An EEG-based method to decode cognitive factors in creative processes

Abstract

Neurotechnology has been applied to gain insights on creativity-related cognitive factors. Prior research has identified relations between cognitive factors and creativity qualitatively; while quantitative relations, such as the relative importance of cognitive factors and creativity, have not been fully determined. Therefore, taking the creative design process as an example, this study using electroencephalography (EEG) aims to objectively identify how creativity-related cognitive factors of retrieval, recall, association, and combination contribute to creativity. The theoretical basis for an EEG-based decoding method to objectively identify which cognitive factors occur in a creative process is developed. Thirty participants were recruited for a practical study to verify the reliability of the decoding method. Based on the methodology, relationships between the relative importance level of the cognitive factor and creative output quality levels were detected. Results indicated that the occurrence of recall and association are reported with a high reliability level by the decoding method. The results also indicated that association is the dominant cognitive factor for higher creative output quality levels. Recall is the dominant cognitive factor for lower creative output quality levels.

Applications of artificial intelligence and cognitive science in design

“…This study shows the inclusion of designers in participating in the ML lifecycle could better support the generation of growable and transparent design solutions. Yin et al (2023) explored the use of EEG to decode cognitive factors in creative processes in the design context for studying creativity-related cognitive factors. Creativity is considered a cognitive process related to cognitive factors such as retrieval, recall, association, and combination.…”

“…This thematic collection encompasses a wide range of studies exploring various aspects of applying AI techniques and cognitive science in design. Some studies have focused on how AI can be used to augment and support humans in design (Sun et al, 2023a;Wang et al, 2023), some explored new user cognitive models for design (Tehranchi et al, 2023), while others probed human design cognition using neurophysiological and biometric measures (Hu et al, 2023;Sun et al, 2023b;Yin et al, 2023;Zhang et al, 2023). Additional studies have exploited AI for analyzing design cognitive data (Chiu et al, 2023;Hu et al, 2023;Sun et al, 2023b;Zhang et al, 2023).…”

“…However, in design research, most studies have focused on using one neurophysiological/biometric measure instrument only, which might have limited the findings. In this thematic collection, Yin et al (2023) employed EEG, Hu et al (2023 used fMRI, while Sun et al (2023b) used EEG and self-report and task performance, and Zhang et al (2023) utilized ET and self-report questionnaire. To adopt the latest cognitive science research multimodal approaches and incorporate conventional design research approaches, it leads to our second proposition for future research.…”

An EEG study to understand semantic and episodic memory retrieval in creative processes

“…Creativity in design related to human's ability to coming up with novel and value ideas (Yin et al, 2023). Creativity is a process that involves generating new ideas by searching , interacting with (Palmer, 2020) and associating (Benedek & Fink, 2019) existing memories.…”