The role of cognitive flexibility in creativity

Ustvarjalnost je pogosto obravnavana kot dragoceno sredstvo za reševanje individualnih, organizacijskih in družbenih problemov, zato je ključnega pomena, da razumemo njeno naravo in dejavnike. Kljub obsežnemu zanimanju za raziskovanje področja ustvarjalnosti njen odnos s kognitivno fleksibilnostjo še vedno ostaja nerazrešeno vprašanje. Kognitivna fleksibilnost se kaže v širokem spektru vedenj, ki veljajo za fleksibilna: preklapljanje z ene naloge na drugo ali večopravilnost, sprememba vedenja glede na novo pravilo, iskanje nove rešitve problema in ustvarjanje novega znanja ali orodja. Kot problematična pa se izkaže njena definicija, ki ni poenotena med različnimi avtorji. V pričujočem magistrskem delu smo zato raziskali povezanost med različnimi merami kognitivne fleksibilnosti in njihov odnos z vidiki ustvarjalnega potenciala, tj. s fluentnostjo, fleksibilnostjo in z originalnostjo. Končni vzorec je vključeval 178 udeležencev (od tega 105 žensk), starih med 16 in 70 let. Za merjenje kognitivne fleksibilnosti smo uporabili prilagojeno Stroopovo nalogo, Test sledenja in Test preklapljanja, za merjenje ustvarjalnega potenciala pa Nalogo alternativne uporabe. Mere kognitivne fleksibilnosti so med seboj nizko pozitivno korelirale, s fluentnostjo, fleksibilnostjo in z originalnostjo na Nalogi alternativne rabe pa se niso povezovale. Posledično se tudi niso izkazale za pomembne napovednike vidikov ustvarjalnega potenciala. Naša raziskava nakazuje na vprašljivo konstruktno veljavnost kognitivne fleksibilnosti, hkrati pa odpira vprašanje kompleksnosti prepleta različnih procesov, ki potekajo pri reševanju nalog kognitivne fleksibilnosti in nalog s področja divergentnega mišljenja.Creativity is often regarded as a valuable tool for solving individual, organizational, and societal problems, so it is crucial to understand its nature and factors. Despite extensive interest in researching the field of creativity, its relationship with cognitive flexibility still remains an unresolved question. Cognitive flexibility is manifested in a wide range of behaviors considered as flexible, such as task switching or multitasking, changing behavior according to new rules, seeking new solutions to problems, and generating new knowledge or tools. However, its definition proves to be problematic and lacks consensus among different authors. We therefore investigated the relationship between various measures of cognitive flexibility and their association with aspects of creative potential, namely fluency, flexibility, and originality. The final sample included 178 participants (105 of whom were female) aged between 16 and 70 years. We used adapted Stroop task, Trail Making Test, and The Number-letter task to measure cognitive flexibility, and the Alternative Uses Task to measure creative potential. The measures of cognitive flexibility exhibited low positive correlations with each other and were not associated with fluency, flexibility, and originality on the Alternative Uses Task. Consequently, they did not prove to be significant predictors of aspects of creative potential. Our study raises questions about the construct validity of cognitive flexibility and also opens up the issue of the complexity of the interplay between different processes involved in solving cognitive flexibility and divergent thinking tasks