Why do creative ideas and solutions to unresolved problems benefit from taking a break? The idea of unconscious work as an explanation is so appealing that even after reading this paper, which states clearly that unconscious work is a fantasy based on no clear theory and no clear empirical evidence, some readers will claim that we are saying the…

Understanding the impacts of digital media such as video games is critical for scholarship during the digital transformation. While the literature on the effects of video games continues to grow, there is little work on positive effects, including creativity, either as an outcome from or process within games. Video games are a media type that…

The "standard" definition of creativity as novel and useful describes creative products, but creativity is constituted by processes. This misalignment contributes to the oft-noted challenges of operationalizing creativity. Here, we distinguish creativity as a process from creativity as an attribute (i.e. "creative-ness").…

To solve a new problem, people spontaneously engage multiple cognitive processes. Previous work has identified a diverse set of oscillatory components critical at different stages of creative problem solving. In this project, we use hidden state modeling to untangle the roles of oscillation processes over time as people solve puzzles. Building on…

Zhongyong thinking is a common approach adopted by Chinese people to solve problems encountered in life and work. Based on the four modes of zhongyong thinking proposed by Pang (Social Sciences in China, 1, 1980, 75), this study chooses the "neither A nor B" form, which represents the "mean" ([Chinese character omitted])…

The aim was to determine the effect of an 8-week programme of active breaks on memory, attention-concentration, mathematical calculation, linguistic reasoning and creativity in adolescent students. One-hundred-sixty-two adolescents (12.27 ± 0.47 years; range = 12-13 years) participated in this study. The intervention was based on four daily active…

Productive struggle (PS) has emerged as a critical construct in mathematics education, emphasizing the importance of persistence, cognitive engagement, and conceptual understanding in problem-solving. However, inconsistencies in its conceptual and operational definitions have hindered its effective implementation and assessment. This study…

Innovation competencies represent critical determinants for human capital development within contemporary organizational frameworks. This empirical investigation proposes a comprehensive theoretical model examining self-regulated learning (SRL) as a foundational mechanism driving innovation skill acquisition among management graduates. The study…

In this exchange, the authors each address five questions about creativity, and then provide a final synthesizing response. The five questions they address are: (1) What is creativity? Are there different processes, types, or kinds of creativity, and if so, what are they? (2) What are the major obstacles to people thinking and acting creatively?…

Creativity often requires envisioning novel connections and combinations among elements in space, e.g., to invent a new product or generate a work of art. A relationship between spatial cognition and creativity has been demonstrated at both the behavioral and neural levels, but the exact neurocognitive mechanisms that bridge this connection remain…

Creative idea generation plays an important role in design process. Our study aimed to use physiological signals to evaluate the effect of music on idea generation in individual and group conditions. Thirty graduate students with design experience were recruited to generate ideas for specific design topics and sketch these ideas. The experiment…

While design is associated with novelty and creativity, few studies have explored the cognitive processes employed during team interactions. Design practice is collaborative where designers work in multidisciplinary teams. Along with the cognitive skills involved in designing, designers also need skills to work in teams, share information, and…

Creative thinking is needed to thrive in our fast-changing world. It has been shown that creative thinking skills can be enhanced through training. Whereas previous research has mainly focused on examining the overall effectiveness of comprehensive creativity training programs, this study examined the effectiveness of four cognitive-based training…

Understanding and supporting pre-service teachers' creativity in collaborative instructional design has gained increasing attention. To design novel and effective learning experiences or activities for students, they need to build empathy with students, that is, understanding students' learning needs. This study aimed to (1) explore the patterns…

While creativity has traditionally been linked to arts education, the importance of developing the ability to think creatively across the school curriculum has grown in prominence (James et al. 2019), reflected by its inclusion in OECD PISA 2022 for the first time (OECD, 2024). Creativity enables learners to thrive in a rapidly evolving workplace,…