Creative Problem-Solving
Do experts agree on how to define creativity?
No!
Describe the Unusual Uses Task and how it measures creativity through inventiveness.
Thinking of unconventional uses for an object that has a typical function
- E.g., a brick (building a house, but also a paperweight, a nutcracker, or a small stepladder)
What is Mind Wandering?
Attention shifts from the task at hand to your inner thoughts.
When performing the Unusual/Alternative Uses Task, which group would perform better on their second attempt?
- Easy Task: High rates of mind wandering
- Difficult Task: Low rates of mind wandering
Easy task group
What is the Divergent Thinking definition of creativity?
Thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential solutions.
How has Analogical Problem Solving been used as Creative Problem Solving?
Observing a phenomenon in one situation can lead to new, novel, and useful solutions to a practical problem.
- Noticing sticky tree birrs lead to the invention of velcro.
- Noticing a device to remove stuck bottle corks lead to the invention of the vacuum extractor
What is the Default Mode Network (DMN)?
Neural network that's activity decreases when a person is involved in a specific task and increases when attention isn’t focused on a task (e.g., mind wandering).
WHat is the Executive Control Network?
A brain network involved in direction attention as a person is carrying out tasks.
How else has creativity been defined?
Creativity is “anything made by people that is in some way novel and has potential value or utility” (Smith et al., 2009)
How does expertise help with generating ideas and evaluating ideas when Creative Problem-Solving?
Generating Ideas: Having a base of knowledge, understanding structural features, allows one to draw connections.
Evaluating Ideas: Will an idea work?
Mind wandering facilitates creative ___________.
incubation
How do the Executive Control Network (ECN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) typically interact?
Typically respond in opposite ways: ECN shuts down the DMN during focused tasks, and ECN typically decreases under conditions in which the DMN increases.
How is the Remote Associations Test (RAT) used to measure creativity?
Ability to detect unanticipated and distance relationships among ideas.
Producing the word that can be combined with each of the three
- Prompt: cottage, swiss, cake
- Answer: cheese
How can too much knowledge hinder creative problem solving?
Leads to reliance on prior knowledge as a crutch when generating new ideas (less creative than novel thinking)
What is incubation?
The phenomenon of getting ideas after taking a “time-out” from working on a problem.
How do the Executive Control Network (ECN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) function during creative evaluation?
Both DMN and ECN are active - functional connectivity between the DMN and ECN during creative tasks is stronger in more creative people.
Despite the lack of consensus on how to define creativity, how has it been measured by psychologists?
Remote Associations Test (RAT)
Scales, surveys
Inventiveness (“Unusual Uses Task”)
In the experiment where participants were asked to draw a new life form, what was the result of showing the experiment group examples of traits for a creature?
Experimental group was much more likely to draw creatures with the features used in the examples.
More creative solutions are associated with more activity in
the ______ ____ ______.
Default Mode Network (DMN)
What is one hypothesis for why the Executive Control Network (ECN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) function differently when a person is being creative?
The ECN is acting as a “traffic law enforcement officer”, guiding thinking in original directions.