Defining and Measuring Creativity

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Questions and Answers

How does the 'Alternative Uses Task' operationalize the construct of creativity, and what are its key limitations in capturing the multifaceted nature of creative thought?

It assesses creativity by measuring the speed at which participants can generate alternative uses for common objects, focusing on cognitive flexibility and fluency but neglecting the originality of ideas.
It quantifies creativity through the novelty and usefulness of ideas generated for a common object, utilizing a scoring system that emphasizes divergent thinking while overlooking convergent thinking abilities.
It measures creativity by evaluating the total number of different categories a participant's ideas belong to, combined with an average creativity score assigned by raters, thereby integrating both divergent and convergent thinking. (correct)
It emphasizes fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration in generating alternative uses for an object, providing a comprehensive measure of divergent thinking that effectively captures the essence of creativity.

Which statement accurately reflects the modern understanding of the neural basis of creativity, moving beyond the oversimplified notion of hemispheric dominance?

Creative tasks activate diverse regions across both hemispheres, emphasizing the integrated function of multiple brain networks rather than the sole dominance of either hemisphere. (correct)
Creativity is primarily localized in the right hemisphere, where intuitive and non-linear thinking processes dominate, inhibiting the need to actively engage analytical left-hemisphere functions.
Creativity is associated with increased activity in specific areas of the left hemisphere, where cognitive control oversees the generation and evaluation of novel ideas.
The creative process relies on the synchronization of both hemispheres, yet the left hemisphere's role in language and logic often suppresses the generation of novel ideas.

In the context of the temporal dynamics of the creative process, how does the stage of 'incubation' uniquely contribute to creative problem-solving?

Incubation involves actively engaging with a task, focusing conscious attention to gather necessary information for idea generation.
Incubation is characterized by the sudden emergence of a creative idea into conscious awareness, often referred to as the 'aha' moment.
Incubation serves as the phase in which creative ideas are refined and practically applied through rigorous evaluation and testing.
Incubation allows for subconscious processing as conscious attention is diverted away from the task, fostering novel connections and insights. (correct)

Considering the Default Mode Network (DMN) and Cognitive Control Network (CCN), how do these interconnected brain networks interplay during creative thought?

The DMN facilitates divergent thinking and idea generation, while the CCN contributes to convergent thinking through evaluation and focused attention. (D) Signup and view all the answers

How does mind-wandering, as a spontaneous cognitive process, influence the incubation stage of creativity, and what neural mechanisms underpin this phenomenon?

Mind-wandering enhances the incubation stage as it enables spontaneous, autonomous shifts in mental focus, allowing for the exploration of remote associations and novel ideas. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What implications does the finding that episodic memory, imagination, and creative thinking all activate the bilateral hippocampus have for understanding the cognitive architecture of creativity?

It suggests that the ability to creatively imagine and generate new ideas is fundamentally linked to the brain's capacity to reconstruct and manipulate past experiences. (B) Signup and view all the answers

How do individual differences in personality, particularly openness to experience, interact with cognitive processes to influence creative potential?

High openness to experience facilitates the cognitive flexibility necessary for divergent thinking, but may impair the convergent thinking required for evaluating ideas. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Considering the research on microdosing with psilocybin, what caveats must be considered when interpreting claims about enhanced creativity and well-being?

Expectation effects may significantly mediate reported benefits, and cognitive impairment has been observed, challenging the notion of universal enhancement. (A) Signup and view all the answers

In the context of cultural evolution and technological advancement, what crucial distinction differentiates a 'cognitive niche' from a 'cultural niche'?

A cognitive niche highlights individual intelligence as the primary driver of innovation, whereas a cultural niche emphasizes the gradual accumulation of knowledge. (C) Signup and view all the answers

How does the 'REBUS' (Relaxed Beliefs Under pSilocybin) model explain the reported effects of psilocybin on creativity in terms of cognitive and neural processes?

According to the REBUS model, psilocybin promotes an 'anarchic brain' state by diminishing top-down beliefs, fostering bottom-up sensory inputs and associative thinking, though there are mixed findings. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Considering the study involving the construction of devices with rotating wheels, how did inheriting a pre-existing theory, versus developing one independently, influence participants' creative problem-solving?

Inheriting a theory significantly reduced the range of wheel designs but increased the depth of understanding for the single inherited concept. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which EEG band is associated with complex problem solving?

Gamma (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following does not contribute to creativity?

Sleep (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the relation between sleep and brain activity?

Delta waves reflect deep sleep (C) Signup and view all the answers

In the temporal dynamics of the creative process, what is evaluated in the verification stage?

Creative idea (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which measure of 'Operationalizing the Construct' refers to a coding system for human raters?

Measures (C) Signup and view all the answers

In the measures, how is the average uniqueness score calculated?

Dividing the frequency of how often a specific idea is mentioned among all participants by the total number of named ideas (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is cognitive flexibility?

Counting the total number of different categories that a participant's ideas belonged to (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which scientific paper is credited with the four stages of the creative process known as Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, and Verification?

Wallas (1926) (C) Signup and view all the answers

What statement best describes the function of the anterior insular cortex (AIC) within the Cognitive Control Network (CCN) regarding creativity?

The AIC, as part of the Cognitive Control Network, helps regulate and modulate cognitive processes during creative thinking. (D) Signup and view all the answers

When considering the influence of sleep on the neural basis of creativity, its role is thought to be particularly involved in what?

REM and non-REM cycles can both facilitate insight by memory consolidation and promoting associative thinking. (B) Signup and view all the answers

How does the concept of 'neural reuse' pertain to the neural basis of creativity?

Brain areas like the hippocampus that serves other cognitive processes like memory can also support imagination and creative thinking (D) Signup and view all the answers

According to Sawyer in 2011, it is a myth that one side of the brain is more creative than the other. Which statement is correct about brain activity and creativity?

Creativity involves different brain regions, and can include both hemispheres (C) Signup and view all the answers

Aside from IQ, what is another factor related to individual differences in creativity?

Personality (A) Signup and view all the answers

Considering the experiment that shows that causal understanding is not necessary for the improvement of culturally evolving technology, what is not true?

We need intelligence to understand causal effects. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

The Construct

A set of covarying observed behaviors.

Creativity

The process of bringing into being something that is both new and useful.