Qingbai Zhao

Previous studies have identified different outcomes in the cognitive processing of tools but have overlooked the role of the activation level of object affordances. To address this issue, the present study conducted four behavioral experiments. Experiment 1 employed a color judgment task under low affordance activation and revealed a significant tip-dominance effect, with faster responses in stimulus–response incompatible than compatible conditions (t (29) = 3.35, p = 0.002, d = 0.61). In Experiment 2, we increased affordance activation by using typical color but observed no significant compatibility effects (all ps > 0.05). Experiment 3 adopted a Go/NoGo paradigm and introduced semantic attributes, yielding a significant stimulus–response compatibility (SRC) effect (F (1, 27) = 9.22, p = 0.005, η²_p = 0.25). Experiment 4, focusing on atypical colors, showed a reversed compatibility effect for power-grasp tools (t (29) = 3.19, p = 0.003, d = 0.58), but not for precision-grasp tools. Together, these findings indicate that (1) the activation level of object affordances modulates tool-related cognitive processing; (2) low activation leads to dominance of functional-end responses, whereas higher activation elicits SRC effects; and (3) both perceptual and semantic attributes contribute to affordance activation, with semantic effects emerging only when perceptual attributes are present.

Background: Previous studies have shown that two core subregions of the prefrontal cortex – the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) – are both closely related to cognitive control in creativity; however, the similarities and differences in their cognitive control mechanisms during creativity remain to be further clarified. Methods: This study employed a within-subject design, using transcranial direct current stimulation to manipulate the activity of left DLPFC and IFG separately. Participants completed divergent and convergent thinking tasks under three conditions: anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC, cathodal stimulation of the left IFG, and sham stimulation. The novelty and appropriateness of generated answers during idea generation, as well as those selected during idea selection, were compared across conditions. Results: (a) Anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC significantly enhanced the novelty of answers generated during idea generation in both the alternate uses task (AUT) and the product improvement task and helped to select the more appropriate answer during idea selection in AUT. (b) Cathodal stimulation of the left IFG significantly improved the novelty of ideas generated in the AUT but had no significant effect on performance during idea selection. Conclusion: The cognitive control mechanisms of the left DLPFC and IFG differ during the creative process. Anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC enhances goal-directed cognitive control, thereby promoting creativity, whereas cathodal stimulation of the left IFG facilitates the generation of creative ideas by releasing inhibitory control over semantic retrieval.

A key objective in artificial intelligence (AI) development is to create systems that match or surpass human creativity. Although current AI models perform well across diverse creative tasks, it remains unclear whether these achievements reflect genuine creative thinking. This study examined whether AI models (GPT-3.5-turbo, GPT-4, and GPT-4o) engage in creative thinking by comparing their performance with humans across various creative tasks and core cognitive processes. Results showed that AI models outperformed humans in divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and insight problem-solving, but underperformed in creative writing. Compared to humans, AI generated lower forward flow values in both free and chain association tasks and showed lower accuracy in the representational change task. In creative evaluation, AI exhibited no significant correlation between the weights of novelty and appropriateness when predicting creative ratings, suggesting the absence of a human-like trade-off strategy. AI also had higher decision error scores in creative selection, suggesting difficulty identifying the most creative ideas. These findings suggest that while AI can mimic human creativity, its strong performance in creative tasks is likely driven by non-creative mechanisms rather than genuine creative thinking.

Media multitasking is widespread, yet its relationship with creativity remains unclear. This study employs a combination of measures, including the media multitasking questionnaire, alternative uses task (AUT) for divergent thinking, Chinese compound remote association task (CCRAT) for convergent thinking, and a creative problem-solving task, to examine the relationship between media multitasking and creativity. Extreme values grouping [one standard deviation above or below the mean of the media multitasking index (MMI)], median value grouping, and regression analysis were used to explore the relationship between media multitasking and creativity. The results revealed the following findings: (1) across the three analysis methods, there was no significant relationship between media multitasking and performance on the AUT task. However, within the range of one standard deviation above or below the mean of the MMI, media multitasking showed a significant positive correlation with fluency, flexibility, and total scores on the AUT task. (2) Media multitasking significantly predicted the accuracy of responses on the CCRAT task positively. (3) Media multitasking significantly predicted lower scores on the applicability of creative problem-solving tasks.

Parental phubbing behavior is a significant predictor of adolescent smartphone dependence. However, previous research has mainly focused on the child and adolescent’s perspective, overlooking potential differences in how parents and their children perceive parental phubbing. Therefore, this study investigates whether disparities exist in how parents and adolescents perceive parental phubbing and how these perceptual differences impact adolescent smartphone dependence. We also explore the role of the parent–child relationship in this context. In this study, 728 families from a middle school in Wuhan were selected and surveys were administered to both children and parents. The findings are as follows: (1) Significant perceptual differences were found between parents and adolescents regarding parental phubbing. (2) These perceptual discrepancies positively predict adolescent smartphone dependence and negatively impact parent–child relationships. Additionally, parent–child relationships have a negative influence on adolescent smartphone dependence. (3) The parent–child relationship serves as a mediator between perceptual differences in parental phubbing behavior and adolescent smartphone dependence. In summary, this research highlights the importance of considering both parent and adolescent perspectives on parental phubbing and emphasizes the role of the parent–child relationship in influencing adolescent smartphone dependence.

Parental phubbing behavior is a significant factor in predicting adolescent smartphone dependence, but prior research has predominantly focused on a unidirectional perspective from the child's viewpoint, overlooking potential perceptual differences between parents and their children regarding parental phubbing. Therefore, are there differences in the perceptions of parental phubbing between parents and their children? Based on the "Discrepancy-Maladaptive" hypothesis, the presence of perceptual discrepancies in family factors can lead to adverse developmental outcomes in children. Does the parent-child perceptual discrepancy in parental phubbing influence adolescent smartphone dependence? And what role does parent-child relationship play in this context? This study selected 728 families from a middle school in Wuhan, and surveys were administered to both children and parents. The findings reveal: (1) There exist significant parent-child perceptual discrepancies in parental phubbing. (2) Parent-child perceptual discrepancies in parental phubbing significantly positively predict adolescent smartphone dependence and negatively predict parent-child relationships, while parent-child relationships significantly negatively predict adolescent smartphone dependence. (3) The parent-child relationship plays a mediating role between parent-child perceptual differences in parental phubbing behavior and adolescent smartphone dependence.

The leader is considered to play key roles such as organization or management in promoting group creativity. Previous studies focused more on the psychological and behavioral characteristics rather than on the dynamic behaviors of leaders in group activity. In this study, two experiments were conducted to respectively explore the effects of emergent and elected leaders’ problem-solving related utterances and turn-taking in conversation on group creativity. The results of Experiment 1 showed that, for emergent leaders, none of the utterances about problem solving of leaders was different from that of followers and leaders’ utterances about retrospective summary were positively related to the appropriateness of group creativity; meanwhile, the frequency of turns of leaders was higher than that of followers and was positively related with the appropriateness of group creativity. The results of Experiment 2 showed that, for elected leaders, the utterances about problem analysis, strategy planning, control and reflection, and retrospective summary of leaders were more than that of followers and leaders’ utterances about viewpoint generation were positively related to both novelty and appropriateness, while the frequency of turns of leaders was neither different from followers nor related to the novelty and appropriateness. This study focused on the dynamic behaviors of leaders in interpersonal interaction and revealed the role of leaders in group creativity.