The creativity-specificity induction: A memory-based creativity strategy can enhance creative divergent thinking but not memory in older adults
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Gerver, Courtney R
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 03, 2022
- Committee Members:
- Chaleece Sandberg (she/her), Outside Unit & Field Member
Rick Gilmore, Major Field Member
Roger Beaty, Major Field Member
Nancy Dennis, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Kristin Buss (she/her), Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- memory
creativity
aging
cognition - Abstract:
- Compared to episodic memory capabilities that decline with increasing age, older adults typically have intact semantic memory that allows them to perform as well or even better than young adults on cognitive tasks that rely on semantic knowledge such as creative divergent thinking. Past work has capitalized on the ability to retrieve semantic and episodic memories, which each share unique relationships with creative divergent thinking and rely on executive functioning, to encourage divergent thinking. For example, the disassembly strategy, which encourages participants to break down and retrieve object components to help creativity, successfully enhances novel idea production. Despite the links between constructs, the effect of teaching a semantic creativity-based strategy on creative cognition, semantic memory, and episodic memory in aging has yet to be explored. The current study tested the hypotheses that providing the disassembly strategy to older adults will a) enhance creative divergent thinking, b) improve semantic and episodic memory, and c) be impacted by executive functioning. 30 older participants (Mage = 74.60 years) completed a three-stage testing battery designed to be able to dissociate any effects of the disassembly strategy from that of task practice. During each stage, they completed alternate versions of tasks measuring creative divergent thinking, episodic memory, and semantic memory. They also completed several tasks measuring components of executive functioning. Results demonstrate that, relative to baseline performance, the disassembly strategy enhances creative idea novelty. However, it has no direct impact on episodic or semantic memory. There was also a negative association between the amount of improvement in veridical associative memory and executive functioning capabilities. No effects of task practice were uncovered. Together, this study provided novel evidence that older adults can successfully use a memory-based creativity strategy to engage and enhance elements of creative divergent thinking. Theoretical implications for using the disassembly strategy with aging populations are also discussed.