This paper reports results from three experiments using the Musical Ear Test (MET), a new test designed for measuring musical abilities in both musicians and non-musicians in an objective way with a relatively short duration (b 20 min.). In the first experiment we show how the MET is capable of clearly distinguishing between a group of professional musicians and a group of non-musicians. In the second experiment we demonstrate that results from the MET are strongly correlated with measures of musical expertise obtained using an imitation test. In the third experiment we show that the MET also clearly distinguishes groups of non-musicians, amateurs and professional musicians. The test is found to have a large internal consistency (Cronbach alpha: 0.87). We further show a correlation with amount of practice within the group of professionals as well as a correlation with a forward digit span test.

This article investigates how neuroscience in general, and neuroscience of creativity in particular, can be used in teaching “applied creativity” and the usefulness of this approach to creativity training. The article is based on empirical data and our experiences from the Applied NeuroCreativity (ANC) program, taught at business schools in Denmark and Canada. In line with previous studies of successful creativity training programs the ANC participants are first introduced to cognitive concepts of creativity, before applying these concepts to a relevant real world creative problem. The novelty in the ANC program is that the conceptualization of creativity is built on neuroscience, and a crucial aspect of the course is giving the students a thorough understanding of the neuroscience of creativity. Previous studies have reported that the conceptualization of creativity used in such training is of major importance for the success of the training, and we believe that the neuroscience of creativity offers a novel conceptualization for creativity training. Here we present pre/post-training tests showing that ANC students gained more fluency in divergent thinking (a traditional measure of trait creativity) than those in highly similar courses without the neuroscience component, suggesting that principles from neuroscience can contribute effectively to creativity training and produce measurable results on creativity tests. The evidence presented indicates that the inclusion of neuroscience principles in a creativity course can in 8 weeks increase divergent thinking skills with an individual relative average of 28.5%.

In neuroeconomics and neuromarketing, the assessment of arousal has become one of the key measures in our effort to understand the basic mechanisms of value-based choice. While neurophysiological responses such as pupil dilation and galvanic skin response (GSR) have provided a significant explanatory value in our understanding of decision making, other, less known responses such as body posture, may provide additional explanatory value. Here, we report the results from three separate high-resolution eye-tracking studies in which pupil dilation and body posture provide both independent and interacting contributions in predicting preference judgments and choice. Notably, our data suggest that a combination of pupil dilation and posture can be used to assess arousal and valence, respectively, and thus provide a better estimate of emotional responses to stimuli, and their effect on choice. However, the use of this combined measure needs to be used with care, as the dynamic relationship between pupil size and posture is affected by different categories of stimuli. We discuss these findings in light of the academic and commercial call for neuroimaging and physiology measures that can predict and explain the causal mechanisms underlying preference formation and value based choice.

To what extent can simple contextual events affect preference? In this study, three tests were applied to assert whether contextual unpredictability has a negative effect on preference for novel visual items. By asking subjects to rate their first impressions of novel brand logos while playing simple sounds, Study 1 shows that brand logos coupled to unpredictable sounds were rated less favorably than logos presented with a predictable sound. In Study 2, this effect is found to be equally strong for abstract art paintings. Finally, Study 3 demonstrates that the negative effect of unpredictable sounds on preference is associated with a stronger arousal response, as indexed by pupil dilation responses. These results suggest that unpredictable sounds engage an emotional response that affects the first impression of a concurrently presented visual object. We discuss these findings in light of the basic psychology and neuropsychology of preference formation.

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Searching for sources of inspiration is central to creative design; however, we have limited knowledge of individual inspiration search strategies in response to varying levels of task constraints. We studied 39 high-school students' inspiration search strategies using Google Images. Low task constrainedness led to divergent search marked by quick iterations, limited design task usage, and a heterogeneous image set. Intermediate constrainedness prompted in-depth, on-task exploration characterized by slow and careful iterations with more search result examination, extensive design task usage, and homogenous images. High constrainedness led to flexible bracketing with quick, flexible design task use, ending with heterogeneous images. Images from the intermediately and highly constrained conditions generated more ideas and were perceived as more inspiring (relative to low) in a new group of students. We discuss the idea of a 'sweet spot' of constrainedness in an inspiration search process in design and consider implications for design research and future work.

What does it take to have a creative mind? Theories of creative cognition assert that the quantity of automatic associations places fundamental constraints on the probability of reaching creative solutions. Due to the difficulties inherent in isolating automated associative responses from cognitive control, the neural basis underlying this faculty remains unknown. Here we acquired fMRI data in an incidental-viewing paradigm in which subjects performed an attention-demanding task whilst viewing task-irrelevant objects. By assigning a standard creativity task on the same objects out of the scanner, as well as a battery of psychometric creativity tests, we could assess whether stimulus-bound neural activity was predictive of state or trait variability in creativity. We found that stimulus-bound responses in superior occipital regions were linearly predictive of trial-by-trial variability in creative performance (state-creativity), and that in more creative individuals (trait-creativity) this response was more strongly expressed in entorhinal cortex. Additionally, the mean response to the onset of objects in parahippocampal gyrus was predictive of trait differences in creativity. This work suggests that, creative individuals are endowed with occipital and medial temporal reflexes that generate a greater fluency in associative representations, making them more accessible for ideation even when no ideation is explicitly called for.

Since brainstorming was introduced as a technique in 1953 it has been assumed that the best way to produce good ideas is through the production of many ideas, which has later been named the equal-odds rule. However, this finding that productivity often leads to creative quality has rarely been examined in psychometric studies of creative cognition. To close this knowledge gap, we examined the relationship between individual differences in creative personality, as assessed by the personality trait openness to experience, and both the quantity and quality of ideas produced in a divergent thinking task. Across 154 graduate students we found a positive and significant relationship between creative personality and the number of ideas produced, as well as their creative value. The present results indicate that while quantity does breed quality in creative production, the effect is moderated by individual differences, specifically the personality trait Openness to Experience. As the level of Openness to Experience increases, the relation of quantity of ideas to average Creative value gradually becomes positive and significant. We discuss the possible reasons for and implications of our findings.