Hostname: page-component-75d7c8f48-w7snd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-26T13:52:32.743Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A shared novelty-seeking basis for creativity and curiosity: Response to the commentators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2024

Tal Ivancovsky Open the ORCID record for Tal Ivancovsky [Opens in a new window] ,
Shira Baror Open the ORCID record for Shira Baror [Opens in a new window]  and
Moshe Bar Open the ORCID record for Moshe Bar [Opens in a new window]
Tal Ivancovsky*
Affiliation:
Bar Ilan University Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Ramat Gan, Israel tala.iv@gmail.com Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Facultat de Psicologia, Barcelona, Spain
Shira Baror
Affiliation:
The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel baror.shira@gmail.com Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel Moshe.Bar@biu.ac.il
Moshe Bar
Affiliation:
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel Moshe.Bar@biu.ac.il
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In our target article, we proposed that curiosity and creativity are both manifestations of the same novelty-seeking process. We received 29 commentaries from diverse disciplines that add insights to our initial proposal. These commentaries ultimately expanded and supplemented our model. Here we draw attention to five central practical and theoretical issues that were raised by the commentators: (1) The complex construct of novelty and associated concepts; (2) the underlying subsystems and possible mechanisms; (3) the different pathways and subtypes of curiosity and creativity; (4) creativity and curiosity “in the wild”; (5) the possible link(s) between creativity and curiosity.

Information

Type
Authors' Response
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e119
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Acar, O. A. (2019). Motivations and solution appropriateness in crowdsourcing challenges for innovation. Research Policy, 48(8), 103716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adnan, A., Beaty, R., Silvia, P., Spreng, R. N., & Turner, G. R. (2019). Creative aging: Functional brain networks associated with divergent thinking in older and younger adults. Neurobiology of Aging, 75, 150–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.11.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Akbari Chermahini, S., & Hommel, B. (2012). More creative through positive mood? Not everyone!. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 319. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00319CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alexander, P. A., Kulikowich, J. M., & Schulze, S. K. (1994). How subject-matter knowledge affects recall and interest. American Educational Research Journal, 31(2), 313–337. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312031002313CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context. Westview.Google Scholar
Appriou, A., Ceha, J., Pramij, S., Dutartre, D., Law, E., Oudeyer, P.-Y., & Lotte, F. (2020). Towards measuring states of epistemic curiosity through electroencephalographic signals. 2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), pp. 4006–4011. https://doi.org/10.1109/SMC42975.2020.9283108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aston-Jones, G., & Cohen, J. D. (2005). An integrative theory of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine function: Adaptive gain and optimal performance. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28, 403–450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baas, M., Nijstad, B. A., Koen, J., Boot, N. C., & de Dreu, C. K. W. (2020). Vulnerability to psychopathology and creativity: The role of approach-avoidance motivation and novelty seeking. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 14(3), 334–352. https://doi.org/10.1037/ACA0000223CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar, M. (2009). A cognitive neuroscience hypothesis of mood and depression. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(11), 456–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.08.009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basadur, M. (1995). Optimal ideation-evaluation ratios. Creativity Research Journal, 8(1), 63–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benedek, M., Beaty, R. E., Schacter, D. L., & Kenett, Y. N. (2023). The role of memory in creative ideation. Nature Reviews Psychology, 2(4), 246–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benedek, M., & Jauk, E. (2019). Creativity and cognitive control. In Kaufman, J. C. & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 200–223). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316979839.012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benedek, M., Kenett, Y. N., Umdasch, K., Anaki, D., Faust, M., & Neubauer, A. C. (2017). How semantic memory structure and intelligence contribute to creative thought: A network science approach. Thinking & Reasoning, 23(2), 158–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2016.1278034CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beversdorf, D. Q. (2019). Neuropsychopharmacological regulation of performance on creativity related tasks. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, 55–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bianco, R., Ptasczynski, L. E., & Omigie, D. (2020). Pupil responses to pitch deviants reflect predictability of melodic sequences. Brain and Cognition, 138, 103621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103621CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boot, N., Baas, M., van Gaal, S., Cools, R., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2017). Creative cognition and dopaminergic modulation of fronto-striatal networks: Integrative review and research agenda. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 78, 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.04.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broday-Dvir, R., & Malach, R. (2021). Resting-state fluctuations underlie free and creative verbal behaviors in the human brain. Cerebral Cortex, 31(1), 213–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaudhuri, S., Dooley, M., Johnson, D., Beaty, R., & Bhattacharya, J. (2023). Evaluation of poetic creativity: Predictors and the role of expertise-a multilevel approach. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (in press).Google Scholar
Chermahini, S. A., & Hommel, B. (2010). The (b)link between creativity and dopamine: Spontaneous eye blink rates predict and dissociate divergent and convergent thinking. Cognition, 115(3), 458–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.03.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, V. K. M., Harrison, P. M. C., Meyer, L., Pearce, M. T., Haynes, J.-D., & Koelsch, S. (2019). Uncertainty and surprise jointly predict musical pleasure and amygdala, hippocampus, and auditory cortex activity. Current Biology, 29(23), 4084–4092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.067CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. D., McClure, S. M., & Yu, A. J. (2007). Should I stay or should I go? How the human brain manages the trade-off between exploitation and exploration. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 362(1481), 933–942. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2098CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cools, R., & D'Esposito, M. (2011). Inverted-U-shaped dopamine actions on human working memory and cognitive control. Biological Psychiatry, 69(12), e113–e125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Dreu, C. K. W., Nijstad, B. A., & Baas, M. (2024). Human creativity: Functions, mechanisms, and social conditioning. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 69(4), 203–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2023.11.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Dreu, C. K. W., Baas, M., & Nijstad, B. A. (2008). Hedonic tone and activation level in the mood-creativity link: Toward a dual pathway to creativity model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(5), 739–756. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.5.739CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubey, R., & Griffiths, T. L. (2020). Reconciling novelty and complexity through a rational analysis of curiosity. Psychological Review, 127(3), 455–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000175CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dubey, R., Griffiths, T. L., & Lombrozo, T. (2022). If it's important, then I'm curious: Increasing perceived usefulness stimulates curiosity. Cognition, 226, 105193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105193CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duff, M. C., Kurczek, J., Rubin, R., Cohen, N. J., & Tranel, D. (2013). Hippocampal amnesia disrupts creative thinking. Hippocampus, 23(12), 1143–1149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duszkiewicz, A. J., McNamara, C. G., Takeuchi, T., & Genzel, L. (2019). Novelty and dopaminergic modulation of memory persistence: A tale of two systems. Trends in Neurosciences, 42(2), 102–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2018.10.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duval, P. E., Fornari, E., Décaillet, M., Ledoux, J.-B., Beaty, R. E., & Denervaud, S. (2023). Creative thinking and brain network development in schoolchildren. Developmental Science, 26(6), e13389. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13389CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erez, M., & Nouri, R. (2010). Creativity: The influence of cultural, social, and work contexts. Management and Organization Review, 6(3), 351–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, N. S., & Jirout, J. J. (2023). Investigating the relation between curiosity and creativity. Journal of Creativity, 33(1), 100038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjoc.2022.100038CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fair, D. A., Cohen, A. L., Dosenbach, N. U. F., Church, J. A., Miezin, F. M., Barch, D. M., … Schlaggar, B. L. (2008). The maturing architecture of the brain's default network. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(10), 4028–4032. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800376105CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fastrich, G. M., & Murayama, K. (2020). Development of interest and role of choice during sequential knowledge acquisition. AERA Open, 6(2), 2332858420929981. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858420929981CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzgibbon, L., & Murayama, K. (2022). Counterfactual curiosity: Motivated thinking about what might have been. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377(1866), 20210340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frank, D., & Kafkas, A. (2021). Expectation-driven novelty effects in episodic memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 183, 107466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107466CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geser, F., Jellinger, K. A., Fellner, L., Wenning, G. K., Yilmazer-Hanke, D., & Haybaeck, J. (2021). Emergent creativity in frontotemporal dementia. Journal of Neural Transmission, 128(3), 279–293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-021-02325-zCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gopnik, A. (2020). Childhood as a solution to explore–exploit tensions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1803), 20190502. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0502CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, K., Anderson, S., Chen, E. E., Kelly, J. M., Christian, M. S., Patrick, J., … Lewis, K. (2019). “Forward flow”: A new measure to quantify free thought and predict creativity. American Psychologist, 74(5), 539–554. https://doi.org/10.1037/AMP0000391CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gvirts, H. Z., Mayseless, N., Segev, A., Lewis, D. Y., Feffer, K., Barnea, Y., … Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2017). Novelty-seeking trait predicts the effect of methylphenidate on creativity. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31(5), 599–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrison, S. H., Sluss, D. M., & Ashforth, B. E. (2011). Curiosity adapted the cat: The role of trait curiosity in newcomer adaptation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), 211–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, S., & Berry, J. W. (2023). Toward a meta-theory of creativity forms: How novelty and usefulness shape creativity. Academy of Management Review, 48(3), 504–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herz, N., Baror, S., & Bar, M. (2020). Overarching states of mind. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(3), 184–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.12.015CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hommel, B. (2015). Between persistence and flexibility: The Yin and Yang of action control. In Elliot, A. J. (Ed.), Advances in motivation science (Vol. 2, pp. 33–67). Elsevier.Google Scholar
Ivancovsky, T., Kleinmintz, O., Lee, J., Kurman, J., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2018). The neural underpinnings of cross-cultural differences in creativity. Human Brain Mapping, 39(11), 4493–4508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ivancovsky, T., Shamay-Tsoory, S., Lee, J., Morio, H., & Kurman, J. (2021). A multifaceted approach to measure creativity across cultures: The role of the centrality of context in divergent thinking tasks. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 55(4), 1028–1046.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kafkas, A., & Montaldi, D. (2018). How do memory systems detect and respond to novelty? Neuroscience Letters, 680, 60–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kashdan, T. B., & Silvia, P. J. (2009). Curiosity and interest: The benefits of thriving on novelty and challenge. Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology, 2, 367–374.Google Scholar
Kenett, Y. N., Anaki, D., & Faust, M. (2014). Investigating the structure of semantic networks in low and high creative persons. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(June), 407. https://doi.org/10.3389/FNHUM.2014.00407/ABSTRACTCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenett, Y. N., & Austerweil, J. L. (2016). Examining search processes in low and high creative individuals with random walks. Cognitive Science, 8, 313–318.Google Scholar
Kenett, Y. N., Humphries, S., & Chatterjee, A. (2023). A thirst for knowledge: Grounding curiosity, creativity, and aesthetics in memory and reward neural systems. Creativity Research Journal, 35(3), 412–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2023.2165748CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleinmintz, O. M., Goldstein, P., Mayseless, N., Abecasis, D., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2014). Expertise in musical improvisation and creativity: The mediation of idea evaluation. PLoS ONE, 9(7), e101568. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0101568CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, Y., Emin, M., Zhou, Q., Zhang, J., & Hu, W. (2023). The relationship between epistemic curiosity and creativity: Research status and educational implications. Future in Educational Research, 1(2), 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1002/fer3.14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Y., Kenett, Y. N., Hu, W., & Beaty, R. E. (2021). Flexible semantic network structure supports the production of creative metaphor. Creativity Research Journal, 33(3), 209–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2021.1879508CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liquin, E. G., Callaway, F., & Lombrozo, T. (2020). Quantifying curiosity: A formal approach to dissociating causes of curiosity. In Denison, S., Mack, M., Xu, Y. & Armstrong, B. C. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the cognitive science society (pp. 309–315). Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar
Liquin, E. G., Callaway, F., & Lombrozo, T. (2021). Developmental change in what elicits curiosity. In Fitch, T., Lamm, C., Leder, H. & Teßmar-Raible, K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd annual conference of the cognitive science society (pp. 1360–1366). Cognitive Science Society.Google Scholar
Litman, J. A. (2008). Interest and deprivation factors of epistemic curiosity. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(7), 1585–1595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litman, J. A., & Jimerson, T. L. (2004). The measurement of curiosity as a feeling of deprivation. Journal of Personality Assessment, 82(2), 147–157. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa8202_3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loewenstein, G. (1994). The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lydon-Staley, D. M., Zhou, D., Blevins, A. S., Zurn, P., & Bassett, D. S. (2021). Hunters, busybodies and the knowledge network building associated with deprivation curiosity. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(3), 327–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madore, K. P., Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2015). Creativity and memory: Effects of an episodic specificity induction on divergent thinking. Psychological Science, 26(9), 1461–1468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615591863CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madore, K. P., Thakral, P. P., Beaty, R. E., Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2019). Neural mechanisms of episodic retrieval support divergent creative thinking. Cerebral Cortex, 29(1), 150–166. https://doi.org/10.1093/CERCOR/BHX312CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Modirshanechi, A., Becker, S., Brea, J., & Gerstner, W. (2023). Surprise and novelty in the brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 82, 102758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2023.102758CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neldner, K., Redshaw, J., Murphy, S., Tomaselli, K., Davis, J., Dixson, B., & Nielsen, M. (2019). Creation across culture: Children's tool innovation is influenced by cultural and developmental factors. Developmental Psychology, 55(4), 877–889. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000672CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noy, N., Bickel, S., Zion-Golumbic, E., Harel, M., Golan, T., Davidesco, I., … Malach, R. (2015). Ignition's glow: Ultra-fast spread of global cortical activity accompanying local “ignitions” in visual cortex during conscious visual perception. Consciousness and Cognition, 35, 206–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nussenbaum, K., Martin, R. E., Maulhardt, S., Yang, Y. (Jen), Bizzell-Hatcher, G., Bhatt, N. S., … Hartley, C. A. (2023). Novelty and uncertainty differentially drive exploration across development. eLife, 12, e84260. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84260CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Omigie, D., & Ricci, J. (2023). Accounting for expressions of curiosity and enjoyment during music listening. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 17(2), 225–241. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000461CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oudeyer, P.-Y., Kaplan, F., & Hafner, V. V. (2007). Intrinsic motivation systems for autonomous mental development. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 11(2), 265–286. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEVC.2006.890271CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perchtold-Stefan, C. M., Fink, A., Rominger, C., & Papousek, I. (2022). Social exclusion increases antisocial tendencies: Evidence from retaliatory ideation in a malevolent creativity task. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000500CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poli, F., Serino, G., Mars, R. B., & Hunnius, S. (2020). Infants tailor their attention to maximize learning. Science Advances, 6(39), eabb5053. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb5053CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quent, J. A., Greve, A., & Henson, R. N. (2022). Shape of U: The nonmonotonic relationship between object–location memory and expectedness. Psychological Science, 33(12), 2084–2097. doi: 10.1177/09567976221109134CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quent, J. A., Henson, R. N., & Greve, A. (2021). A predictive account of how novelty influences declarative memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 179, 107382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107382CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Runco, M. A., & Acar, S. (2012). Divergent thinking as an indicator of creative potential. Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 66–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2012.652929CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakai, A., Murayama, Y., Fujiwara, K., Fujisawa, T., Sasaki, S., Kidoaki, S., & Yanagisawa, M. (2018). Increasing elasticity through changes in the secondary structure of gelatin by gelation in a microsized lipid space. ACS Central Science, 4(4), 477–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, L. E., Rudie, J. D., Pfeifer, J. H., Masten, C. L., McNealy, K., & Dapretto, M. (2014). Development of the default mode and central executive networks across early adolescence: A longitudinal study. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 10, 148–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sowden, P. T., Pringle, A., & Gabora, L. (2015). The shifting sands of creative thinking: Connections to dualprocess theory. Thinking & Reasoning, 21(1), 40–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1996). Investing in creativity. American Psychologist, 51(7), 677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tobias, S. (1994). Interest, prior knowledge, and learning. Review of Educational Research, 64(1), 37–54. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543064001037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uddin, L. Q., Supekar, K. S., Ryali, S., & Menon, V. (2011). Dynamic reconfiguration of structural and functional connectivity across core neurocognitive brain networks with development. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(50), 18578–18589. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4465-11.2011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Lieshout, L. L., de Lange, F. P., & Cools, R. (2021). Uncertainty increases curiosity, but decreases happiness. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 14014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhou, Y., Xiao, K., & Zhang, Y. (2020, December). An ensemble learning approach for extracting concept prerequisite relations from Wikipedia. In 2020 16th International Conference on Mobility, Sensing and Networking (MSN) (pp. 642–647). IEEE.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zioga, I., Harrison, P. M. C., Pearce, M. T., Bhattacharya, J., & Di Bernardi Luft, C. (2020). From learning to creativity: Identifying the behavioural and neural correlates of learning to predict human judgements of musical creativity. NeuroImage, 206, 116311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116311CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed