Divergent Thinking Tasks Research Articles

Correlates of creativity: an association between creativity, personality, and intelligence

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to explore the association between creativity, intelligence, and personality. The study recruited sixty healthy volunteers in the age range of 20–40 years from Bengaluru city (formerly Bangalore), South India, and administered tests for fluid intelligence (Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices), personality (Big Five NEO-FFI), and divergent thinking (Wallach & Kogan Creativity Test). Findings revealed that intelligence and openness to experience were positively correlated with the fluency, flexibility, and originality dimensions of creativity. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggested openness and fluid intelligence significantly predicted creativity. This suggests that individuals who are more open to new experiences continue to integrate new and diverse information into their existing knowledge base. When combined with contextual and emotional stimuli, this integration process can lead to more varied and innovative responses to divergent thinking tasks.

Can 5 Minutes of Finger Actions Boost Creative Incubation?

AbstractPrevious studies suggest that the activation of the motor system – either via action, motor imagery, or brain stimulation – may increase subsequent performance on divergent thinking tasks (e.g., the alternate uses task; AUT). We tested this idea in a within-subjects design by administering the AUT using four different target objects and four different 5-min incubation tasks that differed in terms of arm and finger movements. In between-subjects designs, 0-back incubation has been shown to yield more creative responses than rest. Additionally, we included two new incubations that both involved arm actions, but differed in the amount of finger actions (Iranian dance, ballet dance). Incubation tasks involving finger actions (Iranian dance, 0-back) were predicted to increase creativity for objects that are typically manipulated with the fingers. There was a main effect of object. Alternate uses given to the paperclip were rated as more creative than those given to the other objects. With our within-subjects design, we could not replicate the previously described difference between 0-back and rest incubations. However, hypothesis-driven comparisons showed that, although the interaction of object and incubation was not significant, Iranian dance yielded more creative usages for paperclip than for sheet of paper, cup and brick, and all other incubations yielded more creative usages for paperclip than for brick. Iranian dance also generated marginally more creative usages than ballet. Our results suggest that if the hypothesized effects exist, they are likely to be small. Overall, AUT performance seems more influenced by the AUT object than by type of incubation.

Exploring the creativity-curiosity link in early childhood

Childhood is a pinnacle of both creativity and curiosity, and although these constructs theoretically overlap, few studies have probed whether they are directly related in childhood or driven by similar cognitive and emotional processes. Across two online Zoom sessions, 36 3- to 6 year-olds completed six tasks measuring diverse manifestations of curiosity and creativity, as well as tasks assessing vocabulary, self-esteem, and executive function. Caregivers also completed questionnaires regarding their children's curiosity. Only two significant, positive correlations were found between indices of creativity and curiosity: between originality of ideas (creativity) and breadth of exploration (curiosity), and between creativity on a production-based task and parent-reported breadth of exploration (curiosity). Further, the two constructs were predicted by different child characteristics. Age was the main predictor of creativity; originality of children's ideas in two divergent thinking tasks decreased with age, while fluency and holistic ratings of production-based tasks increased. Self-esteem, in turn, was the strongest predictor of curiosity, correlating positively with several subtypes of parent-reported curiosity. The results of this exploratory study suggest creativity and curiosity may not be as closely linked in childhood as some have proposed, and that pinpointing their relations will require careful attention to the individual components and expressions of each construct.

It is not always better to have more ideas: Serial order and the trade-off between fluency and elaboration in divergent thinking tasks.

It is not always better to have more ideas: Serial order and the trade-off between fluency and elaboration in divergent thinking tasks.

Acute aerobic exercise and creative thinking: comparison of transient hypofrontality state and strength model of self-controls’ theoretical predictions

Creativity is a high-level cognitive activity that can" be affected by acute aerobic exercise. This paper aims to determine how acute aerobic exercise intensities may influence aspects of divergent and convergent creative thinking. In this regard, to give an insight into the results, the predictions of the transient hypofrontality thesis and the strength model of self-control have been taken into consideration. Ninety-three healthy male college students (age = 21.18 ±1.73 years) were randomly assigned to anaerobic threshold intensity (%85 HRmax, n = 31), low intensity (%60 HRmax, n = 31), and control (n = 31) groups Participants performed divergent (Alternate Uses Task) and convergent (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices Test) creative thinking tasks before, during, and after cessation of two anaerobic thresholds and low intensities and control conditions. For the divergent creative thinking, flexibility and fluency performances during and after cessation of exercise in anaerobic threshold and low-intensity groups were improved in comparison to the control group.These results were consistent with the transient hypofrontality thesis and inconsistent with the strength model of self-control pre-dictions. In contrast, the performance of convergent creative thinking was relatively stable during and after cessation of exercise in anaerobic threshold and low-intensity groups which was inconsistent with both the transient hypofrontality thesis and the strength model of self-control predictions. The findings suggest that theoretical predictions of transient hypofrontality thesis are more adaptable with literature than the strength model of self-control to consider the exercise-creative processes relationship and further study of the issue would be of interest. Key words: Cognition, Convergent, Creativity, Divergent, Self-depletion, Physical Activity

Exploring the Creative Personality: Using Machine Learning to Predict Fluency and Originality in Divergent Thinking

ABSTRACT In this study, 100 self-reported personality items from the Big Five Aspects Scale, responded to by a sample of 334 undergraduate participants, were used to predict quantity (ideational fluency) and quality (originality) of ideas on a divergent thinking (DT) task. The originality of DT responses was scored through a fine-tuned version of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) 3.5 (i.e., Ocsai), and a least absolute shrinkage selection operator (LASSO) machine learning model selected the items that were meaningful predictors of each outcome. Results revealed that the personality profiles of highly fluent and highly original individuals were characterized by a tension between seemingly opposed personality attributes. Both ideational fluency and originality were predicted by a playfully open intellectualism that nonetheless avoided more typical work (i.e. was disorderly and unindustrious). Fluency was additionally predicted by a tension between enthusiasm for social interaction and depressive symptoms associated with withdrawal. Originality was predicted by a socially dominant assertiveness that was tempered by awareness and care for others’ feelings (e.g. compassion and politeness) as well as stability (i.e. non-volatility). Taken together, these results demonstrate that the creative personality is likely to be composed of aspects of multiple dimensions of typical personality models like the Big 5, and that the highly fluent and the highly original creative personality is different in important ways.

Contributions of Metacognition to Creative Performance and Behavior

ABSTRACTHow are ideas born? Contrary to commonly held beliefs, creative performance, like any goal‐oriented action, requires understanding and managing one's own cognitive processes – thus, efficient metacognition. Recently, a systematic framework of creative metacognition (CMC) has been proposed, assuming the relevance of metacognitive knowledge, monitoring, and control in creative performance. Here, we provide the first comprehensive empirical examination of this conception. Specifically, an online sample (N = 425) performed divergent thinking (DT) tasks and gave insight in relevant aspects of metacognitive processes during task performance. The study revealed that all three proposed components of CMC played independent roles in enhancing creative cognitive performance, including divergent thinking creativity and fluency. Among these components, metacognitive control showed the strongest positive association with creative cognitive performance. As expected, CMC was especially relevant to imminent creative task performance but showed some association with real‐life creativity. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that all three postulated components of CMC support creative performance and, to a lesser degree, to creative behavior. In the discussion, we delve deeper into the specific roles of these metacognitive subcomponents in enhancing creative cognitive performance and touch upon the differences between the roles of self‐regulation and metacognition in creativity.

“My Brain Said That … ”: A Qualitative Study of Sources of Children’s Creative Ideas

ABSTRACT Despite decades of research, the creative process remains to be fully understood, and most theories and empirical evidence focus on adults’ creativity. Without understanding children’s creative processes, the generalizability of these theories is questionable, which is crucial for teaching, learning, and parenting. However, studying children’s creative processes is challenging because of their still-developing meta-cognition, which is an essential component of the creative process. In this study, we conducted interviews with middle childhood-aged students (n = 30) after they completed four different types of divergent thinking tasks, examining the creative process during and beyond idea generation. Using inductive thematic analysis, we identified four main themes with associated subthemes, with Memory (experiences, knowledge, references, and personal and social interests) and Cognitive Strategies (evaluative processes and hypothetical thinking) as the primary themes. These data offer insight into how the main themes Memory and Cognitive Strategies reflect associative and executive processes, respectively, and the interplay between these in children’s divergent thinking. Findings from this study revealed that children were able to explain their process of generating an idea in the vast majority of responses. Additionally, this work provides insight into improving creativity, methods of assessment, and our understanding of creativity development.

EEG oscillatory evidence for the temporal dynamics of divergent and convergent thinking in the verbal knowledge domain

This study investigates neural mechanisms of divergent and convergent thinking in the verbal knowledge domain while taking into account activation related to working memory (WM). Divergent thinking was assessed using the Alternate Uses Task (AUT) and convergent thinking using the Compound Remote Associates task (RAT). We analyzed upper alpha band (10–12 Hz) oscillatory activity, in which we accounted for the temporal dynamics of both thinking processes by investigating three different time points during each trial for both tasks. We subtracted WM-related oscillatory activity measured by a serial recall task within the same knowledge domain and by using highly similar stimulus material as in both divergent and convergent thinking tasks. Our results show a strong upper alpha synchronization during divergent relative to convergent thinking, most pronounced at fronto-parietal electrodes. Moreover, we observed highest synchronization towards the middle (in contrast to the beginning and end) of each trial during both thinking processes. The results of the present study extend previous findings in the visuo-spatial knowledge domain, using a highly similar analytical approach to investigate divergent and convergent thinking. Together, these findings provide theoretical implications on how divergent and convergent thinking interact beyond WM across different knowledge domains by emphasizing their complex interplay.

Investigating the neural substrate variations between easy and challenging creative association tasks during product design within an fMRI scanner

In practice, individuals strive to develop highly original and valuable creative products within specific limitations. However, previous functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies focused on divergent-thinking tasks without considering the "valuableness" of an idea. Additionally, different types of creative tasks (e.g., the easier association vs. the harder association task) may engage distinct cognitive processes. This study aimed to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms associated with different types of creative thinking, specifically focusing on the generation of the most original and valuable creative product within an fMRI scanner. Twenty-one college students participated in a block design study. During each trial, participants were instructed to draw the most original and valuable product inspired by a given figure. The findings revealed that, in comparison to the harder association task, the easier association task led to broader activation across multiple brain regions. However, this broader activation resulted in inefficient thinking and poorer creative performance. Notably, the orbitofrontal cortex exhibited activation across various creativity tasks and displayed connectivity with several seed brain regions, highlighting the importance of decision-making when only one original and valuable product design is allowed. Furthermore, the complex functional connectivity observed between different brain networks reflects the intricate nature of creative thinking. To conclude, widespread activation of brain regions does not necessarily indicate superior creativity. Instead, optimal creative performance within constraints is achieved through an efficient utilization of association for generating innovative ideas, inhibition for suppressing unoriginal ideas, and decision-making to select the most creative idea.

The brain markers of creativity measured by divergent thinking in childhood: Hippocampal volume and functional connectivity

Creativity, a high-order cognitive ability, has received wide attention from researchers and educators who are dedicated to promoting its development throughout one's lifespan. Currently, creativity is commonly assessed with divergent thinking tasks, such as the Alternative Uses Task. Recent advancements in neuroimaging techniques have enabled the identification of brain markers for high-order cognitive abilities. One such brain structure of interest in this regard is the hippocampus, which has been found to play an important role in generating creative thoughts in adulthood. However, such role of the hippocampus in childhood is not clear. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the associations between creativity, as measured by divergent thinking, and both the volume of the hippocampus and its resting-state functional connectivity in 116 children aged 8–12 years. The results indicate significant relations between divergent thinking and the volume of the hippocampal head and the hippocampal tail, as well as the volume of a subfield comprising cornu ammonis 2–4 and dentate gyrus within the hippocampal body. Additionally, divergent thinking was significantly related to the differences between the anterior and the posterior hippocampus in their functional connectivity to other brain regions during rest. These results suggest that these two subregions may collaborate with different brain regions to support diverse cognitive processes involved in the generation of creative thoughts. In summary, these findings indicate that divergent thinking is significantly related to the structural and functional characteristics of the hippocampus, offering potential insights into the brain markers for creativity during the developmental stage.

Disentangling the Link between Creativity and Technology Use: Individual Differences in Smartphone and Social Media (Over)Use

The recent years have seen a dramatic surge in the use of smartphones and social media, with the latter likely to be a driving force for smartphone use disorder (SmUD) tendencies. Smartphones are popularly perceived to suppress creativity by occupying moments of free thought and stealing time from developing new ideas. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by providing a concise overview of contradictory literature findings, followed by presenting new data. In a sample of N = 509, self-rated creative self-efficacy (CSE) was inversely related to SmUD tendencies and, in subgroups of different sizes, to messenger overuse as well as to the frequency of Facebook and Instagram use. Notably, there was no such negative relationship between technology (over)use variables and the quantity of ideas (fluency) generated in divergent thinking (DT) tasks. However, the subjective and objective estimates of creative potential were positively associated. A heterogeneity analysis, in which the sample was split by sex, age, population group, and device used to participate in the online survey, uncovered varying correlations between technology (over)use and objectively measured creativity within some subsample pairs. Notable findings included a positive correlation between idea richness and time spent online with a stationary device (laptop/PC), among women, students, and those who participated in the online survey with non-mobile devices. Conversely, lower fluency scores were associated with more frequent Instagram use among men, and higher WhatsApp use among older generations. Overall, this study reveals a multifaceted relationship between creativity and media use that challenges prevailing media and public perceptions, with the mostly small effect sizes suggesting negligible connections.

The current state of artificial intelligence generative language models is more creative than humans on divergent thinking tasks

The emergence of publicly accessible artificial intelligence (AI) large language models such as ChatGPT has given rise to global conversations on the implications of AI capabilities. Emergent research on AI has challenged the assumption that creative potential is a uniquely human trait thus, there seems to be a disconnect between human perception versus what AI is objectively capable of creating. Here, we aimed to assess the creative potential of humans in comparison to AI. In the present study, human participants (N = 151) and GPT-4 provided responses for the Alternative Uses Task, Consequences Task, and Divergent Associations Task. We found that AI was robustly more creative along each divergent thinking measurement in comparison to the human counterparts. Specifically, when controlling for fluency of responses, AI was more original and elaborate. The present findings suggest that the current state of AI language models demonstrate higher creative potential than human respondents.

Assessing the Linguistic Creativity Domain of Last-Year Compulsory Secondary School Students

The importance of creativity in the training of people gained special relevance with the PISA Tests of the OECD, which, for the first time, evaluated the general creativity of 15-year-old students in 2022. This descriptive and quantitative study focuses on the evaluation of linguistic creativity, using different classical instruments to measure divergent thinking and adding new ones, such as metaphorical capacity. Participants were 454 students in their last year of secondary education from eight Spanish educational centers. Results indicate moderate performance in divergent thinking tasks, with students exhibiting limitations in generating novel metaphors, often resorting to literal responses. Statistically significant differences according to gender were found in metaphor generation and in the alternate uses task. A correlation study reveals significant associations between metaphor generation and divergent thinking tasks. These highlight the differential role of semantic memory and cognitive processes involved in metaphor generation and divergent thinking. Finally, this study underlines the complexities and multicomponent nature of creativity as a first step to develop educational policies and interventions targeting creativity. Overall, the importance of addressing creativity in a transdisciplinary way and training teachers on techniques to channel creativity are highlighted, such as through the design of challenges or writing workshops.

The Ties That Bind: Low Morals, High Deception, and Dark Creativity

ABSTRACT Self-reported dark creativity has been related to lower concerns for all moral foundations, especially among those with dark personality traits. The present study aimed to extend these findings using real-world divergent thinking tasks with ethical and unethical instructions. Data (N = 1346, males = 388, females = 840, M age = 20.93, SD = 5.48) were collected on creative performance, moral foundations, and dark personality traits, including trait deceptiveness. Divergent thinking responses were coded for fluency, flexibility, creativity, goal-directedness, deception, moral valence, and a virtue caveat (where participants explicitly denied to give unethical responses). Results indicated that for both ethical and unethical tasks, lower binding foundations (loyalty, authority, purity) were associated with higher creative performance, whereas higher concerns for moral foundations were related to more noble and positive responses and lower deception used in responses. Among dark personality traits, only trait deceptiveness was a significant mediator between low binding foundations and high creativity. Contrary to our predictions, none of the Dark Tetrad traits were significant mediators. These findings reinforce the salience of deception in the process and outcomes related to dark creativity; implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Investigating the role of spatial thinking in children’s design ideation through an open-ended design-by-analogy challenge

Spatial thinking is ubiquitous in design. Design education across all age groups encompasses a range of spatially challenging activities, such as forming and modifying mental representations of ideas, and visualizing the scenarios of design prototypes being used. While extensive research has examined the cognitive processes of spatial thinking and their relationships to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning, there remains a knowledge gap regarding the specific spatial thinking processes needed for open-ended problems, which may differ from those assessed in close-ended, analytical spatial tasks. To address this gap, we used educational design-based research to develop a nature-inspired, design-by-analogy project and investigate the spatial thinking processes of young, novice designers. 16 children from an international school in the Netherlands participated in this five-week design project. Multimodal evidence from classroom recordings and children’s design works were triangulated to offer insight into the key spatial thinking processes involved in their creation of nature-inspired, analogy-based design prototypes. Our results revealed spatial thinking processes that might not align with those assessed in conventional spatial tests and may be unique to design or open-ended problem-solving. These processes include abstracting spatial features to infer form-function relationships, retrieving a range of relevant visual information from memory, developing multiple possible analogical matches based on spatial features and relationships, elaborating and iterating on the design concepts and representations to make creative and suitable solutions for the design challenge, as well as visualizing design prototypes in practical usage scenarios. By highlighting the nuanced differences between spatial thinking in open-ended, divergent thinking tasks and conventional spatial tasks that demand single correct solutions, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of how children utilize spatial thinking in design and open-ended problem-solving contexts. Furthermore, this case study offers practical implications for scaffolding children's analogical reasoning and nurturing their spatial thinking in design education.

Beyond Openness: A Variety of Creative Experiences Increases Flexibility and Originality of Visuospatial Divergent Thinking

ABSTRACT Despite strong empirical evidence linking openness to experience and creative ideation, exactly how openness is associated with the generation of novel ideas is unclear. Additionally, although many studies examine verbally-prompted divergent thinking, less attention has been devoted to creative idea generation in response to perceptual or visuospatial stimuli. The current study assesses if individuals’ voluntary engagement in a wider range of creativity-related activities contributes to flexible and original idea generation on less-often explored perceptually-based divergent thinking tasks, and if more varied experience provides incremental predictive value for flexibility and originality beyond what is predicted by openness. The study further newly compares human-based ratings of flexibility and originality with automated computational assessment of the semantic distance between participants’ responses (“SemDis”) for two perceptually-based stimulus sets. Hierarchical linear regression analyses of the responses of 132 young adults revealed that variety of creative activities was significantly predictive of idea flexibility and originality, over-and-above the contribution of openness. For both stimulus sets, SemDis was strongly positively correlated with human-rated flexibility and originality, demonstrating the applicability of this automated measure to perceptually-prompted divergent-thinking tasks. The findings underscore the value of both openness and providing opportunities for engaging in varied creativity-related activities for fueling innovative thinking.

Divergent thinking benefits from functional antagonism of the left IFG and right TPJ: a transcranial direct current stimulation study.

Divergent thinking is assumed to benefit from releasing the constraint of existing knowledge (i.e. top-down control) and enriching free association (i.e. bottom-up processing). However, whether functional antagonism between top-down control-related and bottom-up processing-related brain structures is conducive to generating original ideas is largely unknown. This study was designed to investigate the effect of functional antagonism between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the right temporoparietal junction on divergent thinking performance. A within-subjects design was adopted for three experiments. A total of 114 participants performed divergent thinking tasks after receiving transcranial direct current stimulation over target regions. In particular, cathodal stimulation over the left inferior frontal gyrus and anodal stimulation over the right inferior frontal gyrus (Experiment 1), anodal stimulation over the right temporoparietal junction (Experiment 2), and both cathodal stimulation over the left inferior frontal gyrus and anodal stimulation over the right temporoparietal junction (Experiment 3) were manipulated. Compared with sham stimulation, the combination of hyperpolarization of the left inferior frontal gyrus and depolarization of the right temporoparietal junction comprehensively promoted the fluency, flexibility, and originality of divergent thinking without decreasing the rationality of generated ideas. Functional antagonism between the left inferior frontal gyrus (hyperpolarization) and right temporoparietal junction (depolarization) has a "1 + 1 > 2" superposition effect on divergent thinking.

The effect of self-related humor on convergent and divergent thinking

Humour enhances creativity, but the question is whether different types of humour have a similar effect on improving individual creativity. It is evident that negative humour style is negatively related to creativity, while positive humour style is positively related to it. However, no evidence has been found that self-related humour (self-enhancing and self-defeating humour) directly affects creative thinking in the experimental setting. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effect of self-related humour on convergent and divergent creative thinking. We included 60 (38 male, 22 female) participants and randomly assigned 20 in each condition to conduct this experiment. To evoke humour, we used 12 stimuli (12 self-enhancing jokes, 12 self-defeating jokes, and 12 non-humorous statements) in each condition. Remote Association Task (RAT) was used to measure convergent thinking, and Alternative Uses Task (AUT) was used to measure divergent thinking. We expected that i) people who engage in self-enhancing humour would perform better at convergent thinking tasks than the control group and the self-defeating humour group and ii) people who engage in self-enhancing humour would perform better at divergent thinking tasks than the control group and the self-defeating humour group. Our results supported our hypotheses and suggested that self-enhancing humour induced individual creativity both in convergent or divergent thinking (originality, fluency, flexibility). In contrast, self-defeating humour failed to affect either convergent or divergent thinking.

창의성 과제 특성, 부화활동의 유형, 과제선택권에 따른 부화효과의 차이

The purpose of this study was investigated the incubation effect on the two main types of creative thinking, convergent thinking (e.g., remote association task) and divergent thinking (e.g., alternative use task). More importantly, the main interest of this study was to know on how incubation activities that participate in the incubation stage and choice in tasks play a role for the effect of incubation. In experiment 1, taking away from the problem for a while and participating another task was helpful to creative problem solving. In experiment 2, the result of convergent thinking task (RAT) showed that incubation effects were differed according to incubation activities and choice in tasks. The incubation group with no choice in tasks displayed significant performance improvement compared to the choice in tasks group. In addition, we could not find the difference in incubation effect for the incubation activities. In contrast, the result of divergent thinking task (AUT) showed that there were no difference in incubation effects according to incubation activities and choice in tasks. Based on these results, we discussed creativity education using incubation.