Creativity and Memory: Effects of an Episodic-Specificity Induction on Divergent Thinking

Psychol Sci. 2015 Sep;26(9):1461-8. doi: 10.1177/0956797615591863. Epub 2015 Jul 23.

Abstract

People produce more episodic details when imagining future events and solving means-end problems after receiving an episodic-specificity induction-brief training in recollecting details of a recent event-than after receiving a control induction not focused on episodic retrieval. Here we show for the first time that an episodic-specificity induction also enhances divergent creative thinking. In Experiment 1, participants exhibited a selective boost on a divergent-thinking task (generating unusual uses of common objects) after a specificity induction compared with a control induction; by contrast, performance following the two inductions was similar on an object association task thought to involve little divergent thinking. In Experiment 2, we replicated the specificity-induction effect on divergent thinking using a different control induction, and also found that participants performed similarly on a convergent-thinking task following the two inductions. These experiments provide novel evidence that episodic memory is involved in divergent creative thinking.

Keywords: convergent thinking; creativity; divergent thinking; episodic memory; episodic-specificity induction; imagination.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Creativity*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Imagination*
  • Male
  • Memory, Episodic*
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Problem Solving*
  • Thinking*
  • Young Adult