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Abstract
Abstract. Individual differences perspectives have dominated the scientific study of creativity since the 1950’s. These perspectives, however, mainly emphasize group-level variations or inter-individual differences, with limited interest in individual-level variations. Yet, (1) group-level findings are often used to make inferences at the person-level, which might not apply consistently across individuals, and (2) a focus on intra-individual variations could supplement knowledge based on inter-individual differences and accurately inform creativity as a dynamic and multifaceted psychological construct. Indeed, when observed at the individual level, creativity can vary from moment to moment, task to task, and even item to item, which is not well reflected in the current understanding of creativity. After introducing the historical context for the study of individual differences in creativity, this article presents and illustrates three fundamental and distinct aspects of intra-individual variability as they apply to creativity, namely (in)consistency (or processing fluctuation), dispersion, and intraindividual change. While doing so, recent developments in apparatus and methods to assess creativity as a more dynamic phenomenon are presented. The article concludes by discussing the promise of accounting for intra-individual variability in creative performance and potential and the new knowledge it may elicit for both creativity research and practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baptiste Barbot
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, UCLouvain, Belgium
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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Holmes J, Guy J, Kievit RA, Bryant A, Mareva S, Gathercole SE. Cognitive Dimensions of Learning in Children With Problems in Attention, Learning, and Memory. JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 113:1454-1480. [PMID: 35855686 PMCID: PMC7613068 DOI: 10.1037/edu0000644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2023]
Abstract
A data-driven, transdiagnostic approach was used to identify the cognitive dimensions linked with learning in a mixed group of 805 children aged 5 to 18 years recognised as having problems in attention, learning and memory by a health or education practitioner. Assessments included phonological processing, information processing speed, short-term and working memory, and executive functions, and attainments in word reading, spelling, and maths. Data reduction methods identified three dimensions of phonological processing, processing speed and executive function for the sample as a whole. This model was comparable for children with and without ADHD. The severity of learning difficulties in literacy was linked with phonological processing skills, and in maths with executive control. Associations between cognition and learning were similar across younger and older children and individuals with and without ADHD, although stronger links between learning-related problems and both executive skills and processing speed were observed in children with ADHD. The results establish clear domain-specific cognitive pathways to learning that distinguish individuals in the heterogeneous population of children struggling to learn.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joni Holmes
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge
| | - Jacalyn Guy
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge
| | | | - Annie Bryant
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia
| | - Silvana Mareva
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge
| | - the CALM Team
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge
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Spreading the Wealth: Developing Assessments of Cognitive Abilities in Non-WEIRD Countries. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2021; 55:779-788. [PMID: 34523059 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-021-09648-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
In this brief essay I reminisce on the ideas I encountered in Lev Vygotsky's lectures on pedology as an undergraduate student at Moscow State University in the USSR. Some of these ideas have been reliably stored in my professional memory and have influenced how my colleagues and I have approached the assessment of IQ (or general cognitive abilities) in countries other than the ones in which they were developed. Whereas the essay is autobiographical in nature, it attempts to make a generalizable point that spreading the wealth of existing knowledge, principles, and practice is as central to the progress of science as generating new knowledge.
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Barbot B, Hein S, Trentacosta C, Beckmann JF, Bick J, Crocetti E, Liu Y, Rao SF, Liew J, Overbeek G, Ponguta LA, Scheithauer H, Super C, Arnett J, Bukowski W, Cook TD, Côté J, Eccles JS, Eid M, Hiraki K, Johnson M, Juang L, Landi N, Leckman J, McCardle P, Mulvey KL, Piquero AR, Preiss DD, Siegler R, Soenens B, Yousafzai AK, Bornstein MH, Cooper CR, Goossens L, Harkness S, van IJzendoorn MH. Manifesto for new directions in developmental science. New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 2020; 2020:135-149. [PMID: 32960503 DOI: 10.1002/cad.20359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The present manifesto is proposed by a group of scholars from various disciplines and perspectives within developmental science to spark conversations and action plans in response to these questions. After highlighting four critical content domains that merit concentrated and often urgent research efforts, two issues regarding "how" we do developmental science and "what for" are outlined. This manifesto concludes with five proposals, calling for integrative, inclusive, transdisciplinary, transparent, and actionable developmental science. Specific recommendations, prospects, pitfalls, and challenges to reach this goal are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baptiste Barbot
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, UCLouvain, Belgium & Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, USA
| | | | | | | | - Johanna Bick
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, USA
| | | | | | | | - Jeffrey Liew
- Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, USA
| | | | | | | | - Charles Super
- Department of Human Development and Family Sciences & Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development, University of Connecticut, USA
| | | | | | - Thomas D Cook
- GW Institute of Public Policy, George Washington University & Northwestern University, USA
| | - James Côté
- Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Michael Eid
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
| | - Kazuo Hiraki
- Department of General Systems Studies, University of Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Nicole Landi
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, USA
| | | | - Peggy McCardle
- Haskins Laboratories & Peggy McCardle Consulting, LLC, USA
| | | | | | - David D Preiss
- Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile
| | | | - Bart Soenens
- Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium
| | - Aisha Khizar Yousafzai
- Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA
| | | | | | - Luc Goossens
- School Psychology and Development, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Sara Harkness
- Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development and Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, USA
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Barbot B. The Dynamics of Creative Ideation: Introducing a New Assessment Paradigm. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2529. [PMID: 30618952 PMCID: PMC6297799 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2018] [Accepted: 11/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite six decades of creative cognition research, measures of creative ideation have heavily relied on divergent thinking tasks, which still suffer from conceptual, design, and psychometric shortcomings. These shortcomings have greatly impeded the accurate study of creative ideation, its dynamics, development, and integration as part of a comprehensive psychological assessment. After a brief overview of the historical and current anchoring of creative ideation measurement, overlooked challenges in its most common operationalization (i.e., divergent thinking tasks framework) are discussed. They include (1) the reliance on a single stimulus as a starting point of the creative ideation process (stimulus-dependency), (2) the analysis of response quality based on a varying number of observations across test-takers (fluency-dependency), and (3) the production of "static" cumulative performance indicators. Inspired from an emerging line of work from the field of cognitive neuroscience of creativity, this paper introduces a new assessment framework referred to as "Multi-Trial Creative Ideation" (MTCI). This framework shifts the current measurement paradigm by (1) offering a variety of stimuli presented in a well-defined set of ideation "trials," (2) reinterprets the concept of ideational fluency using a time-analysis of idea generation, and (3) captures individual dynamics in the ideation process (e.g., modeling the effort-time required to reach a response of maximal uncommonness) while controlling for stimulus-specific sources of variation. Advantages of the MTCI framework over the classic divergent thinking paradigm are discussed in light of current directions in the field of creativity research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baptiste Barbot
- Department of Psychology, Pace University, New York City, NY, United States.,Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
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Mourgues C, Tan M, Hein S, Ojanen E, Reich J, Lyytinen H, Grigorenko EL. Paired Associate Learning Tasks and their Contribution to Reading Skills. LEARNING AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2016; 46:54-63. [PMID: 27175054 DOI: 10.1016/j.lindif.2014.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Associative learning has been identified as one of several non-linguistic processes involved in reading acquisition. However, it has not been established whether it is an independent process that contributes to reading performance on its own or whether it is a process that is embedded in other linguistic skills (e.g., phonological awareness or phonological memory) and, therefore, contributing to reading performance indirectly. Research has shown that performance on tasks assessing associative learning, e.g., paired-associate learning (PAL) tasks, is lower in children with specific reading difficulties compared to typical readers. We explored the differential associations of two distinct verbal-visual PAL tasks (the Bala Bbala Graphogame, BBG, and a Foreign Language Learning Task, FLLT) with reading skills (word reading and pseudo-word decoding), controlling for phonological awareness, rapid naming, and letter and digit span in children at risk for reading disabilities and their typically developing peers. Our study sample consisted of 110 children living in rural Zambia, ranging in age from 7 to 18 years old (48.1% female). Multivariate analyses of covariance were used to explore the group differences in reading performance. Repeated-measures ANCOVA was used to examine children's learning across the PAL tasks. The differential relationships between both PAL tasks and reading performance were explored via structural equation modeling. The main result was that the children at risk for reading difficulties had lower performance on both PAL tasks. The BBG was a significant predictor for both word reading and pseudo-word decoding, whereas the FLLT-only for word reading. Performance on the FLLT partially mediated the association between phonological awareness and word reading. These results illustrate the partial independence of associative learning from other reading-related skills; the specifics of this relationship vary based on the type of PAL task administered.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Jodi Reich
- Yale University, USA; Temple University, USA
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