Creative people use memory differently: Divergent thinking modulates how episodic memory is combined with semantic knowledge

Abstract

The ability to generate novel ideas, known as divergent thinking, is dependent on both semantic knowledge and episodic memory. Semantic knowledge and episodic memory are known to interact to support memory decisions, but it is not known how they may interact to support divergent thinking. We addressed this question by examining whether divergent thinking ability moderates interactions between semantic knowledge and different episodic memory processes in a spatial memory task. Participants completed the Alternative Uses Test to assess divergent thinking ability, then completed a memory task in which they searched for target objects that were either placed in semantically expected or semantically unexpected locations within scenes. In a subsequent test, participants indicated where in each scene the target object had been located previously (i.e., spatial accuracy test), then provided confidence-based recognition memory judgments that indexed distinct episodic memory processes (i.e., recollection, familiarity strength, and unconscious memory) for the scenes. We found that higher divergent thinking ability predicted 1) an increased benefit from putatively hippocampus-based episodic memory (i.e., recollection and unconscious memory) on spatial accuracy overall, and 2) beneficial differences in how semantic knowledge was combined with recollection and unconscious memory to influence spatial accuracy. In contrast, there were no effects of divergent thinking with respect to non-hippocampal memory (i.e., familiarity). These findings indicate that semantic knowledge and episodic memory function differently in highly divergent thinkers. In particular, these results suggest that divergent thinking is supported by the ability to flexibly combine semantic knowledge with episodic memory, particularly hippocampus-based memory.

Eye movements dissociate between perceiving, sensing, and unconscious change detection in scenes

“…The fact that the analogous processes underlying change detection (i.e., perceiving, sensing, and unconscious change detection) were also able to be isolated in this way, such that they dissociated along the lines of eye movement behavior, highlights the versatility of this trial-level confidence-based scale. Other studies using this method have found that memory processes isolated in this way also (1) relate to different patterns of eye movements -including dispersion and resampling -during search, encoding, and retrieval (Ramey et al, 2019;Ramey, Henderson, et al, 2020a), (2) show differential interactions with schema knowledge (Ramey et al, 2022;Ramey, Yonelinas, et al, 2020b), and (3) predict real-world outcomes such as creative ability (Ramey & Zabelina, 2021). Thus, the present findings add to a growing body of work showing that this recently developed method can be fruitfully applied to isolate dissociable cognitive processes in a variety of settings.…”

A shared “optimal-level of arousal”: Seeking basis for creativity and curiosity

“…Interestingly, information at the two extremities of the U-shape activates different brain regions at encoding (van Kesteren, Ruiter, Fernández, & Henson, 2012): While processing information, the medial prefrontal cortex either triggers rapid learning of schema-congruent information into the neocortex or activates the hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe to encode schema-incongruent events. However, differences in memories are also suspected at retrieval as remembering incongruent events engages the network for source memory (Brod, Lindenberger, Werkle-Bergner, & Shing, 2015).…”

Mindfulness, curiosity, and creativity

“…On the other hand, distinct novelty, a good candidate for creativity as its high incongruence naturally provides novel original associations, is thought to induce episodic memories. Although most of the research on creativity has focused on semantic memory, researchers have recently demonstrated the role of episodic memory in creative processes as well as its interaction with semantic memory during divergent thinking (Ramey & Zabelina, 2021).…”