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Eye-Closure Enhances Creative Performance on Divergent and Convergent Creativity Tasks.
Simone M Ritter1, Jens Abbing1, Hein T van Schie1
1Department of Behaviour Change and Well-Being, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 16, 2018
Summary
Closing your eyes can boost creativity. This study found that eye closure enhances performance on creativity tasks, but not working memory, suggesting a specific benefit for creative thinking.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Creativity is crucial in complex environments.
- Alpha-band EEG activity, linked to attention and internal focus, has been associated with creativity.
- Direct evidence for internally directed attention enhancing creativity is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate if eye closure, a method to stimulate internally directed attention, enhances creativity.
- To determine if any observed effects are specific to creativity or extend to general cognitive functions like working memory.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed divergent and convergent creativity tasks (Adapted Alternative Uses Test, Remote Associates Test, Sentence Construction Test, Word Construction Test) and a working memory task (Digit Span Test).
- Each task was completed in two conditions: eyes open and eyes closed.
- Eye closure was used as a simple intervention to promote internally directed attention.
Main Results:
- Eye closure significantly improved performance on divergent (Adapted Alternative Uses Test) and convergent (Remote Associates Test) creativity tasks.
- No significant effect of eye closure was found on working memory performance (Digit Span Test).
Conclusions:
- Eye closure serves as a practical method to enhance both divergent and convergent creativity.
- The benefits of eye closure appear specific to creative tasks, not general cognitive functions like working memory.
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