1. Introduction
To unlock the full potential of creativity, one must cultivate a multi-sensory imagination involving sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. The response to a multisensory (e.g. visual–auditory) target could be faster and more accurate than a response to a unisensory target (Hershenson Reference Hershenson1962; Talsma & Woldorff Reference Talsma and Woldorff2005; Tang et al. Reference Tang, Wu and Shen2016). The effect of stimuli is enhanced when synchronised visual and auditory stimuli are presented at exact locations (Frassinetti et al. Reference Frassinetti, Bolognini and Làdavas2002; Ngo & Spence Reference Ngo and Spence2010). An experimental study explored auditory stimuli that might support design creativity more than visual stimuli (Mougenot et al. Reference Mougenot, Ikeda and Watanabe2012).
In contrast to previous research, the authors speculate that stimuli received by the five senses may prevent individuals from using them to retrieve memories, and the authors investigated whether reducing the amount of information received could stimulate sensibility or enhance creativity. According to Cognitive Load Theory, the human brain has a limited capacity for processing information at any given time. Excessive external stimuli can overload this capacity, hindering the ability to focus on internal thought processes. By reducing sensory inputs, cognitive resources can be reallocated from managing external distractions to enhancing creative thinking. Reduced external stimuli may increase the focus on internal thoughts and ideas, potentially enhancing creative thinking. Sensory deprivation has been used to explore altered states of consciousness and creativity. Sio & Ormerod (Reference Sio and Ormerod2009) found that engaging in a task that has a low cognitive load during experimental tests led to the strongest effects and helped creative performances. Consideration is given to understanding the creative aspects of visual–auditory decrease under dark and bright conditions. Research on the effects of quiet environments on creativity has shown that reducing auditory distractions can create an atmosphere conducive to creative thinking (Kasof Reference Kasof1997; Mehta et al. Reference Mehta, Zhu and Cheema2012).
The main objective of this study is to acquire knowledge regarding the ideal level of visual–auditory stimulation reduction needed to enhance creativity, particularly in fluency, originality and conceptual distance. Fluency refers to the ease with which individuals can produce a large number of ideas, whereas originality refers to the comparative novelty of the ideas produced (Hocevar Reference Hocevar1979; Runco & Mraz Reference Runco and Mraz1992; Silvia Reference Silvia2008; Dumas & Dunbar Reference Dumas and Dunbar2014). The authors predict that decreased visual–auditory stimuli affect creativity. The main outcome of this study is to obtain knowledge to propose an optimised design environment focused on decreasing the visual–auditory multisensory stimuli.
2. Literature review
2.1. Creative cognition
Combining ideas and facts that are already known but not previously connected in such a way as to produce new ones is creative aptitude (Shalley Reference Shalley1995). Creativity has also been described as the activation and recombination of known knowledge elements in a novel manner to produce new properties that build upon prior knowledge elements (Ward et al. Reference Ward, Smith, Vaid, Ward, Smith and Vaid1997; Wilkenfeld & Ward Reference Wilkenfeld and Ward2001). Most studies on creativity have been conducted within the framework of cognitive differences, such as attentional concentration on relevant inputs (Vartanian et al. Reference Vartanian, Martindale and Kwiatkowski2007). Research has found only slight intraindividual stability in creativity test results, indicating the importance of situational factors (Baer Reference Baer1994; Jeon et al. Reference Jeon, Moon and French2011; Kupers et al. Reference Kupers, Lehman-Wermser, McPherson and Van Geert2019). These findings suggest that an individual’s creativity may differ depending on the circumstances. Situations are typically very structured and information-rich, and many options are presented for action based on this organised knowledge (Boesch Reference Boesch, Lonner and Hayes2007). It has been suggested that attention is a fundamental aspect of creative cognition that involves numerous cognitive functions (Heitz et al. Reference Heitz, Unsworth, Engle, Wilhelm and Engle2005; Kenett et al. Reference Kenett, Beaty, Silvia, Anaki and Faust2016). The cognitive approach emphasises the creative process and the individual, considering individual differences. Some cognitive approaches focus on universal capacities, such as attention or memory, whereas others focus on individual differences, such as those indexed by divergent thinking tasks. Divergent thinking occurs when ideas and associations move in various directions; as a result, new and original ideas may emerge (Mednick Reference Mednick1962; Torrance Reference Torrance1995). Research on the ‘creative cognition approach’ emphasises conceptual combinations to understand how individuals generate ideas and explore their implications based on design tasks (Kozbelt et al. Reference Kozbelt, Beghetto, Runco, Sternberg and Kaufman2010).
2.2. Decreasing multisensory stimuli and its impact on creativity
Although creativity is an internal factor, like other psychological matters, it can also be influenced by external factors (e.g. environmental conditions, surroundings, and certain stimuli). The form of a sensible stimulus can influence creativity. These facts have led to studies on the manipulation of creativity through environmental adjustments. Five senses in an environment (vision, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and taste) with certain stimuli intensities, combinations, complexities, and specific conditions may inhibit and enhance creativity in a creative process (Kasof Reference Kasof1997; Giard & Peronnet Reference Giard and Peronnet1999; Baird et al. Reference Baird, Smallwood, Mrazek, Kam, Franklin and Schooler2012). Previous studies have found that adding more stimuli or sensory modalities can increase creativity (Goldschmidt & Smolkov Reference Goldschmidt and Smolkov2006). In contrast, a recent study found that excessive sensory information (such as sights, sounds, tactile sensations, and tastes) may prevent people from focusing due to the capacity of the working memory (cognitive load) (Cowan Reference Cowan2001). Cognitive Load Theory posits that the working memory has a limited capacity for processing information, and when this capacity is exceeded, cognitive performance suffers. Excess sensory inputs compete for attention, leaving insufficient mental resources available for tasks requiring deeper processing, such as creative problem-solving. Human cognitive processes rely heavily on the selection of inputs from a wide range of sensory information sources to assist the brain in integrating relevant stimuli into coherent thought processes (Giard & Peronnet Reference Giard and Peronnet1999). Selective Attention Theory further supports this by emphasising that the brain prioritises processing certain stimuli while filtering out others. When attention is poorly managed or overwhelmed by irrelevant sensory inputs, the ability to focus on meaningful or goal-directed tasks is compromised. This increase in complexity has a negative impact on creativity because there is less working memory space to effectively combine existing knowledge and creatively solve tasks (Mumford et al. Reference Mumford, Medeiros and Partlow2012; Wiley & Jarosz Reference Wiley and Jarosz2012).
Several studies focused on bimodal stimuli combinations to determine the greatest impact combination among the possible combinations of sensory stimuli. Among the combinations of sensory stimuli, visual–auditory stimuli have a greater impact on human cognitive processes, especially if both stimuli are coherent and present at moderate intensity levels. However, few studies have focused on the intensity combinations of visual–auditory multisensory stimuli. Furthermore, visual or auditory assumptions may depend on the weighted reliability of the information from each sense (Ernst & Bülthoff Reference Ernst and Bülthoff2004; Witten & Knudsen Reference Witten and Knudsen2005). When understanding speech in quiet listening conditions, hearing is usually the dominant sense because speech can be easily identified from auditory information alone (Gatehouse & Gordon Reference Gatehouse and Gordon1990; Shannon et al. Reference Shannon, Zeng, Kamath, Wygonski and Ekelid1995). In contrast, it is very difficult to understand speech based solely on visual information (Bernstein & Liebenthal Reference Bernstein and Liebenthal2014). However, when information in one modality is compromised, sensory dominance shifts to a more reliable sense, potentially affecting visual–auditory integration. Regarding Colavita (Reference Colavita1974), people tend to rely on visual stimuli rather than auditory. Ma et al. (Reference Ma, Zhou, Ross, Foxe and Parra2009) found that visual enhancement for visual–auditory words occurred at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of −8 dB or above. According to the Principle of Inverse Effectiveness (Meredith & Stein Reference Meredith and Stein1986), visual–auditory integration improves when unisensory information is degraded. This suggests that visual stimuli are the most affected when auditory stimuli are severely degraded, for instance, when we see people speaking but we cannot hear clearly what they said. This study emphasises that significant degradation of auditory stimuli increases reliance on visual stimuli.
How people experience and perceive objects can be influenced by the sensory information they receive, whether intentional or accidental, and regardless of their awareness of it. This sensory input can affect their thoughts, feelings, behaviours and overall interaction with the product (Schifferstein & Desmet Reference Schifferstein and Desmet2008). The importance of divergent thinking is reinforced by the fact that a surprisingly large number of significant issues and questions on creativity in research involve ideation. The dimensions of creativity are fluency, originality, flexibility and elaboration, which contribute to idea generation (Guilford Reference Guilford1962; Torrance Reference Torrance1974). All sensory information people receive when interacting with objects, independent of whether it is created intentionally or accidentally and whether the user perceives it consciously or unconsciously, can affect product perception, cognition, experience and behaviour (Schifferstein & Desmet Reference Schifferstein and Desmet2008). Mednick (Reference Mednick1962) argued that creative thinking involves combining different ideas in new and useful ways. Serendipity can play a role when the environment triggers associations, leading to the generation of new ideas (Mednick Reference Mednick1962; Lee & Lee Reference Lee and Lee2023). Creativity can also arise from similarities between ideas or associations. Another approach is finding connections between common elements to mediate and form creative solutions.
2.3. Creativity dimensions and evaluation
To quantify creative output, it is essential to analyse specific dimensions, such as fluency, originality and creative potential. Fluency can be accurately measured by determining the number of ideas produced using a statistical approach in an ideal generation process. Originality is a concept that can be measured and analysed in various ways. One suitable method is expert judgment because originality is qualitative. Creative potential offers an in-depth analysis of the whole concept of creativity. Conceptual distance can be measured by examining the conceptual similarity between two concepts (Ozkan & Dogan Reference Ozkan and Dogan2013). This approach highlighted the underlying relationship between the elements of these two concepts. This distinguishes it from superficial similarity, which refers to the similarity of the objects and properties of the two concepts. Conceptual similarity refers to a deep, meaningful connection between two concepts, even if they appear different on the surface – for example, a bicycle and a wheelchair have different forms but share the same underlying structure of wheels and a frame that enable movement. In contrast, superficial similarity describes concepts that look alike or share obvious features but lack a deeper connection – such as an orange and a ball, which are both round in shape but serve entirely different functions. Conceptual distance is closely related to originality. The more distant the ideas, the more original they are, indicating a high potential for creativity (Li et al. Reference Li, Kenett, Hu and Beaty2021). Therefore, re-evaluating originality through conceptual distance can provide more confidence in analysing originality levels (Blanchette & Dunbar Reference Blanchette and Dunbar2000; Bossomaier et al. Reference Bossomaier, Harré, Knittel and Snyder2009; Yamamoto et al. Reference Yamamoto, Mukai, Yusof, Taura and Nagai2009; Gentner & Smith Reference Gentner, Smith and Ramachandran2012). Studies have indicated that creative potential can be evaluated by identifying conceptual distance using methods such as associative conceptual network analysis (ACNA) (Taufiq et al. Reference Taufiq, Junaidy and Sriwarno2020; Adharamadinka & Junaidy Reference Adharamadinka and Junaidy2023). This method measured the distance between ideas based on their similarities. This method typically involves a concurrent process executed in a verbal report. By conducting this concurrent process, the quality of the cognitive level remains authentic (Gero & Tang Reference Gero and Tang2001).
Maintaining a multi-sensory perspective during creativity can be challenging, owing to various factors. Multisensory stimuli activate different brain regions and facilitate the generation of holistic information. However, only certain combinations of stimuli are effective in enhancing creativity. The coherence and intensity of the stimuli can also have different effects. Incoherent stimuli may hinder the creative process, while coherent stimuli may enhance it. Previous studies focused on enhancing stimuli to achieve the highest creative potential. However, decreasing the number of stimuli may also increase the sense of sensibility and promote a more profound cognitive process. Based on previous research and a multisensory perspective, it has been predicted that reducing and varying the orientation of visual and auditory stimuli may affect divergent thinking and lead to greater creative potential.
3. Methods
The authors conducted an experiment to investigate the impact of decreasing visual–auditory multisensory stimuli on creativity (i.e. originality, fluency, and creative potential) using AUT, the Alternative Uses Test (AUT) (Guilford Reference Guilford1967). AUT has been commonly used to measure divergent thinking by requiring a participant to generate as many uses as possible for a simple object within a time constraint. The participants were requested to take AUT under the nine decreased visual–auditory multisensory stimuli conditions. Fluency was measured by determining the number of ideas generated and originality was evaluated by three judges assessing the ideas generated. Both were analysed statistically using the mean and Cronbach’s alpha. The creative potential was evaluated by identifying conceptual distance using the ACNA method. The authors also compared the means of originality and ACNA results to obtain a comprehensive analysis of originality. This research was approved by the relevant institutional ethics review committees in advance and was subsequently conducted in accordance with the approved protocol.
3.1. Experiment
Nineteen design university students participated in this experiment, all in their twenties with normal vision and hearing confirmed. Each participant completed the AUT nine times under nine different visual–auditory multisensory stimulus conditions over 3 days. Each day involved three auditory stimulus conditions paired with a single visual stimulus condition. Participants were randomly assigned an object for each condition, ensuring that all nine objects (chocolate, newspaper, cups, blocks, soap, wigs, towels, plastic bags and rubber bands) were used across participants in each condition.
After being exposed to the experimental conditions, participants worked on each AUT for 5 minutes, verbally providing their ideas. The entire process was audio-recorded. Participants were then asked to reflect on the thought processes behind each idea they developed. All ideas generated during the task were recorded, and their corresponding thought processes were gathered from the participants’ reflections. Nine visual–auditory multisensory conditions were applied by combining the three visual and three auditory stimuli reduced conditions. The visual stimuli conditions were manipulated by combining the conditions of the use of an eye mask and illuminance control in the experimental room (0 lx, 250 lx). Three visual stimuli conditions were applied: a condition with a high level of visual stimulus reduction in a dark environment (0 lx) wearing an eye mask (blocked), a condition with a moderate level of visual stimulus reduction in a dark environment (0 lx) wearing no eye mask (unblocked) and a condition with no reduction of visual stimuli in a standard environment (250 lx) without wearing an eye mask (unblocked). The auditory stimuli conditions were manipulated by combining the conditions of the use of noise-cancelling earphones and an application of environmental sound (70 dB with moderate environmental sound). The soundtrack, which combined sounds from a café, construction and traffic in the distance, was adopted as environmental sounds in accordance with the findings of the previous study (Mehta et al. Reference Mehta, Zhu and Cheema2012). Three auditory stimuli conditions were applied: a condition with a high level of auditory stimulus reduction in a silent environment wearing noise-cancelling earphones (blocked), a condition with a moderate level of auditory stimulus reduction in an environmental sound with noise-cancelling function deactivated earphones (partly blocked) and a condition with no reduction of auditory stimuli in an environmental sound without wearing noise-cancelling earphones (unblocked).
3.2. Analysis
In this method, the authors used nouns derived from verbal responses during the AUT. The authors transcribed and listed nouns according to each condition. Transcribed data representing general concepts were utilised to measure fluency, originality and creative potential. Fluency was measured by the number of ideas obtained from the AUT were analysed using the mean score. The dataset was divided based on the stimulus condition, and the mean score indicated the participants’ fluency level under certain conditions. The higher the mean, the more fluency the participant demonstrated; the lower the mean, the less fluency the participant demonstrated. The concepts generated by the participants in AUT were sorted based on the stimulus conditions and evaluated for originality by a panel of three academic judges employing a five-scale measurement method (1-not original, 2-less original, 3-rather original, 4-original, 5-highly original). Mean analysis was conducted to assess originality, excluding outliers. Subsequently, the fluency and originality data were quantified based on the number of ideas generated and statistically processed using IBM SPSS statistics 29. A reliability test is important in this study because it measures internal consistency. Internal consistency refers to the extent to which a measure yields the same number of scores each time it is administered. Cronbach’s alpha is a common statistical tool (Cronbach Reference Cronbach1951). Typically, a value of 0.7 or higher is considered reliable, with higher values indicating greater agreement among the items used in this experiment.
The transcribed data are screened to include only the nouns to assess creative potential. These nouns were processed using the University of South Florida dictionary to generate associative words. The authors then use a matrix formula to generate associative words that determine a weight called the outdegree centrality (ODC). These associative words were subsequently clustered based on the conditions before being subjected to the ACNA. ACNA was conducted using the PAJEK Software to generate ODC scores. The conceptual distance was measured between the spoken words and their associative words to determine their weight. The greater the conceptual distance between spoken words and generated associative words, the more hints for further analysis related to the divergence of thought. The ODC score distinguishes between surface-level ideas and latent meanings within verbalised data, revealing creative potential.
These datasets were analysed by comparing their fluency and originality. Both sets of results were clustered to identify trends. The trend in creative potential was further analysed based on the ODC score from the ACNA and the generated associative words. Subsequently, the originality results were re-evaluated based on the ACNA findings. The analysis of the results revealed the impact of decreasing visual–auditory multisensory stimuli on fluency, originality and creative potential.
Traditionally, creativity has been regarded as the ability to connect disparate ideas and generate novel, meaningful solutions. ODC scores capture this essence by quantifying the number of direct connections, or associations, a concept has within a network. In essence, ODC identifies the “centrality” of a concept – how pivotal it is in linking to and inspiring other ideas. For example, in ACNA, a word like “water” emerges as a high ODC word because it is deeply abstract, fluid in meaning, and richly associative. Words like “air,” “liquid,” “well” and “sea” flow naturally from it, and these associative words themselves open pathways to further connections. Through this lens, creativity is no longer just an abstract quality but a measurable phenomenon, with ODC scores providing the metrics.
What makes ODC particularly exciting is its ability to reveal the relationship between abstraction and creativity. Words or concepts with high ODC scores tend to be more abstract, capable of evoking a wide range of associations. This abstraction is essential for creativity because it allows individuals to think beyond the obvious and explore new, divergent ideas. For instance, “water” not only symbolizes a literal entity but also conveys fluidity, adaptability and potential—qualities that mirror the very essence of creative thought. Through its high ODC score, “water” serves as a conceptual hub, a launchpad for ideational flexibility and expansive thinking. This relationship between environmental conditions and ideation aligns closely with Mednick’s (Reference Mednick1962) associative hierarchy theory, which proposes that highly creative individuals think in broader, more expansive cognitive spaces. They form connections across a distance hierarchy, producing unique and novel ideas. By contrast, less creative individuals operate within narrower cognitive spaces, generating stereotypical or conventional ideas. ODC scores operationalise this theory by providing a concrete metric to compare associative richness across different contexts. In this way, they bridge the gap between abstract theory and practical application.
4. Results
4.1. Fluency and originality
The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were reported to be 0.856 for fluency and 0.986 for originality. Therefore, the AUT items and scales used in this study were considered to be highly related to each other and could measure the understanding of a single concept. The experiment tested the two concepts by dividing the items into instruments. Figure 1 depicts the descriptive statistics for both fluency and originality.
Result comparison: fluency, originality and creative potential by condition with visual and auditory stimuli.
Important notes:
The Creative Potential bar is included in Figure 1 to improve readability when comparing all three metrics across conditions within a single figure. The interpretation of the Creative Potential graph is not explained in detail here but can be found in Section 5.2.
This study examined the impact of different stimulus orientations on fluency. The findings revealed that the highest orientation to fluency was observed in condition 9 (unblocked visual stimuli-unblocked auditory stimuli), with a mean score of 14.21. This was followed by conditions 4 and 7 (partly blocked visual stimuli-blocked auditory stimuli and unblocked visual stimuli-blocked auditory stimuli, respectively), with a similar mean score of 13.84. The lowest mean score (11.74) was found in condition 5 (partly blocked visual stimuli-partly blocked auditory stimuli). These results showed that participants in unblocked visual conditions 7, 8 and 9 demonstrated a higher enhancement in fluency than those in blocked visual conditions 1, 2 and 3, while no consistent trend was observed in terms of auditory conditions. The results suggest that the decreasing visual stimuli inhibit fluency, whereas auditory stimuli do not (Figure 1).
The most significant inclination towards originality was observed in condition 2, which partly blocked auditory stimuli and blocked visual stimuli, with an average score of 2.68. The second highest score was in condition 1, which blocked both visual and auditory stimuli, with a score of 2.60. Condition 7 (unblocked visual stimuli-blocked auditory stimuli) scored 2.59, and the lowest score was in condition 6 (partly blocked visual stimuli-unblocked auditory stimuli), scoring 2.37. Although there seemed to be varied mean scores between conditions, the originality means for all conditions were less than three. These results showed that participants in blocked auditory conditions 1, 4 and 7 demonstrated the higher enhancement in originality than those in unblocked auditory conditions 3, 6 and 9, while those in blocked visual conditions 1 and 2 demonstrated the higher enhancement in originality than those in unblocked visual conditions 8 and 9. The findings indicate that originality is enhanced when stimuli are reduced, whether visual or auditory, unless there is a notable divergence between the visual and auditory conditions (Figure 1).
4.2. Creative potential and originality
ACNA explored the word associations of verbalized nouns in nine experimental conditions, revealing ODC scores. The word “water” consistently had the highest ODC scores under multiple conditions. This study provides valuable insights into associative word patterns and ODC scores under diverse visual–auditory multisensory stimuli conditions. The highest ODC score was found in condition 7 (unblocked visual stimuli- blocked auditory stimuli), with a value of 0.13. In contrast, the lowest score was in condition 4 (partly blocked visual stimuli-blocked auditory stimuli), with a value of 0.08. Notably, conditions 2, 5, 6 and 7 (ODC scores 0.10–0.13) had a strong association with the word ‘water’, while conditions 1, 3, 4 and 8 displayed various associative words with ODC scores below 0.10, suggesting varied ideational patterns in these conditions (Figure 2).
Associative conceptual network analysis (ACNA) results under the decreased visual–auditory multisensory stimuli conditions (partially shown).
According to the Table 1 below, conditions with ODC scores less than 0.10 (excluding condition 9) were linked to various associative words such as water, paper, up, towel, food and clothes. On the other hand, conditions with ODC scores above or equal to 0.10 (conditions 2, 5, 6, 7) showed another pattern in generated associative words, connecting to a single associative word, water.
Associative words for the highest ODC score under the decreased visual–auditory multisensory stimuli conditions
5. Discussion
5.1. Fluency and originality
The results indicate that decreasing visual stimuli inhibits fluency, while auditory stimuli do not have a significant effect on fluency. Conversely, decreasing both visual and auditory stimuli enhances originality. A balanced reduction in visual–auditory stimuli was found to enhance originality but not fluency. These findings suggest that fluency is predominantly triggered by visual stimuli, whereas originality is enhanced when individuals are released from fixations or the cognitive load imposed by visual–auditory stimuli, particularly under balanced multisensory conditions.
These findings align with previous studies, which have shown that visual stimuli predominantly trigger fluency (Colavita Reference Colavita1974; Zahn et al. Reference Zahn, Pickar and Haier1994; Koppen et al. Reference Koppen, Levitan and Spence2009) and that auditory stimuli predominantly trigger originality, as investigated in contexts such as noise and increased auditory stimuli (Mehta et al. Reference Mehta, Zhu and Cheema2012). Furthermore, the study emphasizes the importance of monitoring the intensity of multisensory stimuli to determine the optimal amount of information that can be processed by an individual’s cognitive system. This condition is closely linked to the individual’s limitations and their ability to synchronise sensory inputs effectively.
By integrating these perspectives, our study highlights the nuanced relationship between multisensory stimuli, cognitive load and creativity, offering valuable insights into how creativity can be optimized through tailored sensory environments. Our research study, utilizing the AUT and ACNA, advances the field of knowledge by exploring word associations of selected nouns from the AUT under nine reduced visual–auditory multisensory stimuli experimental conditions. This approach provided insights into how varying sensory conditions influence creativity, particularly in terms of fluency and originality.
5.2. Creative potential
According to the theory of conceptual distance, particularly as it relates to abstract or associative words, the greater the number of associations a word has, the more abstract it becomes. Increased abstraction, in turn, enhances its creative potential. For example, the word “water” demonstrates a high conceptual richness with 18 associative words, such as air, liquid, well, wet, sea and so forth. Notably, these associative words themselves also generate a high number of additional associative words, typically ranging from 15 to 18 each. Consequently, “water” can be considered a conceptually rich and highly abstract word, making it a significant trigger for creative thought and innovation.
The associative words generated in the deepest layer for each condition exhibited discernible patterns, offering valuable insights into how different environmental conditions influence creativity. Specifically, conditions with an ODC score equal to or above 0.10 consistently show the associative word “water.” This suggests that higher ODC scores correlate with abstract and fluid concepts, reinforcing the notion that “water” is both a symbol of conceptual richness and a metaphor for flexible thinking. Conversely, conditions with an ODC score below 0.10 show varied associative words, except for condition 9. This variation reflects the diversity of ideas generated in less abstract contexts, emphasising how abstraction levels influence the breadth and depth of ideation.
These results underscore a tendency for conditions 2, 5, 6, 7 and 9 to generate more abstract and broader concepts. The associative words produced under these conditions also indicate greater flexibility in the ideas generated by participants. “Water” was notably considered fluid and abstract because it was consistently placed in the deepest layer of the ODC score hierarchy. This placement strongly suggests that participants’ ideas about “water” were influenced by environmental conditions, further supporting the notion that certain stimuli enhance creative potential.
Condition 7, for example, highlights a particularly unique dynamic: unblocked visual stimuli combined with blocked auditory stimuli emerged as a special condition that maximally enhances creative potential. This effect was not observed in the reversed condition (condition 3: blocked visual stimuli with unblocked auditory stimuli), underscoring the importance of visual dominance in creativity enhancement. Furthermore, condition 9 (unblocked visual and auditory stimuli) also generated abstract ideas and demonstrated significant fluency potential, showing that a fully unblocked multisensory environment can support creativity, albeit with less specificity compared to condition 7.
Although no dominant pattern emerges for each type of stimulus, a general tendency emerges: decreasing the intensity of combined visual–auditory multisensory stimuli appears to enhance the level of creative potential. This nuanced finding aligns with Mednick’s (Reference Mednick1962) concept that environmental conditions evoke associative elements and tendencies during idea generation. Mednick posited that individuals possess varying cognitive spaces influenced by their surroundings, which shape ideational processes and associative hierarchies. Highly creative individuals, for instance, operate within a “distance hierarchy,” producing unique, original ideas by exploring broader cognitive spaces. In contrast, less creative individuals remain confined to a “narrow distance,” resulting in stereotypical or conventional ideas.
The findings from ACNA further reinforce this conceptual framework, illustrating that environmental conditions play a critical role in activating associative elements and expanding ideational flexibility. The ability to generate abstract and fluid concepts, such as those associated with “water,” demonstrates how creativity thrives under conditions that stimulate expansive thinking. These results affirm that the interplay between environmental stimuli and cognitive processing significantly shapes creative potential, offering a deeper understanding of how to optimise conditions for fostering innovation and originality.
5.3. Creative potential and originality
Conceptual distance is considered as a method that shows a creative potential of a person; this concept is closely related to the originality dimension. This similarity led us to compare the ACNA results (creative potential) with the mean of the originality results. Interestingly, the ACNA results differed slightly from the originality mean results. Comparisons were conducted by observing the order of the conditions based on their results (highest to lowest ODC scores). In this study, ODC scores suggested that condition 7 (unblocked visual stimuli-blocked auditory stimuli) emerged as the most effective condition for enhancing the originality level, being followed by conditions 6, 2 and 5, whereas the result for condition 1 was moderate. Associative words also implied potential originality in conditions 2, 5, 6 and 7 among high ODC scores, where nouns in verbalised outcomes associated with the word “water” indicate a higher level of abstraction being considered to possess significant depth within the cognitive context space.
Gärdenfors (Reference Gärdenfors2004) introduces the theory that concepts are demarcated as regions defined by the dimensions of their semantic qualities. This perspective aligns with evidence from Rossmann & Fink (Reference Rossmann and Fink2010), who observed a correlation between originality and self-rated semantic distance in a word pair task. Additionally, a network analysis by Kenett et al. (Reference Kenett, Beaty, Silvia, Anaki and Faust2016) indicated that less creative individuals tend to exhibit more spread-out, modular and less-connected semantic networks than their more creative counterparts. The lower evaluation by judges may be attributed to their background and expectations, particularly if they come from a visual arts department. These judges might inherently favour creative results that are visually striking or expressive, aligning with their disciplinary norms. Consequently, when results are presented in a predominantly textual or analytical form, as in this study, the judges might perceive them as less creative or engaging, thereby assigning lower scores. This highlights the influence of subjective biases in evaluations, where the mode of presentation can significantly impact judgements of creativity.
To address this, the authors compared the originality results objectively using ACNA while reflecting on a previous study suggesting that originality tests should be evaluated in two complementary ways: subjective and objective. This dual approach ensures a more comprehensive understanding of creativity by balancing subjective perceptions with objective metrics. The findings from this study reinforce the importance of combining these perspectives, as subjective evaluations alone may not fully capture the depth of originality, particularly when biases such as preference for visual presentation are at play. Objective evaluations, on the other hand, provide a more standardised and unbiased lens, offering valuable insights into originality that might otherwise be overlooked. This dual approach underscores the need for a balanced methodology in evaluating creative potential, ensuring that both the mode of presentation and the core originality of the ideas are fairly assessed.
5.4. Practical implications
This study highlighted whether reducing visual and auditory stimuli enhances creativity, particularly by emphasising the combined intensity of multisensory stimuli. The results suggest that decreased visual stimuli inhibit creativity in terms of fluency, whereas decreased visual and audio stimuli have a greater impact on originality. The results have different implications from the Principle of Inverse Effectiveness (Meredith & Stein Reference Meredith and Stein1986), which emphasised that decreasing audio stimulation will increase reliance on visual stimulation. Visual and auditory stimuli are interdependent; each influences the perception of the other. Their balance should be calibrated according to the intended function of the space or environment.
From a spatial design perspective, this study suggests that interior environments intended to enhance creativity should implement a function-specific sensory modulation strategy, calibrating sensory intensity to match distinct cognitive objectives. For fluency-focused activities such as brainstorming, spaces should incorporate dynamic visual elements—such as variable lighting, textured surfaces and visual motion—paired with moderate ambient sound to stimulate ideation. In contrast, tasks requiring originality benefit from reduced and balanced visual and auditory input, achieved through dim lighting (≤250 lx), acoustic dampening and subdued visual palettes to minimise cognitive load and promote divergent thinking. Flexible spatial configurations with user-controlled lighting and sound are essential to accommodate individual cognitive variability. These findings support an evidence-based, selectively minimalist design approach that aligns environmental stimuli with the targeted phases of creative cognition.
Interestingly, the analysis of creative potential using the ACNA revealed that the condition with unblocked visual input and blocked auditory input (Condition 7) yielded the highest ODC score of 0.13, indicating the strongest creative potential among the nine experimental conditions. A high ODC score reflects broader and more abstract associative networks, serving as a key indicator of enhanced creative potential.
Notably, the word “water” consistently emerged as the node with the highest ODC in several conditions, including Conditions 2, 5, 6 and 7. This suggests that under specific sensory environments—particularly when auditory stimuli are reduced while visual input remains accessible—participants tend to produce more abstract and cognitively flexible associations.
Optimal creative potential did not occur when all stimuli were fully accessible but rather under selective sensory modulation. Specifically, blocking auditory stimuli while maintaining visual input supports higher originality despite moderate ideational fluency. These findings underscore the importance of cognitive load regulation and perceptual focus in enhancing creative thinking.
6. Conclusion
This study indicated influences of decreased visual–auditory multisensory stimuli environment on creativity. Nine distinct decreased visual–auditory stimuli conditions were devised to assess the fluency and originality of idea generation by employing the AUT to measure participants’ performance across these conditions. Mean analysis was initially employed, followed by ACNA validation, to explore the effects of decreased visual–auditory multisensory stimuli environment.
The results suggested an influence of decreased visual–auditory multisensory stimuli on creativity. Specifically, decreasing visual stimuli inhibits fluency, whereas auditory, stimuli do not, and originality is enhanced when stimuli are reduced, whether visual or auditory unless there is a notable divergence between the visual and auditory conditions. Creative potential results and originality validation through the ACNA results further corroborated these findings, particularly regarding the conceptual distance. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of environmental design in regulating visual and auditory stimuli to support perceptual focus, manage cognitive load and enhance creative potential.
This study has several limitations. First, the influence of individual cognitive characteristics was more significant than anticipated in this experiment to examine the impact of reduced visual and auditory stimuli on creativity. Consequently, future research must design an experiment that takes more into account the variability in individual cognitive characteristics with a higher number of participants to obtain optimised robust results. Second, the limited dimensions of creativity were focused, and additional contextual factors were ignored in this study. Future research is anticipated to encompass the multifaceted and dynamic nature of creativity by incorporating additional dimensions, such as flexibility and idea generation flow.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the students in the Matsumae laboratory at Kyushu University for their contributions to the data collection.
Financial support
This work was supported by Kyushu University (A.M.), the Faculty of Art and Design ITB (D.W., Grant number P2MI-F 2023 no. 842.4/IT.C03/SPP-FSRD-TA/2023), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (A.M., KAKENHI grant number 22KK0220).
Competing interest
The authors declare none.
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