Claire E. Stevenson

Training creative cognition: adolescence as a flexible period for improving creativity

Creativity commonly refers to the ability to generate ideas, solutions, or insights that are novel yet feasible. The ability to generate creative ideas appears to develop and change from childhood to adulthood. Prior research, although inconsistent, generally indicates that adults perform better than adolescents on the alternative uses task (AUT), a commonly used index of creative ideation. The focus of this study was whether performance could be improved by practicing alternative uses generation. We examined the effectiveness of creative ideation training in adolescents (13–16 years, N = 71) and adults (23–30 years, N = 61). Participants followed one of three types of training, each comprising eight 20-min practice sessions within 2 week time: (1) alternative uses generation (experimental condition: creative ideation); (2) object characteristic generation (control condition: general ideation); (3) rule-switching (control condition: rule-switching). Progression in fluency, flexibility, originality of creative ideation was compared between age-groups and training conditions. Participants improved in creative ideation and cognitive flexibility, but not in general ideation. Participants in all three training conditions became better in fluency and originality on the AUT. With regard to originality, adolescents benefitted more from training than adults, although this was not specific for the creative ideation training condition. These results are interpreted in relation to (a) the different underlying processes targeted in the three conditions and (b) developmental differences in brain plasticity with increased sensitivity to training in adolescents. In sum, the results show that improvement can be made in creative ideation and supports the hypothesis that adolescence is a developmental stage of increased flexibility optimized for learning and explorative behavior.

Network Models for Cognitive Development and Intelligence

Cronbach’s (1957) famous division of scientific psychology into two disciplines is still apparent for the fields of cognition (general mechanisms) and intelligence (dimensionality of individual differences). The welcome integration of the two fields requires the construction of mechanistic models of cognition and cognitive development that explain key phenomena in individual differences research. In this paper, we argue that network modeling is a promising approach to integrate the processes of cognitive development and (developing) intelligence into one unified theory. Network models are defined mathematically, describe mechanisms on the level of the individual, and are able to explain positive correlations among intelligence subtest scores—the empirical basis for the well-known g-factor—as well as more complex factorial structures. Links between network modeling, factor modeling, and item response theory allow for a common metric, encompassing both discrete and continuous characteristics, for cognitive development and intelligence.

Dynamic Testing of Analogical Reasoning in 5- to 6-Year-Olds Multiple-Choice Versus Constructed-Response Training Items

Multiple-choice (MC) analogy items are often used in cognitive assessment. However, in dynamic testing, where the aim is to provide insight into potential for learning and the learning process, constructed-response (CR) items may be of benefit. This study investigated whether training with CR or MC items leads to differences in the strategy progression and understanding of analogical reasoning in 5- to 6-year-olds (N = 111). A pretest-training-posttest control group design with randomized blocking was utilized, where two experimental groups were trained according to the graduated prompts method. Results show that both training conditions improved more during dynamic testing compared with untrained controls. As expected, children in the CR condition required more prompting during training and showed different strategy-use patterns compared with the MC group. However, the quality of solution explanations was significantly better for children in the CR condition. It appears that possible performance advantages of training with CR items are most apparent when active processing is required. In the future, we advise including items such as CR or analogy construction in dynamic testing that allow for fine-grained analysis of strategy-use to further discern differences in children’s analogical reasoning understanding.

Computerized dynamic testing : a study of the potential of an approach using sensor technology.

This study explored the use of computerized dynamic testing in education for 8-year-old children. As for other domains, it was expected that the use of a computer would help overcome difficulties encountered with traditional dynamic test procedures. A recently developed computerized console was used, based on sensor technology, in combination with electronic tangibles. The main aim was to investigate if dynamic testing with graduated prompts offered by a computerized interface provided richer and more extensive information about test performance than with prompts offered by an examiner. Fifty-four children participated in the dynamic test procedure, which used a pretest–posttest training design. The results indicated no significant differences in children’s performance based on whether prompts were offered by either the computer or by an examiner. The suitability of the procedure was measured by several behavioral outcome scores, the recording of which was made possible by the use of sensor technology. In the light of the findings, the authors conclude that dynamic testing can profit greatly from the use of computerized procedures.

Dynamic Testing: Measuring Inductive Reasoning in Children With Developmental Disabilities and Mild Cognitive Impairments

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the use of dynamic testing based on a graduated prompts techniques training in a clinical educational setting. We examined the question of whether it would be possible to administer a four session dynamic test to a specific group of children with complex behavioral and psychiatric problems, developmental disabilities, and often very weak school performance. We further examined whether children would show different change patterns in their use of solving strategies when presented with a figural analogies task, and we explored the relationship between existing intelligence measures, school achievement measures, and dynamic testing outcomes. Data revealed that the children with these complex problems were able to solve figural analogies and progressed in their accuracy in solving the task after training. We also found that trained children employed more sophisticated problem solving after graduated prompts training, and individual differences in progression paths from pretest to posttest were apparent. Furthermore, we were able to identify groups of children differing in the number and type of instructions needed during training. IQ scores and teacher ratings of school performance were highly correlated, although IQ scores were not related to objectively measured school achievement scores. Dynamic test scores revealed lower correlations with teacher ratings of school performance but were the best predictors of school achievement. It was concluded that dynamic test measures gave the best indication of the children’s scholastic achievement and their potential for learning.

Training in the Adolescent Brain: An FMRI Training Study on Divergent Thinking.

Prior research suggests that adolescence is a time of enhanced sensitivity for practice and learning. In this study we tested the neural correlates of divergent thinking training in 15- to 16-year-old adolescents relative to an age-matched active control group. All participants performed an alternative uses task, a valid measure to test divergent thinking, while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) images were acquired before and after a training program. In between the 2 scanning sessions the experimental group completed 2 weeks of divergent thinking training (8 sessions) and the control group completed 2 weeks of rule switching training (8 session). A Group × Time interaction demonstrated stable divergent thinking performance for the experimental group, whereas in the control group performance declined. Generating alternative uses (experimental task condition) relative to generating ordinary characteristics of objects (control task condition) was associated with increased activation in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG), angular gyrus (AG), and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Test–retest analyses showed that within-individuals-activation in these regions was stable over time in both groups. Changes in alternative uses fluency over time, however, were positively associated with changes in superior lateral PFC activation over time. Together, the results indicate that core brain regions for creativity (SMG, AG, and MTG) are consistently recruited in adolescence, and that changes in performance are associated with changes in activation in lateral PFC.

A Solution to the Measurement Problem in the Idiographic Approach Using Computer Adaptive Practicing

Molenaar’s manifesto on psychology as idiographic science (Molenaar, 2004) brought the N=1 times series perspective firmly to the attention of developmental scientists. The rich intraindividual variation in complex developmental processes requires the study of these processes at the level of the individual. Yet, the idiographic approach is all but easy in practical research. One major limitation is the collection of short interval times series of high quality data on developmental processes. In this paper, we present a novel measurement approach to this problem. We developed an online practice and monitoring system which is now used by thousands of Dutch primary school children on a daily or weekly basis, providing a new window on cognitive development. We will introduce the origin of this new instrument, called Math Garden, explain its setup, and present and discuss ways to analyze children’s individual developmental pathways.

Visual relations children find easy and difficult to process in figural analogies

Analogical reasoning, the ability to learn about novel phenomena by relating it to structurally similar knowledge, develops with great variability in children. Furthermore, the development of analogical reasoning coincides with greater working memory efficiency and increasing knowledge of the entities and relations present in analogy problems. In figural matrices, a classical form of analogical reasoning assessment, some features, such as color, appear easier for children to encode and infer than others, such as orientation. Yet, few studies have structurally examined differences in the difficulty of visual relations across different age-groups. This cross-sectional study of figural analogical reasoning examined which underlying rules in figural analogies were easier or more difficult for children to correctly process. School children (N = 1422, M = 7.0 years, SD = 21 months, range 4.5–12.5 years) were assessed in analogical reasoning using classical figural matrices and memory measures. The visual relations the children had to induce and apply concerned the features: animal, color, orientation, position, quantity and size. The role of age and memory span on the childrens ability to correctly process each type of relation was examined using explanatory item response theory models. The results showed that with increasing age and/or greater memory span all visual relations were processed more accurately. The “what” visual relations animal, color, quantity and size were easiest, whereas the “where” relations orientation and position were most difficult. However, the “where” visual relations became relatively easier with age and increased memory efficiency. The implications are discussed in terms of the development of visual processing in object recognition vs. position and motion encoding in the ventral (“what”) and dorsal (“where”) pathways respectively.