Alwin de Rooij

Mood and creativity: an appraisal tendency perspective

There is a strong relationship between the mood one is in, and the way one performs creatively. Previous research has shown that this relationship is complex. In this paper we argue that this complexity partly lies in a faulty conceptualization of mood. We will argue that an appraisal tendency perspective on moods will help to further clarify the relationship between mood and creativity. To support this argument we will highlight some inconsistencies in previous research, and use the appraisal tendency perspective on mood to develop predictions that help explain these inconsistencies and develop new directions for mood-creativity research. Future research is required to assess the accuracy of these predictions.

Abstract Expressions of Affect

What form should happiness take? And how is disgust shaped? This research investigates how synthetic affective expressions can be designed with minimal reference to the human body. The authors propose that the recognition and attribution of affect expression can be triggered by appropriately presenting the bare essentials used in the mental processes that mediate the recognition and attribution of affect. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the fact that it is based on mental processes involved in the recognition of affect, independent of the configuration of the human body and face. The approach is grounded in (a) research on the role of abstraction in perception, (b) the elementary processes and features relevant to visual emotion recognition and emotion attribution, and (c) how such features can be used (and combined) to generate a synthetic emotion expression. To further develop the argument for this approach they present a pilot study that shows the feasibility of combining affective features independently of the human configuration by using abstraction to create consistent emotional attributions. Finally, the authors discuss the potential implications of their approach for the design of affective robots. The developed design approach promises a maximization of freedom to integrate intuitively understandable affective expressions with other morphological design factors a technology may require, providing synthetic affective expressions that suit the inherently artificial and applied nature of affective technology.

Emotion and Creativity: Hacking into Cognitive Appraisal Processes to Augment Creative Ideation

Creativity thrives when people experience positive emotions. How to design an interactive system that can effectively make use of this potential is, however, still an unanswered question. In this paper, we propose one approach to this problem that relies on hacking into the cognitive appraisal processes that form part of positive emotions. To demonstrate our approach we have conceived, made, and evaluated a novel interactive system that influences an individuals appraisals of their own idea generation processes by providing real-time and believable feedback about the originality of their ideas. The system can be used to manipulate this feedback to make the users ideas appear more or less original. This has enabled us to test experimentally the hypothesis that providing more positive feedback, rather than neutral, or more negative feedback than the user is expecting, causes more positive emotion, which in turn causes more creativity during idea generation. The findings demonstrate that an interactive system can be designed to use the function of cognitive appraisal processes in positive emotion to help people to get more out of their own creative capabilities.

(E)Motion and Creativity: Hacking the Function of Motor Expressions in Emotion Regulation to Augment Creativity

Positive emotion can help augment human creativity. To utilize this potential in an interactive system, we propose that such a system should be designed to regulate the emotions that are caused by a creative task. We argue that this can be done by hacking the function of motor expressions in emotion regulation. To this end, we have conceived and made an interactive system that is designed to regulate positive emotion during an idea generation and an insight problem solving task. The system regulates emotion by letting users interact using arm gestures that are designed based on motor expressions, choreographed in a way that enables emotion regulation. Using this interactive system we experimentally test the hypotheses that positive approaching, rather than negative avoiding arm gestures, used to interact with a system, can heighten positive emotion, and augment creativity. The findings demonstrate that an interactive system can be designed to use the function of motor expressions in emotion regulation to help people perform better on certain creative tasks.

The Creative Proteus Effect: How Self-Similarity, Embodiment, and Priming of Creative Stereotypes with Avatars Influences Creative Ideation

Creative ideation can be enhanced in 3D virtual environments by manipulating the appearance of a users avatar so that it primes a creative stereotype. However, not much is known about the factors that influence the effectiveness of using avatars to enhance creativity. In this study we investigate experimentally whether the degree to which users identify with their avatar moderates their actual ability to generate creative ideas. The results suggest that a non-creative avatar (office worker stereotype) diminishes creativity, but our creative avatar (artist stereotype) does not augment creativity. The similarity in appearance between the user and its avatar positively moderates, whereas its perceived embodiment with the avatar negatively moderates the ability to generate creative ideas. However, the study also suggests that self-similarity might be an even more effective way to support creative ideation than priming creative stereotypes. Therefore, this study (i) contributes that self-similarity and embodiment moderate the effectiveness of using an avatar to prime creative stereotypes to enhance creative ideation, and (ii) points toward a novel way to enhance creative ideation in virtual environments, by using avatars that look just like yourself.

Sensory Augmentation: Toward a Dialogue Between the Arts and Sciences

People sense the world by exploiting correlations between their physical actions and the changing sensory input that results from those actions. Interfaces that translate non-human sensor data to signals that are compatible with the human senses can therefore augment our abilities to make sense of the world. This insight has recently sparked an increase in projects that explore sensemaking and the creation of novel human experiences across scientific and artistic disciplines. However, there currently exists no constructive dialogue between artists and scientists that conduct research on this topic. In this position paper, we identify the theory and practice of sensory augmentation as a domain that could benefit from such a dialogue. We argue that artistic and scientific methods can complement each other within research on sensory augmentation and identify six thematic starting points for a dialogue between the arts and sciences. We conducted a case study to explore these conjectures, in which we instigated such a dialogue on a small scale. The case study revealed that the six themes we identified as relevant for a dialogue on sensory augmentation emerge rather spontaneously in such a dialogue and that such an exchange may facilitate progress on questions that are central to the theory and practice of sensory augmentation. Overall, this position paper contributes preliminary evidence for the potential of, and a starting point for, a dialogue between the arts and sciences that advances our understanding of sensory augmentation and the development of applications that involve it.

Augmented Metacognition: Exploring Pupil Dilation Sonification to Elicit Metacognitive Awareness

Metacognitive awareness enables people to make conscious decisions about their own cognitions, and adapt to meet task performance goals. Despite the role of metacognition in task performance, technologies that effectively augment metacognition are scarce. We explore a novel approach to augment metacognition based on making the eyes pupil dilations, which associate with a variety of cognitions, audible via sonification in real-time. In this exploratory study, we investigated whether pupil dilation sonification can elicit metacognitive awareness. Our findings suggest that correlations between a variety of cognitions, e.g., attentional focus and depth of thinking, and sounds generated by the sonification can emerge spontaneously and by instruction. This justifies further research into the use of pupil dilation sonification as a means to augment metacognitive abilities.

The (Dis)Pleasures of Creativity: Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate during Divergent and Convergent Thinking Depends on Individual Differences in Positive and Negative Affect

Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences in affect and motivation predict divergent and convergent thinking performance, two thinking processes involved in creative idea generation. Individual differences in affect and motivation also predict spontaneous eye blink rate (sEBR) during divergent and convergent thinking; and sEBR predicts divergent and convergent thinking performance. The present study investigates experimentally whether the relationship between sEBR and divergent and convergent thinking depends on individual differences in affect and motivation. Eighty-two participants completed the Emotion/motivation-related Divergent and Convergent thinking styles Scale (EDICOS; Soroa et al., 2015), performed the alternative uses task (AUT; divergent thinking) or the remote associates task (RAT; convergent thinking), while their sEBR was captured with an eye-tracker. The results showed that individual differences in positive affect positively correlated with sEBR for the AUT, whereas individual differences in negative affect positively correlated with sEBR for the RAT. Furthermore, the interaction between individual differences in positive and negative affect predict divergent and convergent thinking performance. The contribution of our study is therefore that individual differences in positive and negative affect can both positively correlate with sEBR during divergent and convergent thinking; and that this predicts divergent and convergent thinking performance.

Toward emotion regulation via physical interaction

Emotions can be regulated to fit a task in order to enhance task performance. Motor expressions can help regulate emotion. This paper briefly reports ongoing work on the design of physical interactions based on motor expressions that can help regulate emotion to fit a task. We argue that to be effective, such interactions must be made meaningful in relation to ongoing appraisal processes, and that such interactions can help regulate emotion via congruence, suppression, or incompatibility. We present previous work on the validation of these arguments within the context of supporting idea generation, and develop a roadmap for research that aims to translate these results to the design of physical interactions under device constraints. The research will enable designers of interactive technology to develop physical interactions that help regulate emotion with the aim to help people get the most out of their own capabilities.