Conceptual Combinations and Subsequent Creativity

Conceptual combination has been advocated as an important component of creativity, but relatively little research has investigated its importance. Two experiments were designed to extend previous research on the relationship between performance on conceptual combination tasks and subsequent performance on creativity tasks. Both experiments involved the generation of category exemplars and manipulated the type of conceptual combination experience and whether the items presented were related or unrelated to one another. In the first experiment, this was followed by a brainstorming task (divergent thinking) and in the second experiment by a creative problem solving task (convergent thinking). Contrary to expectations, the condition that required conceptual combinations did not enhance the generation of the number and originality of exemplars. As predicted, exposure to unrelated items led to more original products than related ones. The conceptual combination task with related items was predictive of performance on the creative problem solving task but not the divergent thinking task. Performance on the divergent task was related to the generation of exemplars for unrelated items. These results suggest that the conceptual combination task taps creative problem solving rather than divergent creativity.     

Training to Generate Creative Metaphors by Reviving Dormant Analogies

Most creativity techniques encourage breaking away from stored knowledge and known solutions. Counter to this approach, this study assessed the effectiveness of an intervention based on introducing minimal variations to well-established knowledge structures. Two groups were tasked with generating creative metaphorical titles for short essays. While the experimental group had been trained in extending and reinstantiating conceptual metaphors, the control group had been trained on creativity techniques unrelated to the task. Training increased the number of novel metaphorical titles derived from conceptual metaphors, and these titles were more creative than novel metaphorical titles not derived from conceptual metaphors. Finally, the titles generated via the deliberate use of the trained heuristics were as creative as those of the same type that were spontaneously produced by the control group. The implications for interventions to promote creativity are discussed.     

A Visual Representation to Quantitate,Diagnose, and Improve Creativity in Insight Problem Solving

A new visual representation for insight problems permits 22 new quantitative measures; which leads to a detailed diagnosis of a person's (or team's) creative weaknesses; which then leads to prescribing targeted, effective counter‐techniques for each weakness. Currently, only two measures are consistently used for insight problem solving: the number of problems solved and the time to solve the problems. These coarse measurements do not reveal the intricate dynamics of solving insight problems. Furthermore, four commonly used creativity measures (i.e., fluency, originality, flexibility, and elaboration) are often not applied to insight problems. This new visualization permits the easy application of all four creativity measures. I challenge creativity researchers to help determine which of the 22 proposed quantitative measures are the most diagnostic for insight problem solving in isolation and, in a weighted linear combination, which might yield an effective quotient (i.e., overall measure) of insight problem solving ability.     

The Random-Map Technique: Enhancing Mind-Mapping with a Conceptual Combination Technique to Foster Creative Potential

Although creativity techniques are highly recommended in working environments, their effects have been scarcely investigated. Two cognitive processes are often considered to foster creative potential and are, therefore, taken as a basis for creativity techniques: knowledge activation and conceptual combination. In this study, both processes were enhanced individually and jointly with an appropriate technique. Knowledge activation was fostered by the mind-map technique and conceptual combination by the random-input technique. The random-map technique evolved from merging these two techniques together. The two different techniques were tested in a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design with 80 participants. It was assumed that (a) both individual techniques would enhance creative potential when compared to the control group, and (b) the combined technique would lead to more creative potential than implementing the techniques individually. Results showed an increased creativity level of each of the individual techniques when compared to the control group. The combined creativity technique resulted in even higher creativity level when compared to both individual techniques. Thus, fostering different creativity processes jointly had an additive effect on creative potential.     

Efficient Creativity: Constraint‐Guided Conceptual Combination

This paper describes a theory that explains both the creativity and the efficiency of people's conceptual combination. In the constraint theory, conceptual combination is controlled by three constraints of diagnosticity, plausibility, and informativeness. The constraints derive from the pragmatics of communication as applied to compound phrases. The creativity of combination arises because the constraints can be satisfied in many different ways. The constraint theory yields an algorithmic model of the efficiency of combination. The C³ model admits the full creativity of combination and yet efficiently settles on the best interpretation for a given phrase. The constraint theory explains many empirical regularities in conceptual combination, and makes various empirically verified predictions. In computer simulations of compound phrase interpretation, the C³ model has produced results in general agreement with people's responses to the same phrases.     

Conceptual Knowledge,Procedural Knowledge,and Metacognition in Routine and Nonroutine Problem Solving

When, how, and why students use conceptual knowledge during math problem solving is not well understood. We propose that when solving routine problems, students are more likely to recruit conceptual knowledge if their procedural knowledge is weak than if it is strong, and that in this context, metacognitive processes, specifically feelings of doubt, mediate interactions between procedural and conceptual knowledge. To test these hypotheses, in two studies (Ns = 64 and 138), university students solved fraction and decimal arithmetic problems while thinking aloud; verbal protocols and written work were coded for overt uses of conceptual knowledge and displays of doubt. Consistent with the hypotheses, use of conceptual knowledge during calculation was not significantly positively associated with accuracy, but was positively associated with displays of doubt, which were negatively associated with accuracy. In Study 1, participants also explained solutions to rational arithmetic problems; using conceptual knowledge in this context was positively correlated with calculation accuracy, but only among participants who did not use conceptual knowledge during calculation, suggesting that the correlation did not reflect “online” effects of using conceptual knowledge. In Study 2, participants also completed a nonroutine problem-solving task; displays of doubt on this task were positively associated with accuracy, suggesting that metacognitive processes play different roles when solving routine and nonroutine problems. We discuss implications of the results regarding interactions between procedural knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and metacognitive processes in math problem solving.     

科学发明问题解决的脑机制再探

选取高生态学效度的科学发明问题作为实验材料, 采用“学习−测试”的两阶段实验范式, 利用静息态功能磁共振成像技术, 基于局部一致性(ReHo)和低频振幅(ALFF)的分析方法, 研究科学发明问题解决的神经机制。在控制被试性别、年龄和常规性问题解决能力后, 结果发现左侧前扣带回(Anterior Cingulate Cortex, ACC)的ReHo值和个体科学发明问题解决的正确率显著正相关, ALFF的结果同样印证了这一发现。结果强调了ACC在科学发明问题解决过程中的重要作用。     

无意识加工对创造性问题解决的促进效应

以远距离联想测验(RAT)和字谜作为实验材料,采用改进的掩蔽启动实验范式,探讨无意识加工对创造性问题解决的影响。结果发现:(1)无论是完成远距离联想任务还是字谜任务,被试在启动和无启动条件下的正确率均无显著差异;(2)在两类任务下,对于高难度的创造性问题,启动条件下的正确率显著高于无启动条件。对于低难度的创造性问题,启动条件下RAT的正确率显著低于无启动条件,字谜的正确率在两种条件下无显著差异;(3)随着创造性问题难度降低,无意识信息的促进效应逐渐减小,对于低难度的创造性问题,无意识信息反而会起到抑制作用。这表明,无意识加工对随后的创造性问题解决过程具有促进效应,而且这种效应只有在解决高难度的创造性问题时才会体现。     

From Walls to Windows: Using Barriers as Pathways to Insightful Solutions

The purpose of this study was to explore and develop a conceptual model for how individuals unlock insight. The concept of insight — the ‘out of the box’ or ‘aha!’ solution to a problem — offers a framework for exploring and understanding how best to enhance problem solving skills due to the cognitive shift insight requires. Creative problem solving (CPS) is inherent to a variety of performance realms including effective decision making, innovation, and organizational development; however, related processes of insight, innovation and creativity remain intangible. The model, based on a review of the problem solving literature, proposes that insight involves a five stage, cyclical process emerging as: primary appraisal of the problem, secondary appraisal based on prior knowledge, initial focus, problem representation, and solution generation when, if no solution is found, the cycle begins again. The research has implications for individual, team and organizational settings suggesting that performance on a wide variety of problems may be improved by utilizing an integrated focus rather than a barrier or goal focus alone.     

Can clouds dance? Neural correlates of passive conceptual expansion using a metaphor processing task: Implications for creative cognition

Creativity has emerged in the focus of neurocognitive research in the past decade. However, a heterogeneous pattern of brain areas has been implicated as underpinning the neural correlates of creativity. One explanation for these divergent findings lies in the fact that creativity is not usually investigated in terms of its many underlying cognitive processes. The present fMRI study focuses on the neural correlates of conceptual expansion, a central component of all creative processes. The study aims to avoid pitfalls of previous fMRI studies on creativity by employing a novel paradigm. Participants were presented with phrases and made judgments regarding both the unusualness and the appropriateness of the stimuli, corresponding to the two defining criteria of creativity. According to their respective evaluation, three subject-determined experimental conditions were obtained. Phrases judged as both unusual and appropriate were classified as indicating conceptual expansion in participants. The findings reveal the involvement of frontal and temporal regions when engaging in passive conceptual expansion as opposed to the information processing of mere unusualness (novelty) or appropriateness (relevance). Taking this new experimental approach to uncover specific processes involved in creative cognition revealed that frontal and temporal regions known to be involved in semantic cognition and relational reasoning play a role in passive conceptual expansion. Adopting a different vantage point on the investigation of creativity would allow for critical advances in future research on this topic.     

Creative Thinking: Processes,Strategies, and Knowledge

Creative achievements are the basis for progress in our world. Although creative achievement is influenced by many variables, the basis for creativity is held to lie in the generation of high‐quality, original, and elegant solutions to complex, novel, ill‐defined problems. In the present effort, we examine the cognitive capacities that make creative problem‐solving possible. We argue that creative problem‐solving depends on the effective execution of a set of complex cognitive processes. Effective execution of these processes is, in turn, held to depend on the strategies employed in process execution and the knowledge being used in problem‐solving. The implications of these observations for improving creative thinking are discussed.     

Creativity and future time perspective: Exploring fantasy and realistic measures

The purposes of this study were to investigate the relationship between the cognitive dimensions of creativity and Future Time Perspective (FTP) and to explore the usefulness of a real‐world measure of divergent thinking. The sample consisted of 135 female undergraduate students with a mean age of 19 years. Creativity was measured using Guilford's Consequences and FTP was measured using the Future Problem‐Solving Task (FPST). Consequences is a fantasy oriented assessment and the FPST is a realistically oriented assessment. Results showed that Consequences and the FPST were moderately correlated. These findings suggest that both creativity and practicability play important roles in an adolescent's ability to solve real‐world future problems. Implications center on the appropriateness and utility of employing real‐life problems in creativity problem‐solving tasks for adolescents.     

Creative cognition, conceptual combination, and the creative writing of Stephen R. Donaldson

This article explores the reported use of conceptual combination in Stephen R. Donaldson's development of the idea for his award-winning fantasy series. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Donaldson's (1991) own account is used to illustrate the general principles of a creative cognition approach to understanding creativity as well as the more specific role of the basic process of conceptual combination. The links between Donaldson's and others' anecdotal accounts of creativity and laboratory investigations are assessed. The article concludes with an argument for a "convergence" approach in which information from anecdotal accounts and laboratory studies is combined to provide a more complete picture of creative functioning than either approach alone can offer.     

On the Usefulness of “Value” in the Definition of Creativity: A Commentary

From the mid-1950s to the present time, creativity researchers have typically adopted the view that any new piece of work must be statistically novel as well as non-trivially valuable to some group of people if it is to be considered creative. A few scholars have suggested that a new piece of work must also be surprising, non-obvious, or interesting if it is to be considered truly creative. The utility of these traditional definitions of creativity has recently been sharply questioned in an article published in a previous volume of this journal (Weisberg, 2015). The commentary presented here took issue with a suggestion presented in that article that creativity researchers replace their traditional definitions of creativity with a simpler definition according to which any statistically novel and intentionally generated product is considered creative “regardless of whether it is ever of value to anyone” and with a logically related suggestion that the creativity of any intentionally-generated product be assessed purely in terms of its statistical novelty (Weisberg, 2015). After carefully evaluating both of these suggestions on conceptual and practical grounds, it was recommended that creativity researchers not follow either suggestion.     

Productive Failure in Learning Math

When learning a new math concept, should learners be first taught the concept and its associated procedures and then solve problems, or solve problems first even if it leads to failure and then be taught the concept and the procedures? Two randomized‐controlled studies found that both methods lead to high levels of procedural knowledge. However, students who engaged in problem solving before being taught demonstrated significantly greater conceptual understanding and ability to transfer to novel problems than those who were taught first. The second study further showed that when given an opportunity to learn from the failed problem‐solving attempts of their peers, students outperformed those who were taught first, but not those who engaged in problem solving first. Process findings showed that the number of student‐generated solutions significantly predicted learning outcomes. These results challenge the conventional practice of direct instruction to teach new math concepts and procedures, and propose the possibility of learning from one's own failed problem‐solving attempts or those of others before receiving instruction as alternatives for better math learning.     

Can clouds dance? Part 2: An ERP investigation of passive conceptual expansion

Conceptual expansion, one of the core operations in creative cognition, was investigated in the present ERP study. An experimental paradigm using novel metaphoric, nonsensical and literal phrases was employed where individual differences in conceptual knowledge organization were accounted for by using participants’ responses to categorize the stimuli to each condition. The categorization was determined by their judgment of the stimuli on the two defining criteria of creativity: unusualness and appropriateness. Phrases judged as unusual and appropriate were of special interest as they are novel and unfamiliar phrases thought to passively induce conceptual expansion. The results showed a graded N400 modulation for phrases judged to be unusual and inappropriate (nonsense) or unusual and appropriate (conceptual expansion, novel metaphorical) relative to usual and appropriate (literal) phrases. The N400 is interpreted as indexing greater effort to retrieve semantic information and integrate the novel concepts presented through the phrases. Analyses of the later time-window showed an ongoing negativity that was graded in the same manner as the N400. The findings attest to the usefulness of investigating creative cognition using event-related electrophysiology.     

Can clouds dance? Part 2: An ERP investigation of passive conceptual expansion

Conceptual expansion, one of the core operations in creative cognition, was investigated in the present ERP study. An experimental paradigm using novel metaphoric, nonsensical and literal phrases was employed where individual differences in conceptual knowledge organization were accounted for by using participants’ responses to categorize the stimuli to each condition. The categorization was determined by their judgment of the stimuli on the two defining criteria of creativity: unusualness and appropriateness. Phrases judged as unusual and appropriate were of special interest as they are novel and unfamiliar phrases thought to passively induce conceptual expansion. The results showed a graded N400 modulation for phrases judged to be unusual and inappropriate (nonsense) or unusual and appropriate (conceptual expansion, novel metaphorical) relative to usual and appropriate (literal) phrases. The N400 is interpreted as indexing greater effort to retrieve semantic information and integrate the novel concepts presented through the phrases. Analyses of the later time-window showed an ongoing negativity that was graded in the same manner as the N400. The findings attest to the usefulness of investigating creative cognition using event-related electrophysiology.     

Time of day effects on problem solving: When the non-optimal is optimal

In a study examining the effects of time of day on problem solving, participants solved insight and analytic problems at their optimal or non-optimal time of day. Given the presumed differences in the cognitive processes involved in solving these two types of problems, it was expected that the reduced inhibitory control associated with non-optimal times of the day would differentially impact performance on the two types of problems. In accordance with this expectation, results showed consistently greater insight problem solving performance during non-optimal times of day compared to optimal times of day but no consistent time of day effects on analytic problem solving. The findings indicate that tasks involving creativity might benefit from a non-optimal time of day.     

创造性问题解决中的联想能力及其作用

长期以来,研究者一直认为联想能力与创造力之间存在着紧密的联系,但相关的实证研究并不能很好地支持这一论断,这可能是由于联想能力的界定不清所造成的。本研究梳理了以往研究中联想能力与创造力的关系,在此基础上辨析了联想能力测验所反映的实质,进一步提出了一个创造性问题解决中联想能力的作用模型：（1）联想能力主要作用于创造性问题解决中的重构阶段;（2）存在三种相对独立的联想能力,它们对空间类顿悟问题和言语类顿悟问题的影响不同;（3）联想内容中经验关系的联想能力与领域一般创造力关联最密切。     

Preschoolers doing arithmetic: the concepts are willing but the working memory is weak.

The study of early mathematical development provides important insights into young children's emerging academic competencies and, potentially, a basis for adapting instructional methods. We presented nonverbal forms of two- and three-term arithmetic problems to 4-year-olds to determine (a) the extent to which certain information-processing demands make some problems more difficult than others and (b) whether preschoolers use arithmetic concepts spontaneously when solving novel problems. Children's accuracy on simple arithmetic problems (a + b and a - b) was strongly related (r2 = .88) to representational set size, the maximum number of units that need to be held in working memory to solve a given problem. Some children also showed spontaneous use of procedures based on the arithmetic principle of inversion when solving problems of the form a + b - b. These results highlight the importance of identifying information-processing and conceptual characteristics in the early development of mathematical cognition.