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Jia X, Li P, Chen Q, Li W. Moderating Role of Creative Mindset in the Effect of Metacognitive Experience on Insight Problem Solving. J Intell 2023; 11:99. [PMID: 37367501 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11060099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Metacognitive experience, measured by processing fluency, contributes to divergent thinking performance; however, whether it exhibits varying effects on insight problem-solving remains unknown. Additionally, as individuals' interpretation of metacognitive experience is influenced by their creative mindset, whether creative mindset plays a role in the relationship between metacognitive experience and insight problem-solving is another issue. In Experiment 1, a Chinese logogriph task was used to investigate insight problem-solving performance. The font style of logogriphs (easy versus difficult) was used to alter the ease of processing. The results showed that individuals had lower performance accuracy for logogriphs presented in difficult font styles, suggesting the negative effect of metacognitive disfluency experience on logogriph solving. In Experiment 2, different creative mindsets (entity versus incremental) were activated in individuals via prime manipulation. Individuals with an incremental creative mindset had a significantly higher performance accuracy and longer reaction time for logogriphs presented in difficult font styles than individuals with an entity creative mindset, suggesting that an incremental creative mindset might counteract the negative effect of metacognitive disfluency experience on logogriphs solving. These findings suggest that metacognitive disfluency experience has a negative effect on insight problem-solving and that a creative mindset moderated this effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Jia
- School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321000, China
- College of Teacher Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Ping Li
- School of Education Science, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, Guangzhou 510000, China
| | - Qunlin Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Weijian Li
- School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321000, China
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Yin Y, Zuo H, Childs P. Impacts of Cognitive Factors on Creativity Quality in Design: Identification from Performances in Recall, Association and Combination. J Intell 2023; 11:jintelligence11020039. [PMID: 36826937 PMCID: PMC9959459 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11020039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The reason why people have different creativity quality levels may depend on their different performances relating to other cognitive factors that are important for creativity. This study was designed to identify the performance of three cognitive factors (recall, association, and combination) that a designer may use in a creative process and then identify how the differing performance for these cognitive factors will affect creativity quality levels. Seventy-one participants were recruited to undertake a design task and complete a semi-structured interview. The results indicate that, in a creative design process, similar performances in recall, association, and combination can result in differences in creativity quality level.
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Simonton DK. The Blind-Variation and Selective-Retention Theory of Creativity: Recent Developments and Current Status of BVSR. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2022.2059919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Brown S, Kim E. The neural basis of creative production: A cross-modal ALE meta-analysis. OPEN PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1515/psych-2020-0114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
One of the central questions about the cognitive neuroscience of creativity is the extent to which creativity depends on either domain-specific or domain-general mechanisms. To address this question, we carried out two parallel activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses of creativity: 1) a motoric analysis that combined studies across five domains of creative production (verbalizing, music, movement, writing, and drawing), and 2) an analysis of the standard ideational task used to study divergent thinking, the Alternate Uses task. All experiments contained a contrast between a creative task and a matched non-creative or less-creative task that controlled for the sensorimotor demands of task performance. The activation profiles of the two meta-analyses were non-overlapping, but both pointed to a domain-specific interpretation in which creative production is, at least in part, an enhancement of sensorimotor brain areas involved in non-creative production. The most concordant areas of activation in the motoric meta-analysis were high-level motor areas such as the pre-supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus that interface motor planning and executive control, suggesting a means of uniting domain-specificity and -generality in creative production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Brown
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour , McMaster University , Hamilton , ON , Canada
| | - Eunseon Kim
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour , McMaster University , Hamilton , ON , Canada
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Kantosalo A, Falk M, Jordanous A. Embodiment in 18th Century Depictions of Human-Machine Co-Creativity. Front Robot AI 2021; 8:662036. [PMID: 34262945 PMCID: PMC8273262 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2021.662036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Artificial intelligence has a rich history in literature; fiction has shaped how we view artificial agents and their capacities in the real world. This paper looks at embodied examples of human-machine co-creation from the literature of the Long 18th Century (1,650-1,850), examining how older depictions of creative machines could inform and inspire modern day research. The works are analyzed from the perspective of design fiction with special focus on the embodiment of the systems and the creativity exhibited by them. We find that the chosen examples highlight the importance of recognizing the environment as a major factor in human-machine co-creative processes and that some of the works seem to precede current examples of artificial systems reaching into our everyday lives. The examples present embodied interaction in a positive, creativity-oriented way, but also highlight ethical risks of human-machine co-creativity. Modern day perceptions of artificial systems and creativity can be limited to some extent by the technologies available; fictitious examples from centuries past allow us to examine such limitations using a Design Fiction approach. We conclude by deriving four guidelines for future research from our fictional examples: 1) explore unlikely embodiments; 2) think of situations, not systems; 3) be aware of the disjunction between action and appearance; and 4) consider the system as a situated moral agent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Kantosalo
- Department of Computer Science, School of Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Michael Falk
- School of English, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
| | - Anna Jordanous
- School of Computing, Cornwallis South, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
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Girn M, Mills C, Roseman L, Carhart-Harris RL, Christoff K. Updating the dynamic framework of thought: Creativity and psychedelics. Neuroimage 2020; 213:116726. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2019] [Revised: 03/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/07/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
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Scotney VS, Schwartz J, Carbert N, Saab A, Gabora L. The form of a 'half-baked' creative idea: Empirical explorations into the structure of ill-defined mental representations. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 203:102981. [PMID: 31918155 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Revised: 11/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Creative thought is conventionally believed to involve searching memory and generating multiple independent candidate ideas followed by selection and refinement of the most promising. Honing theory, which grew out of the quantum approach to describing how concepts interact, posits that what appears to be discrete, separate ideas are actually different projections of the same underlying mental representation, which can be described as a superposition state, and which may take different outward forms when reflected upon from different perspectives. As creative thought proceeds, this representation loses potentiality to be viewed from different perspectives and manifest as different outcomes. Honing theory yields different predictions from conventional theories about the mental representation of an idea midway through the creative process. These predictions were pitted against one another in two studies: one closed-ended and one open-ended. In the first study, participants were interrupted midway through solving an analogy problem and wrote down what they were thinking in terms of a solution. In the second, participants were instructed to create a painting that expressed their true essence and describe how they conceived of the painting. For both studies, naïve judges categorized these responses as supportive of either the conventional view or the honing theory view. The results of both studies were significantly more consistent with the predictions of honing theory. Some implications for creative cognition, and cognition in general, are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria S Scotney
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, 3247 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada
| | - Jasmine Schwartz
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, 3247 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada
| | - Nicole Carbert
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, 3247 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada
| | - Adam Saab
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, 3247 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada
| | - Liane Gabora
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Fipke Centre for Innovative Research, 3247 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada.
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Privodnova EY, Volf NV, Knyazev GG. The Evaluation of Creative Ideas in Older and Younger Adults. J PSYCHOPHYSIOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. The ability to solve problems of divergent type is one of the most intact functions in successful aging. However, neurophysiologic mechanisms that support the efficiency of creative thinking remain largely unknown. This study was aimed to investigate age-related difference in localized induced electroencephalogram (EEG) changes during creative idea evaluation stage of divergent problem-solving (Alternate Uses Task), using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography. Younger (45 women, 44 men, Mage = 22.1 years, age range: 18–30 years) and older adults (46 women, 43 men, Mage = 64.9 years, age range: 55–75 years) participated in the study. Higher synchronization in individually adjusted theta frequency band [from (individual alpha peak frequency −6 Hz) to (individual alpha peak frequency −4 Hz)] in anterior areas with the maximum values in anterior cingulate gyrus was revealed in older as compared with younger participants by group contrast. Higher desynchronization in wide beta range [from (individual alpha peak frequency +2 Hz) to 30 Hz] was localized in posterior brain regions with the highest values in posterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus, and parietal lobule in older adults. Induced beta 2 synchronization was positively correlated with originality (as measured by the mean frequency of ideas) in younger and years of education in older subjects. Based on the data, it was supposed that controlling the decision-making processes is more important for older adults while maintenance of the internal image of elements’ recombination may play essential role for younger subjects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evgeniya Yu. Privodnova
- Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Scientific Research Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine”, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
- Department of Psychology, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
| | - Nina V. Volf
- Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Scientific Research Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine”, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
- Department of Natural Sciences, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
| | - Gennady G. Knyazev
- Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Scientific Research Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine”, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
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Corgnet B, Espín AM, Hernán-González R. Creativity and Cognitive Skills among Millennials: Thinking Too Much and Creating Too Little. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1626. [PMID: 27826268 PMCID: PMC5078470 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2016] [Accepted: 10/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Organizations crucially need the creative talent of millennials but are reluctant to hire them because of their supposed lack of diligence. Recent studies have shown that hiring diligent millennials requires selecting those who score high on the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) and thus rely on effortful thinking rather than intuition. A central question is to assess whether the push for recruiting diligent millennials using criteria such as cognitive reflection can ultimately hamper the recruitment of creative workers. To answer this question, we study the relationship between millennials' creativity and their performance on fluid intelligence (Raven) and cognitive reflection (CRT) tests. The good news for recruiters is that we report, in line with previous research, evidence of a positive relationship of fluid intelligence, and to a lesser extent cognitive reflection, with convergent creative thinking. In addition, we observe a positive effect of fluid intelligence on originality and elaboration measures of divergent creative thinking. The bad news for recruiters is the inverted U-shape relationship between cognitive reflection and fluency and flexibility measures of divergent creative thinking. This suggests that thinking too much may hinder important dimensions of creative thinking. Diligent and creative workers may thus be a rare find.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brice Corgnet
- EMLYON Business School, Univ Lyon, GATE L-SE UMR 5824 Ecully, France
| | - Antonio M Espín
- Economics Department, Middlesex University Business SchoolLondon, UK; Granada Lab of Behavioral Economics, Universidad de GranadaGranada, Spain
| | - Roberto Hernán-González
- Granada Lab of Behavioral Economics, Universidad de GranadaGranada, Spain; Business School, University of NottinghamNottingham, UK
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comRAT-C: A computational compound Remote Associates Test solver based on language data and its comparison to human performance. Pattern Recognit Lett 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.patrec.2015.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Hao N, Yuan H, Cheng R, Wang Q, Runco MA. Interaction effect of response medium and working memory capacity on creative idea generation. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1582. [PMID: 26528227 PMCID: PMC4602101 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to examine the interaction effect of response medium (i.e., write down ideas and orally report ideas) and working memory capacity (WMC) on creative idea generation. Participants (N = 90) with higher or lower WMC were asked to solve Alternative Uses Task (AUT) problems in the condition of writing down or speaking out ideas. The results showed that fluency of AUT performance was higher in the writing than in the speaking condition. Additionally, participants with higher WMC performed better on AUT fluency than those with lower WMC in the writing condition, while they showed no difference in the speaking condition. Moreover, level of cognitive demand fully mediated the effect of response medium on AUT fluency. Theoretically, these findings indicated the importance of WMC in creative idea generation, which supported the controlled-attention theory of creativity. Practical implications and future directions were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ning Hao
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China
| | - Huan Yuan
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China
| | - Rui Cheng
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China
| | - Qing Wang
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University Shanghai, China
| | - Mark A Runco
- American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology San Diego, CA, USA
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Hao N, Wu M, Runco MA, Pina J. More mind wandering, fewer original ideas: be not distracted during creative idea generation. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2015; 161:110-6. [PMID: 26372937 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2014] [Revised: 08/27/2015] [Accepted: 09/03/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies suggest that mind wandering (MW) benefits creativity when the MW occurs in the incubation period of creative problem solving. The aim of present study was to examine the effects of MW that occurs in the course of creative idea generation. Participants received an Alternative Uses Task (AUT) and were asked to generate ideas for 20min. Their MW frequencies as time passed were measured by means of probe-caught MW. Comparisons of the AUT performances of high and low MW groups revealed that greater MW was associated with lower fluency and originality scores on the AUT. Furthermore, the high MW group showed greater MW as time passed, while the low MW group's MW was steady during the course of idea generation. Accordingly, the originality of idea generation decreased with time passing for the high MW group but was steady for the low MW group. The findings suggest that the MW during the course of creative idea generation is negatively related to creativity, perhaps because the control processes involved in idea generation are impaired by the mind wandering.
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Dahlstedt P. Turn-based evolution in a simplified model of artistic creative process. EVOLUTIONARY INTELLIGENCE 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s12065-014-0123-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Sowden PT, Pringle A, Gabora L. The shifting sands of creative thinking: Connections to dual-process theory. THINKING & REASONING 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/13546783.2014.885464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Gabora L. An evolutionary framework for cultural change: Selectionism versus communal exchange. Phys Life Rev 2013; 10:117-45. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2013.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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Gabora L. Reply to the commentaries on “An evolutionary framework for cultural change: Selectionism versus communal exchange”. Phys Life Rev 2013; 10:162-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2013.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Gabora L. WITHDRAWN: An evolutionary framework for culture and creativity: Selectionism versus communal exchange. Phys Life Rev 2012:S1571-0645(12)00052-8. [PMID: 22939689 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2012.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2010] [Accepted: 06/06/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the Editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.
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Simonton DK. Creativity and Discovery as Blind Variation: Campbell's (1960) BVSR Model after the Half-Century Mark. REVIEW OF GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1037/a0022912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This article assesses and extends Campbell's (1960) classic theory that creativity and discovery depend on blind variation and selective retention (BVSR), with special attention given to blind variations (BVs). The treatment begins by defining creativity and discovery, variant blindness versus sightedness, variant utility and selection, and ideational variants versus creative products. These definitions lead to BV identification criteria: (a) intended BV, which entails both systematic and stochastic combinatorial procedures; and (b) implied BV, which involves both variations with properties of blindness (variation superfluity and backtracking) and processes that should yield variant blindness (associative richness, defocused attention, behavioral tinkering, and heuristic search). These conceptual definitions and identification criteria then have implications for four persistent issues, namely, domain expertise, ideational randomness, analogical equivalence, and personal volition. Once BV is suitably conceptualized, Campbell's theory continues to provide a fruitful approach to the understanding of both creativity and discovery.
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Gabora L. An Analysis of the Blind Variation and Selective Retention Theory of Creativity. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2011.571187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Abstract
We propose that replication (with mutation) of patterns of neuronal activity can occur within the brain using known neurophysiological processes. Thereby evolutionary algorithms implemented by neuro- nal circuits can play a role in cognition. Replication of structured neuronal representations is assumed in several cognitive architectures. Replicators overcome some limitations of selectionist models of neuronal search. Hebbian learning is combined with replication to structure exploration on the basis of associations learned in the past. Neuromodulatory gating of sets of bistable neurons allows patterns of activation to be copied with mutation. If the probability of copying a set is related to the utility of that set, then an evolutionary algorithm can be implemented at rapid timescales in the brain. Populations of neuronal replicators can undertake a more rapid and stable search than can be achieved by serial modification of a single solution. Hebbian learning added to neuronal replication allows a powerful structuring of variability capable of learning the location of a global optimum from multiple previously visited local optima. Replication of solutions can solve the problem of catastrophic forgetting in the stability-plasticity dilemma. In short, neuronal replication is essential to explain several features of flexible cognition. Predictions are made for the experimental validation of the neuronal replicator hypothesis.
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Kaufman AB, Kaufman JC. Book review: Scenario Visualization: An Evolutionary Account of Creative Problem Solving. Am J Hum Biol 2009. [DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
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Abstract
The improbability of a spontaneously generated self-assembling molecule has suggested that life began with a set of simpler, collectively replicating elements, such as an enclosed autocatalytic set of polymers (or protocell). Since replication occurs without a self-assembly code, acquired characteristics are inherited. Moreover, there is no strict distinction between alive and dead; one can only infer that a protocell was alive if it replicates. These features of early life render natural selection inapplicable to the description of its change-of-state because they defy its underlying assumptions. Moreover, natural selection describes only randomly generated novelty; it cannot describe the emergence of form at the interface between organism and environment. Self-organization is also inadequate because it is restricted to interactions amongst parts; it too cannot account for context-driven change. A modified version of selection theory or self-organization would not work because the description of change-of-state through interaction with an incompletely specified context has a completely different mathematical structure, i.e. entails a non-Kolmogorovian probability model. It is proposed that the evolution of early life is appropriately described as lineage transformation through context-driven actualization of potential (CAP), with self-organized change-of-state being a special case of no contextual influence, and competitive exclusion of less fit individuals through a selection-like process possibly (but not necessarily) playing a secondary role. It is argued that natural selection played an important role in evolution only after genetically mediated replication was established.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liane Gabora
- Psychology and Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, SCI 263, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC, Canada V1V 1V7.
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