Free Your Mind: Creative Thinking Contributes to Overcoming Conflict-Related Biases.

Conflicts between groups are difficult to resolve, partly because humans tend to be biased in judging outgroup members. The aim of the current article is to review findings on the link between creativity and conflict-related biases and to offer a model that views creative cognition as an ability that may contribute to overcoming conflict-related biases. Our proposed model conforms to the twofold model of creativity. According to this model, creativity involves a generation phase and an evaluation phase, and these phases correspond to the neural mechanisms that underlie conflict-related biases. Specifically, we contend that the generation phase of creativity affects conflict-related biases by exerting an influence on stereotypes and prejudice, outgroup-targeted emotions, and ingroup empathy biases, all of which rely on the default mode network. Conversely, the evaluation phase of creativity, which is usually associated with activation in the executive control network and action-observation system, may be related to herding behaviors. Building on the shared mechanisms of creativity and conflicts, we propose that studies examining creativity-based interventions may be effective in promoting reconciliation.

Modulation of automatic and creative features of the Remote Associates Test by angular gyrus stimulation.

Creative thinking comprises two main components: divergent and convergent thinking. The Remote Associates Test (RAT) was designed to examine the ability to form associative elements into new combinations, however it is widely used as a general creativity measure, without sub-dividing it to its components. Our goal here was to explore the sub-components of the RAT, aiming to link them to the angular gyrus (AG) activation. The AG seems as a good candidate to host both aspects of the RAT, as neuroimaging studies observed deactivation in the AG while participants were engaged in creative tasks, however it also seems to play a role in arithmetic solution retrieval and automatic knowledge retrieval. Our objective was therefore to test whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the AG will influence creative and automatic performance in the RAT. In Experiment 1, in the creative group we administrated cathodal right AG stimulation in order to deactivate the AG aiming to improve divergent features of the RAT. In the automatic group, we administrated double anodal AG stimulation in order to improve convergent features of the RAT and included a control SHAM condition in each group. Experiment 2 activated the AG by stimulation and arithmetic training. We hypothesized that anodal stimulation of the AG will improve automatic convergent features as in Experiment 1. In addition, we expected the arithmetic training to improve the automatic score in the RAT. In Experiment 1, activation of the AG interrupted creative abilities and enhanced automatic abilities. Additionally, deactivation of the AG enhanced creative abilities reflecting divergent thinking. While in Experiment 2 both stimulation and arithmetic training resulted in higher automatic performance. We argue that the RAT measures automatic rather than creative abilities.

Social priming improves cognitive control in elderly adults--evidence from the Simon task.

We examined whether social priming of cognitive states affects the inhibitory process in elderly adults, as aging is related to deficits in inhibitory control. Forty-eight elderly adults and 45 young adults were assigned to three groups and performed a cognitive control task (Simon task), which was followed by 3 different manipulations of social priming (i.e., thinking about an 82 year-old person): 1) negative--characterized by poor cognitive abilities, 2) neutral--characterized by acts irrelevant to cognitive abilities, and 3) positive--excellent cognitive abilities. After the manipulation, the Simon task was performed again. Results showed improvement in cognitive control effects in seniors after the positive manipulation, indicated by a significant decrease in the magnitude of the Simon and interference effects, but not after the neutral and negative manipulations. Furthermore, a healthy pattern of sequential effect (Gratton) that was absent before the manipulation in all 3 groups appeared after the positive manipulation. Namely, the Simon effect was only present after congruent but not after incongruent trials for the positive manipulation group. No influence of manipulations was found in young adults. These meaningful results were replicated in a second experiment and suggest a decrease in conflict interference resulting from positive cognitive state priming. Our study provides evidence that an implicit social concept of a positive cognitive condition in old age can affect the control process of the elderly and improve cognitive abilities.