Measuring flexibility: A text-mining approach.

In creativity research, ideational flexibility, the ability to generate ideas by shifting between concepts, has long been the focus of investigation. However, psychometric work to develop measurement procedures for flexibility has generally lagged behind other creativity-relevant constructs such as fluency and originality. Here, we build from extant research to theoretically posit, and then empirically validate, a text-mining based method for measuring flexibility in verbal divergent thinking (DT) responses. The empirical validation of this method is accomplished in two studies. In the first study, we use the verbal form of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to demonstrate that our novel flexibility scoring method strongly and positively correlates with traditionally used TTCT flexibility scores. In the second study, we conduct a confirmatory factor analysis using the Alternate Uses Task to show reliability and construct validity of our text-mining based flexibility scoring. In addition, we also examine the relationship between personality facets and flexibility of ideas to provide criterion validity of our scoring methodology. Given the psychometric evidence presented here and the practicality of automated scores, we recommend adopting this new method which provides a less labor-intensive and less costly objective measurement of flexibility.

Clustering and switching in divergent thinking: Neurophysiological correlates underlying flexibility during idea generation.

EEG alpha synchronization, especially in posterior parietal cortical regions of the right hemisphere, is indicative of high internal processing demands that are typically involved in divergent thinking (DT). During the course of DT, as ideation proceeds, ideas tend to become more creative, being more likely to be drawn from new conceptual categories through the use of the cognitive mechanism of flexibility. The present study investigated whether EEG alpha synchronization can be modulated by flexibility in DT by comparing cortical activation patterns during the switch of category (switching) and the stay in the same category (clustering). Twenty participants were required to generate alternative uses of everyday objects during EEG recording. Differential results were specifically found in the lower alpha band (8-10 Hz): whereas clustering showed synchronization typically lateralized in the right posterior parietal areas, switching induced posterior parietal synchronization over both right and left hemispheres. These findings indicate that the two distinct cognitive mechanisms subsuming flexibility (switching and clustering) are associated with a different hemispheric modulation of lower alpha activity, as switching, in comparison to clustering, is related to higher power in the lower alpha band over the left hemisphere. Switching in comparison to clustering may thus require a larger investment of cognitive resources due to the exploratory process of moving from one semantic conceptual category to another in the course of creative ideation.

Schizophrenia and creativity: A meta-analytic review.

The present study investigated the relationship between creativity and schizophrenia with a 3-level multilevel meta-analytic approach. Analyses with 200 effect sizes obtained from 42 studies found a mean effect size of r=-0.324, 95%CI [-0.42, -0.23]. Further analyses focused on moderators and indicated that the relationship between schizophrenia and creativity is moderated by type of creativity measure, the content of creativity measure, the severity of schizophrenia, and patient status. The negative mean effect size was stronger with semantic-category or verbal-letter fluency tasks than the divergent thinking or associational measures. Performance on verbal measures of creativity was significantly lower than the nonverbal measures. When effect sizes were compared at different levels of severity, a stronger and more negative mean effect size was obtained at chronic schizophrenia than acute and early onset levels. Studies that involved inpatients had a significantly higher (more negative) mean effect size than those involving outpatients. When these findings are considered along with previous meta-analyses on the link between creativity and psychoticism and schizotypy, creativity and psychopathology seem to have an inverted-U relationship. A mild expression of schizophrenia symptoms may support creativity but a full demonstration of the symptoms undermines it.