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Bernhard Hommel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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metacontrol of human creativity the neurocognitive mechanisms of Convergent and divergent Thinking
NeuroImage, 2020Co-Authors: Weitao Zhang, Zsuzsika Sjoerds, Bernhard HommelAbstract:Creativity is a complex construct that would benefit from a more comprehensive mechanistic approach. Two processes have been defined to be central to creative cognition: divergent and Convergent Thinking. These two processes are most often studied using the Alternate Uses Test (heavily relying on divergent Thinking), and the Remote Associates Test (heavily relying on Convergent Thinking, at least with analytical solutions). Although creative acts should be regarded compound processes, most behavioral and neuroimaging studies ignore the composition of basic operations relevant for the task they investigate. In order to provide leverage for a more mechanistic, and eventually even comprehensive computational, approach to creative cognition, we compare findings from divergent and Convergent Thinking studies and review the similarities and differences between the two underlying types of processes, from a neurocognitive perspective with a strong focus on cortical structures. In this narrative review, we discuss a broad scope of neural correlates of divergent and Convergent Thinking. We provide a first step towards theoretical integration, by suggesting that creative cognition in divergent- and Convergent-Thinking heavy tasks is modulated by metacontrol states, where divergent Thinking and insight solutions in Convergent-Thinking tasks seem to benefit from metacontrol biases towards flexibility, whereas Convergent, analytical Thinking seems to benefit from metacontrol biases towards persistence. These particular biases seem to be reflected by specific cortical brain-activation patterns, involving left frontal and right temporal/parietal networks. Our tentative framework could serve as a first proxy to guide neuroscientific creativity research into assessing more mechanistic details of human creative cognition.
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risk taking and creativity Convergent but not divergent Thinking is better in low risk takers
Creativity Research Journal, 2018Co-Authors: Wangbing Shen, Bernhard Hommel, Yuan Yuan, Liu Chang, Wei ZhangAbstract:The relationship between risk-taking and creativity is critical to understanding social harmony and innovation. Although some studies have assessed the link between risk-taking and divergent Thinking, the association between risk-taking and Convergent Thinking remains unclear. Two studies were conducted to systemically investigate whether risk-taking is linked to Convergent Thinking. In Study 1, a sample of 127 healthy participants performed a Chinese remote associate test (RAT) and completed a risk-taking questionnaire. As predicted, risk-taking was negatively correlated with RAT performance, implying that risk-taking has a negative association with Convergent Thinking. Study 2 was an online survey study that replicated Study 1 and extended the measures to include self-rated risk and a measure of divergent Thinking (the alternate uses task). The findings were fully replicated, showing that low risk-taking goes with better Convergent Thinking and risk-taking was not significantly correlated with divergent Thinking. Furthermore, the risk-taking/Convergent-Thinking relationship was best described by a linear regression model in both studies. Taken together, these results suggest that appropriate reductions in risk-taking can boost Convergent Thinking.
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prior meditation practice modulates performance and strategy use in Convergent and divergent Thinking problems
Mindfulness, 2017Co-Authors: Lorenza S Colzato, Dominique P. Lippelt, Ayca Szapora, Bernhard HommelAbstract:Scientific interest in meditation has significantly grown in the past years; however, so far, science has neglected the idea that different types of meditations may drive specific cognitive-control states. It has been shown that focused-attention (FA) and open-monitoring (OM) meditation exert specific effect on creativity; OM meditation induces a control state that promotes divergent Thinking, a style of Thinking that allows many new ideas to be generated, while FA meditation tends to support Convergent Thinking, the process of generating one possible solution to a particular problem. In the present study, by using creativity tasks tapping into Convergent (compound Remote Associates Task; cRAT) and divergent Thinking (Alternate Uses Task; AUT), we investigated whether this effect was modulated by prior meditation experience, by comparing a group of practitioners (n = 20) and a group of novices (n = 20). The enhancing effect of OM meditation on divergent Thinking was found to be robust irrespective of prior experience. However, while solving Convergent-Thinking problems, practitioners used an insight strategy, as opposed to an analytical approach, significantly more often than the novices.
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stimulating creativity modulation of Convergent and divergent Thinking by transcranial direct current stimulation tdcs
Creativity Research Journal, 2015Co-Authors: Sharon Zmigrod, Lorenza S Colzato, Bernhard HommelAbstract:Creativity has been conceptualized as involving 2 distinct components; divergent Thinking, the search for multiple solutions to a single problem, and Convergent Thinking, the quest for a single solution either through an analytical process or the experience of insight. Studies have demonstrated that these abilities can be improved by cognitive stimulation, mood, and meditation. This investigation examined whether Convergent and divergent Thinking can be enhanced by noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In different sessions, participants received bilateral stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—DLPFC (Experiment1) and over the posterior parietal cortex–PPC (Experiment2), while performing the Compound Remote Associative task (CRA) assessing Convergent Thinking and the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) assessing divergent Thinking. In Experiment1, anodal-left cathodal-right stimulation over the DLPFC significantly enhanced CRA performance. In Experiment2, stimulations over the P...
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increasing interpersonal trust through divergent Thinking
Frontiers in Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: Roberta Sellaro, Bernhard Hommel, Erik W De Kwaadsteniet, Suzanne Van De Groep, Lorenza S ColzatoAbstract:Interpersonal trust is an essential ingredient of many social relationships but how stable is it actually, and how is it controlled? There is evidence that the degree of trust into others might be rather volatile and can be affected by manipulations like drawing attention to personal interdependence or independence. Here we investigated whether the degree of interpersonal trust can be biased by inducing either a more integrative or a more focused/exclusive cognitive control mode by means of a creativity task requiring divergent or Convergent Thinking, respectively. Participants then performed the trust game, which provides an index of interpersonal trust by assessing the money units one participant (the trustor) transfers to another (the trustee). As expected, trustors transferred significantly more money to trustees after engaging in divergent Thinking as compared to Convergent Thinking. This observation provides support for the idea that interpersonal trust is controlled by domain-general (i.e., not socially dedicated) cognitive states.
Lorenza S Colzato - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation tvns enhances divergent Thinking
Neuropsychologia, 2018Co-Authors: Lorenza S Colzato, Simone M. Ritter, Laura SteenbergenAbstract:Creativity is one of the most important cognitive skills in our complex and fast-changing world. Previous correlative evidence showed that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is involved in divergent but not Convergent Thinking. In the current study, a placebo/sham-controlled, randomized between-group design was used to test a causal relation between vagus nerve and creativity. We employed transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), a novel non-invasive brain stimulation technique to stimulate afferent fibers of the vagus nerve and speculated to increase GABA levels, in 80 healthy young volunteers. Creative performance was assessed in terms of divergent Thinking (Alternate Uses Task) and Convergent Thinking tasks (Remote Associates Test, Creative Problem Solving Task, Idea Selection Task). Results demonstrate active tVNS, compared to sham stimulation, enhanced divergent Thinking. Bayesian analysis reported the data to be inconclusive regarding a possible effect of tVNS on Convergent Thinking. Therefore, our findings corroborate the idea that the vagus nerve is causally involved in creative performance. Even thought we did not directly measure GABA levels, our results suggest that GABA (likely to be increased in active tVNS condition) supports the ability to select among competing options in high selection demand (divergent Thinking) but not in low selection demand (Convergent Thinking).
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prior meditation practice modulates performance and strategy use in Convergent and divergent Thinking problems
Mindfulness, 2017Co-Authors: Lorenza S Colzato, Dominique P. Lippelt, Ayca Szapora, Bernhard HommelAbstract:Scientific interest in meditation has significantly grown in the past years; however, so far, science has neglected the idea that different types of meditations may drive specific cognitive-control states. It has been shown that focused-attention (FA) and open-monitoring (OM) meditation exert specific effect on creativity; OM meditation induces a control state that promotes divergent Thinking, a style of Thinking that allows many new ideas to be generated, while FA meditation tends to support Convergent Thinking, the process of generating one possible solution to a particular problem. In the present study, by using creativity tasks tapping into Convergent (compound Remote Associates Task; cRAT) and divergent Thinking (Alternate Uses Task; AUT), we investigated whether this effect was modulated by prior meditation experience, by comparing a group of practitioners (n = 20) and a group of novices (n = 20). The enhancing effect of OM meditation on divergent Thinking was found to be robust irrespective of prior experience. However, while solving Convergent-Thinking problems, practitioners used an insight strategy, as opposed to an analytical approach, significantly more often than the novices.
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stimulating creativity modulation of Convergent and divergent Thinking by transcranial direct current stimulation tdcs
Creativity Research Journal, 2015Co-Authors: Sharon Zmigrod, Lorenza S Colzato, Bernhard HommelAbstract:Creativity has been conceptualized as involving 2 distinct components; divergent Thinking, the search for multiple solutions to a single problem, and Convergent Thinking, the quest for a single solution either through an analytical process or the experience of insight. Studies have demonstrated that these abilities can be improved by cognitive stimulation, mood, and meditation. This investigation examined whether Convergent and divergent Thinking can be enhanced by noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In different sessions, participants received bilateral stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—DLPFC (Experiment1) and over the posterior parietal cortex–PPC (Experiment2), while performing the Compound Remote Associative task (CRA) assessing Convergent Thinking and the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) assessing divergent Thinking. In Experiment1, anodal-left cathodal-right stimulation over the DLPFC significantly enhanced CRA performance. In Experiment2, stimulations over the P...
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increasing interpersonal trust through divergent Thinking
Frontiers in Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: Roberta Sellaro, Bernhard Hommel, Erik W De Kwaadsteniet, Suzanne Van De Groep, Lorenza S ColzatoAbstract:Interpersonal trust is an essential ingredient of many social relationships but how stable is it actually, and how is it controlled? There is evidence that the degree of trust into others might be rather volatile and can be affected by manipulations like drawing attention to personal interdependence or independence. Here we investigated whether the degree of interpersonal trust can be biased by inducing either a more integrative or a more focused/exclusive cognitive control mode by means of a creativity task requiring divergent or Convergent Thinking, respectively. Participants then performed the trust game, which provides an index of interpersonal trust by assessing the money units one participant (the trustor) transfers to another (the trustee). As expected, trustors transferred significantly more money to trustees after engaging in divergent Thinking as compared to Convergent Thinking. This observation provides support for the idea that interpersonal trust is controlled by domain-general (i.e., not socially dedicated) cognitive states.
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Focused attention, open monitoring and loving kindness meditation: Effects on attention, conflict monitoring, and creativity - A review
Frontiers in Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: Dominique P. Lippelt, Bernhard Hommel, Lorenza S ColzatoAbstract:Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a topic for scientific research and theories on meditation are becoming ever more specific. We distinguish between what is called Focused Attention meditation, Open Monitoring meditation, and Loving kindness (or compassion) meditation. Research suggests that these meditations have differential, dissociable effects on a wide range of cognitive (control) processes, such as attentional selection, conflict monitoring, divergent and Convergent Thinking. Although research on exactly how the various meditations operate on these processes is still missing, different kinds of meditations are associated with different neural structures and different patterns of electroencephalographic activity. In this review we discuss recent findings on meditation and suggest how the different meditations may affect cognitive processes and we give suggestions for directions of future research.
Estelle Michinov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Do open or closed postures boost creative performance? The effects of postural feedback on divergent and Convergent Thinking.
Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, 2020Co-Authors: Nicolas Michinov, Estelle MichinovAbstract:Can an individual’s body posture (expansive or contractive) affect their creative Thinking (divergent or Convergent)? Based on embodied cognition and the debate about the impact of nonverbal physical postures expressing power on psychological and behavioral outcomes, five experiments were conducted. We tested the prediction that expansive postures would have a positive effect on creativity tasks that have no right or wrong answer or optimal solution (divergent Thinking), whereas contractive postures would have a positive effect on tasks with a right answer or an optimal solution (Convergent Thinking). As predicted, results revealed a positive effect of expansive postures on performance of creativity tasks requiring divergent Thinking, such as producing original ideas (Study 1) or objects, either by combining shapes to create an original toy (Study 2) or by combining fragments to produce an original drawing (Study 3). Conversely, a positive effect of contractive postures was found on performance of insight tasks requiring Convergent Thinking, in which participants had to associate elements to discover a unifying and correct solution (Study 4) or overcome initial task constraints to find an optimal solution to a problem (Study 5). These findings open up new avenues for research in embodied creativity.
Nicolas Michinov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Do open or closed postures boost creative performance? The effects of postural feedback on divergent and Convergent Thinking.
Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, 2020Co-Authors: Nicolas Michinov, Estelle MichinovAbstract:Can an individual’s body posture (expansive or contractive) affect their creative Thinking (divergent or Convergent)? Based on embodied cognition and the debate about the impact of nonverbal physical postures expressing power on psychological and behavioral outcomes, five experiments were conducted. We tested the prediction that expansive postures would have a positive effect on creativity tasks that have no right or wrong answer or optimal solution (divergent Thinking), whereas contractive postures would have a positive effect on tasks with a right answer or an optimal solution (Convergent Thinking). As predicted, results revealed a positive effect of expansive postures on performance of creativity tasks requiring divergent Thinking, such as producing original ideas (Study 1) or objects, either by combining shapes to create an original toy (Study 2) or by combining fragments to produce an original drawing (Study 3). Conversely, a positive effect of contractive postures was found on performance of insight tasks requiring Convergent Thinking, in which participants had to associate elements to discover a unifying and correct solution (Study 4) or overcome initial task constraints to find an optimal solution to a problem (Study 5). These findings open up new avenues for research in embodied creativity.
Dominique P. Lippelt - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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prior meditation practice modulates performance and strategy use in Convergent and divergent Thinking problems
Mindfulness, 2017Co-Authors: Lorenza S Colzato, Dominique P. Lippelt, Ayca Szapora, Bernhard HommelAbstract:Scientific interest in meditation has significantly grown in the past years; however, so far, science has neglected the idea that different types of meditations may drive specific cognitive-control states. It has been shown that focused-attention (FA) and open-monitoring (OM) meditation exert specific effect on creativity; OM meditation induces a control state that promotes divergent Thinking, a style of Thinking that allows many new ideas to be generated, while FA meditation tends to support Convergent Thinking, the process of generating one possible solution to a particular problem. In the present study, by using creativity tasks tapping into Convergent (compound Remote Associates Task; cRAT) and divergent Thinking (Alternate Uses Task; AUT), we investigated whether this effect was modulated by prior meditation experience, by comparing a group of practitioners (n = 20) and a group of novices (n = 20). The enhancing effect of OM meditation on divergent Thinking was found to be robust irrespective of prior experience. However, while solving Convergent-Thinking problems, practitioners used an insight strategy, as opposed to an analytical approach, significantly more often than the novices.
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Focused attention, open monitoring and loving kindness meditation: Effects on attention, conflict monitoring, and creativity - A review
Frontiers in Psychology, 2014Co-Authors: Dominique P. Lippelt, Bernhard Hommel, Lorenza S ColzatoAbstract:Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a topic for scientific research and theories on meditation are becoming ever more specific. We distinguish between what is called Focused Attention meditation, Open Monitoring meditation, and Loving kindness (or compassion) meditation. Research suggests that these meditations have differential, dissociable effects on a wide range of cognitive (control) processes, such as attentional selection, conflict monitoring, divergent and Convergent Thinking. Although research on exactly how the various meditations operate on these processes is still missing, different kinds of meditations are associated with different neural structures and different patterns of electroencephalographic activity. In this review we discuss recent findings on meditation and suggest how the different meditations may affect cognitive processes and we give suggestions for directions of future research.