frequency rhythms (β2 and γ) and an increase in the intrahemispheric coherence of these rhythms. The findings are compared to the results of previous EEG studies on creative activity.

Changes in the EEG power during tests for nonverbal (figurative) creativity

The EEG was recorded in 19 standard derivations according to the international 10–20 system in 30 subjects during a test for figurative creativity. To involve subjects in the creative process, they were presented with the following creative tasks: (Cr1) thinking up and drawing an original picture; (Cr2) drawing a face, a house, and a clown in an original manner; (C1) drawing a picture from memory; and (C2) drawing geometric figures without any system. All the tasks had to be performed using a given set of geometric figures (a circle, semicircle, triangle, and rectangle). Statistical analysis of the EEG spectral power for the frequency bands α1, α2, β1, β2, and γ showed that the creative task performance was characterized by an increase in the EEG power in the β2 and γ bands and single differently directed power changes in the α1, α2, and β1 bands. The findings were compared to previous results of EEG studies on creative activity.

The importance of auxiliary materials and techniques of watercolor painting in the performance of creative tasks by students in academic and independent activities

Value of auxiliary materials and mechanic: water colour painting al performaner by studets of creative tasks on the academic aid independent occupations. In the article arc examined the problem of perfecting the instruction of students, who learned on first counts of the artisncally-graphic faculties, to the water-color painting at the special course "Technology of the water-color painting".

Effects of an indoor plant on creative task performance and mood

In this study, we investigated the effect of an indoor plant on task performance and on mood. Three room arrangements were used as independent variables: a room with (1) a plant, or (2) a magazine rack with magazines placed in front of the participants, or (3) a room with neither of these objects. Undergraduate students (M= 35, F= 55) performed a task of associating up to 30 words with each of 20 specified words in a room with one of the three room arrangements. Task performance scores showed that female participants performed better in view of the plant in comparison to the magazine rack (p < 0.05). Moreover, mood was better with the plant or the magazine rack in the room compared to the no object condition (p < 0.05). However, the difference in task performance was highly influenced by the evaluation about the plant or the magazine rack. It is suggested that the compatibility between task demand and the environment is an important factor in facilitating task performances.

Creativity and Narrative Task Performance: An Exploratory Study

The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of creativity on performance in oral narrative tasks. Participants in the study were Hungarian learners whose creativity was measured with a standardized creativity test. We examined the relationships among 3 aspects of creativity—originality, flexibility, and creative fluency—and different measures of task performance. The findings suggest that the 3 components of creativity have a differential effect on the measures of task performance. Creative fluency was positively correlated with the quantity of talk. Originality was negatively related to the quantity of talk, and positive correlations were found between originality and the complexity of narratives. The magnitude of the correlations indicates that creativity affects participants’ output in narrative tasks only moderately.

Influence of the Emotional Perception of a Signal on the Electroencephalographic Correlates of Creative Activity

Subjects were asked to invent as many definitions (ideas of a definition) of emotionally positive, emotionally negative, or neutral notions as possible using notions of other semantic fields. In the control task, the notions to be defined and to be used in definition were of the same or close semantic fields. The EEG was recorded during task performance. Significant differences in EEG local power (LS) and spatial synchronization (SS) were established in comparison of EEGs recorded during performance of creative tasks differing in complexity, complex creative tasks differing in emotional background (positive and negative), and tasks performed with or without emotional induction. Differences in LS and SS were most distinct in the medio- and posterotemporal areas of both hemispheres. Positive emotions increased LS and differently affected SS. Negative emotions predominantly increased SS. Analysis of self-reports of the subjects showed that both positive and negative induced emotions increased the fluency of association of notions from different semantic fields but decreased the originality of the ideas produced by a subject to define a notion.