2016/01/02 by Niek Althuizen, Astrid Reichel
Psychology · #Creativity in Education and Neuroscience #Team Dynamics and Performance #Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
paper · doi:10.1080/07421222.2016.1172439
openalex publication_date 2016/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
We investigate the effectiveness of three types of IT-enabled cognitive stimulation tools for enhancing creative problem solving: mind mappers, process guides, and stimuli providers. Based on the dual pathway to creativity models, the authors examine the extent to which these tools are capable of stimulating individuals to explore their knowledge base more deeply (i.e., the persistence pathway) and more broadly (i.e., the flexibility pathway) and, hence, help to produce more novel ideas. In a laboratory study with business students, they find that, as compared to unaided individuals, IT-enabled stimuli providers enhance individual creativity more than process guides and mind mappers. As for the underlying creative process, stimuli providers push individuals to explore their knowledge base more deeply and more broadly, leading to more novel but, unexpectedly, also more useful ideas. The reported findings may facilitate the development of creativity support systems and their assignment to individuals and tasks.