ABSTRACT The Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS) is a widely used instrument for assessing students’ creative ideation; however, a reliable measure of ideational behavior has yet to be established in the Chinese context. This study aimed to validate a Chinese version of the RIBS with a sample of 1,331 students, comprising 719 fourth-graders and 612 eighth-graders. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the original 23-item scale was not suitable for the Chinese sample, which resulted in a shorter 20-item version. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure representing two types of creative ideation: constructive, goal-directed ideational behavior and intrusive, disorganized ideational flow. This adapted version demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency reliability and composite reliability. The scale also exhibited reasonable factorial, convergent, and discriminant validity. Furthermore, the measurement invariance across gender and grade level confirmed the applicability of the RIBS for both boys and girls, as well as primary and middle school students. This study provides robust evidence for the utility of the 20-item RIBS in the Chinese context, facilitating the assessment of students’ creative potential through the measurement of their ideational behavior.

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that weakened executive control by cathodal stimulation targeting the prefrontal cortex (PFC) improves performance on classical insight problem solving. However, it remains unclear how cathodal stimulation on PFC impacts the restructuring processes underlying insight problem solving, and how task-specific cognitive demands influence the PFC neuromodulation effects. Here, we employed a multimodal approach integrating eye-tracking with high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to detect the restructuring process of two types of matchstick problems which involved different cognitive demands, constraint relaxation, and chunk decomposition. Results showed that cathodal stimulation of left dorsolateral PFC has differential effects on both the task performance and the restructuring process of two types of problems. The stimulation effects allowed solvers to notice the crucial elements of the constraint relaxation problem and improved solution rate, while that made solvers gaze more on empty portions of the chunk decomposition problem but without better performance. This finding suggests that disrupting the natural functioning of PFC plays a causal role in the restructuring processes underlying insight problem solving, with its effects operating contingent on task-specific cognitive demands. This study provides novel methodological insights into the intricate cognitive dynamics underlying neuromodulation-mediated problem-solving processes.

ABSTRACT This scoping review provides a summary of the existing literature on the relationship between the default mode network (DMN) and different modes of generative creativity. In particular, it surveys the connection between the DMN and musical creativity, as well as DMN-related neural correlates of flow states, which are often implicated in creative task performance and engagement. It also examines literature investigating activity of the DMN as implicated in creative tasks related to viewing and generation of visual artworks. The default mode network comprises the medial prefrontal cortex, angular gyrus, precuneus, and posterior cingulate cortex. Historically, it has been associated mostly with mind-wandering and introspection. Recent research, however, has provided increasing insight into connections between the default mode network and music, which is itself associated with introspection and also self-expression, communication, and complex task performance. We review existing literature on these connections through a variety of lenses, including various levels of musical training; intra and internetwork connectivity; and the activation and deactivation of various DMN substructures. Finally, this review examines ways in which these findings may be implicated in management of two chronic pain-related disorders: treatment-resistant depression and fibromyalgia.

ABSTRACT Creative self-concept (CSC), reflecting an individual’s cognitive and affective judgment of creativity, is strongly correlated with creative performance, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study examined the relationship between CSC and creative performance, the mediating role of creative motivation, and the moderating role of mindfulness. In Study 1, 427 Chinese adolescents were assessed on their CSC, creative motivation, mindfulness, and both self-report (RIBS) and task-measured creative performance. Results revealed that CSC and RIBS were positively associated with intrinsic creative motivation, which mediated the relationship. Mindfulness positively moderated the relationship between CSC and intrinsic creative motivation, and between intrinsic creative motivation and RIBS. In Study 2, the moderating role of different mindfulness dimensions was further explored in 393 Chinese university students. The findings showed that intrinsic creative motivation mediated the link between CSC and RIBS. Among the mindfulness facets, awareness and describing positively moderated the relationship between CSC and intrinsic creative motivation, while observing and non-reactivity negatively moderated the relationship between intrinsic creative motivation and RIBS. Non-judging positively moderated the relationship between intrinsic creative motivation and RIBS. Non-reactivity also positively moderated CSC – RIBS relationship. The implications and limitations of these findings were discussed.

ABSTRACT Despite theoretical connections between imagery and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), particularly worry, research, to date, has not supported a bivariate association between imaginative involvement and GAD/worry. This study extended existing research focused on a bivariate association by examining the moderating effect of negative affect and positive affect. This study includes a sample of U.S.-residing adults (N = 250) and a replication sample of college students (N = 484). Participants completed self-report measures, with different measures of imaginative involvement and symptom severity used across the two samples. In both samples, the association between imaginative involvement and symptom severity depended on negative affect. The magnitude of the interactive effect was small (f 2 = .05 and .02) and consistent with the magnitude of effect sizes for interactive effects typically seen in questionnaire-based studies. Regions of significance testing indicated an association between imaginative involvement and symptom severity was present only starting around and above the average negative affect score. Results across samples offered mixed support for positive affect as a moderator. Study results and future directions are discussed in terms of the potential cognitive avoidance functions of worry in response to imaginative involvement within GAD.

ABSTRACT This study investigated postsecondary students’ team-level creative thinking using online peer assessment as a tool for electronic brainstorming. Student teams developed ideas for a public service announcement within the platform peerScholar. Following an explanatory sequential mixed method design, the researchers surveyed student perceptions of online peer assessment as a support for team-based creative thinking, then qualitatively analyzed textual interactions within teams that may have influenced those perceptions. Nine out of 10 teams gave a high score for online peer assessment supporting team-based creative thinking (M ≥ 3.8). However, scores varied across teams (ranging from M = 3.7 to 4.8), with strength in agreement of scoring within teams ranging from r WG = 0.67 to 0.96. Textual analysis revealed that students provided a range of Cognitive and Affective feedback. Affective feedback was often supportive, while Cognitive feedback tended to be direct but nonabrasive, usually involving suggestions or identifying issues with ideas. Teams that balanced Cognitive and Affective feedback tended to reach stronger agreement about online peer assessment supporting team-based creative thinking while maintaining high mean scores. These patterns indicate that integrating higher frequencies of both feedback may support team-based creativity by fostering a unified belief in the value of the collaborative work.

ABSTRACT Which life experiences, personality and social factors enable people to succeed in life and make important creative contributions to society? And why do only some people show resilience or even thrive in the face of adversity? My research program is dedicated to understanding the precursors of career success and creativity, as well as the underlying developmental processes. I review two theoretical models that my colleagues and I have proposed: (a) Diversifying Experience Model and (b) Neo-Socioanalytic Model Applied to Creativity. I present some empirical evidence we have accumulated for each model, as well as efforts to integrate diversifying experiences and personality factors in predicting career success and creativity, and I discuss future directions.

ABSTRACT Understanding the interplay between trait curiosity and creativity is crucial in unraveling how humans transform ego-drive into innovation. Here we employed network analysis to explore the complex interplay between trait curiosity and multifaceted creativity in a sample of 1424 individuals. The findings indicate that trait curiosity, particularly the dimensions of stretching and embracing, plays a central role in fostering creative engagement and self-concept. Additionally, the study reveals a multidimensional structure within the trait curiosity-creativity network, identifying five distinct dimensions that highlight the complex interplay between trait curiosity, personality traits, and multifaceted creativity. The results highlight curiosity as a core component of creative potential and suggest that encouraging curiosity may be valuable for enriching creativity across various domains.

ABSTRACT Recent theories of creative thinking propose that the generation of creative ideas by design novices and experts is restricted by the emergence of intuitive cognitive biases. To overcome these biases and explore expansive solutions, biased ideas must be discriminated from those with creative potential. Although studies in the field of reasoning have shown that biased participants tend to detect an incongruency between their provided solutions and the expected solution, the use of conflict detection in creativity has never been studied. Two experiments were conducted to determine the extent to which conflict detection occurs during creative idea generation and whether this mechanism is available for design novices (Experiment 1) and/or experts (Experiment 2). The results indicated that both groups of participants detected their fixation bias and managed to overcome it by switching from intuitive to deliberate thinking. In addition, we discussed implications for popular current (dual process) models.

ABSTRACT Music is often considered an important domain for creativity. Traditional studies of musical creativity have examined musical improvisation using jazz as a model. While this approach has yielded many valuable insights about creativity’s cognitive and neural mechanisms, it has limited the study sample to those with the means to engage in improvisation within one specific Western style. Here, we introduce a novel tool for assessing musical creativity in the broader sample of individuals with no specialized training. In two experiments (n = 165) we show that this sequencer can be used in people with minimal training to generate a database of sequences composed at the Bohlen-Pierce scale and to evaluate them for creativity. Results show that creativity ratings are predicted by length of melodies, number of distinct pitches used, and information content of pitch intervals. Results also show some external validity with existing creativity tasks. We advocate the use of this sequencer in creativity research, as it provides a theoretically motivated, rigorous tool to examine the iterative process of producing and evaluating musical creativity.