Everyday bodily movement is associated with creativity independently from active positive affect: a Bayesian...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Neuroscience
• Human Movement Science

Background:

• Laboratory studies suggest physical activity enhances executive functioning and creative thinking.
• Positive affect correlates with physical activity and creativity, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between everyday bodily movement and creative performance.
• To examine if positive-activated affect mediates the relationship between bodily movement and creativity.

Main Methods:

• Objective measurement of everyday bodily movement using accelerometers over five days.
• Assessment of figural and verbal creativity using performance tests.
• Self-reported trait positive-activated affect measurement.

Main Results:

• Significant associations were found between creativity, positive-activated affect, and everyday bodily movement.
• Positive-activated affect did not mediate the link between bodily movement and creative performance.
• Shared variance between bodily movement and creativity (fluency, originality) was observed, independent of positive affect.

Conclusions:

• Everyday bodily movement and creativity share variance that is not explained by positive-activated affect.
• The findings suggest a direct link between physical activity and creative potential, independent of emotional state.