Electrophysiological effects of smartphone notifications on cognitive control following a brief mindfulness induction.

Smartphone use is nearly ubiquitous, with 93% of adults among economically developed countries, including the United States, Canada, Israel, and South Korea owning a smartphone (Taylor & Silver, 2019). Multiple studies have demonstrated the distracting effects of smartphone notifications on behavioral measures of cognition. Fewer studies have examined the effects of notifications on neural activity underlying higher-level cognitive processes or behavioral inductions to reduce smartphone-related distraction. Using EEG spectral frequency power densities, we assessed the effects of smartphone notifications (vs. control trials) on engagement of attentional shifting processes involved in cognitive control during a Navon Letter visual oddball task. Participants were randomly assigned to a brief mindfulness induction (N = 44) or a neutral narration control condition (N = 43). Overall, participants had lower theta-band power, but higher alpha- and beta-band power densities on target letter trials preceded by smartphone notifications. Additionally, participants in the mindfulness (vs. control) condition had a larger attention shifting oddball assessed via theta power density and theta/beta ratio (TBR) values-reflecting increased engagement of cognitive control-particularly on smartphone notification (vs. control) trials. Altogether, these results provide evidence supporting the idea that smartphone notifications can decrease activity of neural correlates of cognitive control, and offer the promise of a brief mindfulness induction to buffer against the effects of smartphone notifications on cognitive control. The findings indicate a need for further research on mindfulness inductiosn as a means to reduce potential distraction caused by smartphones.

A brief online mindfulness induction improves creative art-making.

OBJECTIVES: Prior research has suggested that mindfulness may enhance people's memory for art, although results have been mixed. Mindfulness may also be beneficial for some art-making tasks. Here we examine the effects of a short mindfulness (vs. control) induction administered online at different times in the procedure (i.e., pre-encoding vs. pre-retrieval) on viewing and making art. METHODS: Adults (N = 303) viewed an art slideshow, completed an art-viewing testing task, and an art-making task (photography) after being exposed to a 5-min focused-attention mindfulness (vs. control) induction. Induction was presented either before or after the art slideshow (pre-encoding vs. pre-retrieval). RESULTS: Participants who were randomly assigned to the mindfulness (vs. control) condition created photographs that were more creative, complex, abstract, expressive, and higher in emotional valence. Furthermore, participants who experienced an induction (regardless of mindfulness or control) at the pre-encoding (vs. pre-retrieval) stage were better at differentiating between old and new artworks at a later memory test. CONCLUSIONS: Results show that mindfulness significantly enhances people's art, in this case their photographs. Findings also suggest that the mindfulness induction may not enhance participants' memory for art. Future studies will need to examine the effect of other types of mindfulness inductions (e.g., open-monitoring) on people's experience of viewing and making art.

The Four-Factor Imagination Scale (FFIS): a measure for assessing frequency, complexity, emotional valence, and directedness of imagination.

Recent findings in psychological research have begun to illuminate cognitive and neural mechanisms of imagination and mental imagery, and have highlighted its essential role for a number of important outcomes, including outcomes relevant for the study of psychopathology and psychotherapy. Scientific study of imagination, however, has been constrained by the virtue of being framed mainly as an ability for mental imagery. Here we propose that imagination is a widespread phenomenon that we all engage in, and which affects a wide range of important outcomes beyond more commonly studied constructs like creativity. Thus, the Four-Factor Imagination Scale (FFIS) focuses on features of the imaginative process, and measures imagination in terms of individual differences in those features, including frequency, complexity, emotional valence, and directedness of imagination. Study 1 consisted of construct elicitation and generation of a large pool of candidate survey items. Study 2 (N = 378) conducted exploratory quantitative analysis on the preliminary pool of candidate items in a larger sample, revealing four distinct factors of the designed items. Study 3 (N = 10,410) confirmed the structure of the preliminary items, and reported internal consistency and unidimensionality, as well as convergent and discriminant validity of the resultant scales. The FFIS confirms that imagination is multi-faceted in nature, and is better approached as a constellation of more narrowly measurable constructs.

Hypnotic enhancement of creative drawing.

A hypnotically based intervention to enhance creativity in drawing was evaluated in a controlled study. Participants were randomly assigned to either a hypnotic treatment or a nonhypnotic (task-motivational) control treatment. Subjects drew a standard still-life tableau twice. The first drawing involved no special instructions and provided a baseline measure of creativity in drawing. The second drawing was completed after the creativity-enhancement procedure. The drawings were rated blindly on several dimensions of artistic creativity. Hypnotizability, absorption, and debriefing measures were also administered. Results indicated that the hypnotic procedure had significantly greater effects on creativity in drawing. However, there were no significant main effects or interactions involving hypnotizability or absorption. Hypnotic and task-motivational groups did not differ on debriefing measures regarding their experience.