Divergent thinking (DT) is considered as an indicator of creative potential and a predictor of creative achievement. Furthermore, it is also conceptualized as an indicator of cognitive reserve (CR) in healthy elderly. CR refers to a functional benefit that can potentially offer protection against brain pathologies and is thereby considered a protective factor against cognitive decline. Creativity researchers have therefore attempted to understand the impact of the aging processes on DT abilities; however, it is difficult to draw a coherent picture from these studies. The aim of our systematic review was to more consistently summarize and interpret evidence about this topic. We selected 16 studies using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Our findings highlight a complex and multidimensional, rather than a simple linear relationship between the aging processes and DT performances, especially if the different DT indexes are considered separately. We also found that findings from more recent studies suggest that older subjects are able to think as divergently as younger people, particularly in the verbal domain, if no time constraints are imposed and if the workload is not too high. We conclude by discussing theoretical and methodological issues and implications for future research.
The latest guidelines recommend early identification of children with motor impairments using a standardized norm-referenced test. Motor coordination difficulties in developmental age have been studied extensively over recent years, with experimental literature on developmental coordination disorder (DCD) suggesting that motor proficiency assessments depend on the nature of the task at hand. In this article we reviewed 14 assessment tools to measure movement performance in childhood and adolescence, which are often referred to in an international context. This updated review aims to compare motor tests depending on a) the nature of the tasks included in the battery (i.e., questionnaire and clinical examination), b) psychometric properties, and c) cultural adaptation to relevant developmental norms. Finally, implications for diagnosis and clinical practice are discussed. Considering there are several tests used for DCD, it is important to better define their reliability and validity in different cultures in order to better compare the validation studies and select the most appropriate test to use in the assessment procedure.
The design of a computer-supported serious game concerning inhibition skills in children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is reported. The game consists of a series of activities, each eliciting the tendency to respond in an immediate, inadequate way. The game is based on the Dual Pathway Model of ADHD proposed by Sonuga-Barke. In the game, children must block impulsive tendencies, reflect upon the situation, inhibit irrelevant thoughts, and find the non-intuitive solution. In the game, the player personifies a superhero, who is asked to save a realm on the opposite side of the Earth (Antonyms) where things happen according to the opposite of the usual rules. The hero faces a series of challenges, in the form of mini-games, to free the planet from enemies crossing different scenarios. To succeed in the game, the player should change his/her attitude by thinking before performing any action rather than acting on impulse. The player is induced to be reflective and thoughtful as well. Results from the evaluation of a preliminary version of the serious game are reported. They support the notion that Antonyms is an adequate tool to lead children to inhibit their tendency to behave impulsively.
A large number of studies, including single case and case series studies, have shown that patients with different types of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are characterized by the emergence of artistic abilities. This led to the hypothesis of enhanced creative thinking skills as a function of these pathological conditions. However, in the last years, it has been argued that these brain pathologies lead only to an augmented “drive to produce” rather than to the emergence of creativity. Moreover, only a few studies analyzed specific creative skills, such as divergent thinking (DT), by standardized tests. This Mini-Review aimed to examine the extent to which DT abilities are preserved in patients affected by FTD. Results showed that DT abilities (both verbal and figural) are altered in different ways according to the specific anatomical and functional changes associated with the diverse forms of FTD. On the one hand, patients affected by the behavioral form of FTD can produce many ideas because of unimpaired access to memory stores (i.e., episodic and semantic), but are not able to recombine flexibly the information to produce original ideas because of damages in the pre-frontal cortex. On the other hand, patients affected by the semantic variant are impaired also in terms of fluency because of the degradation of their semantic memory store. Potential implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
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