Focus on creativity! Cognitive aspects of creativity

Authors

  • Krzysztof T. Piotrowski Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2450-4491.07.03

Keywords:

creativity, attention, working memory, improvisation

Abstract

The main research problem is the differentiation of the state of attention during convergent and divergent tasks. Divergent tasks are associated with creative processes. These tasks require varied and often new solutions. It is necessary then to activate, in the working memory, information poorly connected to the long-term memory network. The key process in activating information in memory is attention. A hypothesis was that divergent tasks are performed with greater extensiveness of attention than convergent tasks. The research procedure used in the conducted experiment was based on the simultaneous execution of the extensive attention test and a convergent task (recalling the remembered melody) or a divergent task (improvisation based on the remembered melody). The results support the hypothesis. Creative processes depend on the state of attention and its active application.

Author Biography

Krzysztof T. Piotrowski, Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie

Doctor of psychology, employee of the Teacher Training Center of the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Music in Cracow. He is involved in experimental studying of creativity and cognitive processes. He cooperates on an ongoing basis with the Center of Creative Education “Kangur” in Cracow, and with the Non-Public Teacher Training Center in Lesser Poland. He is the author of numerous publications on memory, attention, implicit learning, and supporting creative skills. He is also a co-editor of the books “New theories of creativity, new methods to support creativity” and “Working memory”. He created several original techniques to support creative thinking (i.e. linguistic-form techniques). He has more than twenty years’ experience in conducting workshops of creative thinking and problem solving.

References

Baddeley A. D. (1986) Working memory, Oxford, Clarendon Press. Baddeley A. D. (1993) Working memory or working attention? w: Attention: Selection, awareness, and control. A tribute to Donald Broadbent, A. D.
Google Scholar

Baddeley, L. Weiskrantz (eds.), New York, Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar

Beaty R. E., Smeekens B. A., Silvia P. J., Hodges D. A., Kane M. J. (2013), A First Look at the Role of Domain-General Cognitive and Creative Abilities in Jazz Improvisation, “Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain”, no 23/4, s. 262–268.
Google Scholar

Cowan N. (1999) An embedded-process model of working memory w: Models of working memory. Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control, A. Miyake, P. Shah (eds.), Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press, s. 62–101.
Google Scholar

De Dreu C. K. W., Nijstad B. A., Baas M., Wolsink I., Roskes M. (2012) Working Memory Benefits Creative Insight, Musical Improvisation, and Original Ideation Through Maintained Task-Focused Attention, “Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin”, no 38/5, s. 656–669; doi: 10.1177/0146167211435795.
Google Scholar

Finke R. A., Ward T. B., Smith S. M. (1992) Creative cognition, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
Google Scholar

Friedman R. S., Förster J. (2010) Implicit affective cues and attentional tuning. An integrative review, “Psychological Bulletin”, no 136, s. 875–893.
Google Scholar

Friedman R. S., Fishbach A., Förster J., Werth, L. (2003) Attentional priming effects on creativity, “Creativity Research Journal”, no 15/2–3, s. 277–286.
Google Scholar

Guilford J. P. (1967) The nature of human intelligence, New York, McGraw-Hill.
Google Scholar

Hommel B. (2012) Convergent and divergent operations in cognitive search w: Cognitive Search: Evolution, Algorithms, and the Brain. Strüngmann Forum Reports, vol. 9, P. M. Todd, T. T. Hills, T. Robbins (eds.), Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, s. 215–230.
Google Scholar

JASP Team (2017), JASP (wersja 0.8.1.2) [Program komputerowy].
Google Scholar

Kolańczyk A. (2011) Uwaga Ekstensywna. Model ekstensywności vs. intensywności uwagi, „Studia Psychologiczne”, nr 49/3, s. 7–27; doi: 10.2478/v10167-010-0024-x.
Google Scholar

Kolańczyk A., Mikołajczyk P. (2011) Uwaga post-medytacyjna osób doświadczonych w medytowaniu, „Studia Psychologiczne”, nr 49/3, s. 57–74; doi: 10.2478/v10167-010-0027-5.
Google Scholar

López-González M., Limb C. J. (2012) Musical creativity and the brain, “Cerebrum”, no 2, s. 1–15.
Google Scholar

Ly A., Verhagen A. J., Wagenmakers E. (2015) Harold Jeffreys’s default Bayes factor hypothesis tests: Explanation, extension, and application in psychology, “Journal of Mathematical Psychology”, no 72, s. 19–32; doi: 10.1016/j.jmp.2015.06.004.
Google Scholar

McElree B. (2001) Working memory and focal attention, “Journal Of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory And Cognition”, no 27/3, s. 817–835.
Google Scholar

Miyake A., Shah P. (eds.) (1999) Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Mumford M. D., Costanza D. P., Threlfall K. V., Baughman W. A., Reiter-Palmon R. (1993) Personality variables and problem-construction activities: An exploratory investigation, “Creativity Research Journal”, no 6/4, s. 365–389; doi: 10.1080/10400419309534493.
Google Scholar

Oberauer K. (2002) Access to information in working memory: Exploring the focus of attention, “Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition”, no 28/3, s. 411–421; doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.28.3.411.
Google Scholar

Oberauer K., Lewandowsky S. (2014) Further evidence against decay in working memory, “Journal of Memory and Language”, no 73/1, s. 15–30; doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2014.02.003.
Google Scholar

Osborn A. F. (1942) How to Think Up, New York, London, McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Google Scholar

Orzechowski J. (2012) Magiczna liczba jeden, czyli co jeszcze zmieści się w pamięci roboczej, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Google Scholar

Orzechowski J., Piotrowski K. T., Balas R., Stettner Z. (red.) (2009) Pamięć robocza, Warszawa, Academica.
Google Scholar

Piotrowski K. T. (2015) Jakie jest znaczenie różnych procesów poznawczych w twórczym rozwiązywaniu problemów? w: Kreatywność. Pytania i odpowiedzi, I. Pufal-Struzik, Z. Okraj (red.), Kielce, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach, s. 39–44.
Google Scholar

Piotrowski K. T., Stettner Z., Wierzchoń M., Balas R., Bielecki M. (2009) Eksperymentalne techniki badania pamięci roboczej w: Pamięć robocza, J. Orzechowski, K. T. Piotrowski, R. Balas, Z. Stettner (red.), Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Academica, s. 47–76.
Google Scholar

Ricker T. J., Vergauwe E., Cowan N. (2016) Decay theory of immediate memory: From Brown (1958) to today (2014), “The Quarlerly Journal of Experimental Psychology”, no 69/10, s. 1969–1995; doi: 10.1080/17470218.2014.914546.
Google Scholar

Roczniewska M., Sterczyński R., Popławska A., Szamotulska B., Kolańczyk A. (2012) Test Elips Jako Narzędzie Badania Skaningu Uwagi Ekstensywnej vs. Intensywnej, „Studia Psychologiczne”, nr 49/3, s. 115–128; doi: 10.2478/v10167-010-0031-y.
Google Scholar

Runco M. A., Chand I. (1995) Cognition and creativity, “Educational Psychology Review”, no 7/3, s. 243–267.
Google Scholar

Szmidt K. J. (2007) Pedagogika twórczości, Gdańsk, Gdańskie Wydawnictwo Psychologiczne.
Google Scholar

Tokarz A. (2005) Dynamika procesu twórczego, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Google Scholar

Treffinger D. J., Isaksen S. G., Dorval K. B. (1997) Kreatywne rozwiązywanie problemów, Radom, Instytut Technologii Eksploatacji.
Google Scholar

Ward T. B. (1994) Structured imagination: the role of category structure in exemplar generation, “Cognitive Psychology”, no 27, s. 1–40.
Google Scholar

Wetzels R., Matzke D., Lee M. D., Rouder J. N., Iverson G. J., Wagenmakers E. J. (2011) Statistical evidence in experimental psychology an empirical comparison using t tests, “Perspectives on Psychological Science”, no 6, s. 291–298; doi: 10.1177/1745691611406923.
Google Scholar

Published

2019-02-28

How to Cite

Piotrowski, K. T. (2019). Focus on creativity! Cognitive aspects of creativity. Nauki O Wychowaniu. Studia Interdyscyplinarne, 7(2), 56–67. https://doi.org/10.18778/2450-4491.07.03