Creativity Research Journal

ISSN: 1040-0419 (Print) 1532-6934 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hcrj20

Creative Thinking in an Emotional Context: Specific

Relevance of Executive Control of Emotion-
Laden Representations in the Inventiveness in
Generating Alternative Appraisals of Negative
Events

Christian Rominger, Ilona Papousek, Elisabeth M. Weiss, Günter Schulter,

Corinna M. Perchtold, Helmut K. Lackner & Andreas Fink

To cite this article: Christian Rominger, Ilona Papousek, Elisabeth M. Weiss, Günter Schulter,
Corinna M. Perchtold, Helmut K. Lackner & Andreas Fink (2018) Creative Thinking in an
Emotional Context: Specific Relevance of Executive Control of Emotion-Laden Representations
in the Inventiveness in Generating Alternative Appraisals of Negative Events, Creativity
Research Journal, 30:3, 256-265, DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2018.1488196

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2018.1488196

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CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL, 30(3), 256–265, 2018
Published with license by Taylor & Francis
ISSN: 1040-0419 print/1532-6934 online
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2018.1488196

Creative Thinking in an Emotional Context: Specific

Relevance of Executive Control of Emotion-Laden
Representations in the Inventiveness in Generating
Alternative Appraisals of Negative Events
Christian Rominger, Ilona Papousek, Elisabeth M. Weiss, Günter Schulter, and Corinna M. Perchtold
University of Graz

Helmut K. Lackner
Medical University of Graz

Andreas Fink
University of Graz

Although divergent thinking ability in different domains may largely rely on the same basic
executive functions, domain-specific functions may also be important, in particular when it
comes to more real-life creativity demands. This study investigated if functional executive
control of emotion-laden representations may be specifically relevant in cognitive reappraisal,
which implies being creative in an affective context. In a sample of 88 healthy individuals, the
relation between the participants’ inventiveness in generating positive reappraisals of adverse
events (Reappraisal Inventiveness Test) and in generating novel ideas without emotional
component (conventional divergent thinking test) to their executive functioning in tasks
without (Mittenecker Pointing Test) and with emotional contribution (humor processing
task) was studied. In line with hybrid models of creative thinking, poorer basic inhibition
skills were found to be associated with poorer fluency performance in both divergent thinking
tasks. Relations applied more specifically to reappraisal inventiveness when it came to
executive processes with a more prominent emotional component. Creative performance in
both tasks may have been hampered by time limits. The results support the notion that, in
addition to basic executive functioning, more specific cognitive control functions are impli-
cated in more real-life creative performance, according to related domain-specific demands.

Creativity is a skill relevant in many contexts of everyday 2004; Rawlings & Locarnini, 2007; Weber, Loureiro De
life, such as school, work, arts, sports, and coping with Assunção, Martin, Westmeyer, & Geisler, 2014).
adversities (Hong & Milgram, 2010; Kaufman & Baer, Accordingly, the importance of investigating complex and
more real-life creative behavior is increasingly recognized,
which has also raised the question to which extent domain-
Address correspondence to Andreas Fink, Institute of Psychology, general and domain-specific cognitive control processes are
University of Graz, Austria. E-mail: andreas.fi[email protected] implicated in creative thinking (Agnoli, Corazza, & Runco,
© Christian Rominger, Ilona Papousek, Elisabeth M. Weiss, Günter
Schulter, Corinna M. Perchtold, Helmut K. Lackner, and Andreas Fink.
2016; Baer, 1998; Boccia, Piccardi, Palermo, Nori, &
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Palmiero, 2015; Ellamil, Dobson, Beeman, & Christoff,
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 2012; Fink et al., 2018b; Fink, Perchtold, & Rominger,
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non- 2018a; Hong & Milgram, 2010; Palmiero, Nakatani, Raver,
commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided Belardinelli, & Van Leeuwen, 2010; Rominger et al., in
the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built
upon in any way.
press; Rominger, Reitinger, Seyfried, Schneckenleitner, &
 CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 257

Fink, 2017b; for examples of domain-specificity of execu- a stop-signal task (Hendricks & Buchanan, 2016; McRae
tive control processes see Cocchini, Logie, Della Sala, et al., 2012).1
MacPherson, & Baddeley, 2002; Hamilton & Martin, It has also been proposed that reappraisal ability may be
2005; Vuong & Martin, 2014). related to executive control over emotional material, over
A suitable yet still understudied creative skill for inves- and above the functionality of nonemotional control pro-
tigating the relevance of basic and domain-specific execu- cesses (Malooly et al., 2013). This notion was supported by
tive functioning in creative or divergent thinking is the direct comparisons of brain activity changes during the
inventiveness in generating alternative appraisals of nega- generation of ideas in a conventional divergent thinking
tive events (Fink et al., 2017; Weber et al., 2014). It requires task and a cognitive reappraisal task, which suggested that
the generation of manifold alternative, original, and useful some additional demands must be implicated in cognitive
solutions to an open and ill-defined problem, matching the reappraisal compared to divergent thinking without emo-
main characteristics of creativity (Runco & Acar, 2012; tional component (Fink et al., 2017; Papousek et al., 2017;
Runco & Jaeger, 2012). Thus, the generation of alternative Perchtold et al., 2018b). These demands are presumably
appraisals of negative events implies being creative in an attributed to the linkup of participating executive processes
affective context (Fink et al., 2018a, 2017; Perchtold et al., with affective contexts. Taken together, this background
2018b; Weber et al., 2014). suggested the investigation of executive functioning includ-
Creative ideation is commonly thought to rely on a range ing basic, nonemotional functions as well as the functioning
of executive control functions (for an overview, see Fink & of cognitive control processes embedded in an emotional
Benedek, 2014; Fink et al., 2018a), and their importance is context.
recognized in prominent creativity theories (Allen & One possibility to put relevant executive functions in an
Thomas, 2011; Chrysikou, Weber, & Thompson-Schill, emotional context is to study humor processing. Jokes typi-
2014; Finke, Ward, & Smith, 1996; Mok, 2014; Sowden, cally have a first, contextually salient interpretation that is
Pringle, & Gabora, 2015). Primarily top-down control pro- discarded at the punch line in favor of a more marked
cesses, preservation of internal attention, and inhibition of reading (Brône, Feyaerts, & Veale, 2006; Giora, 1991). In
habitual responses are regarded vital ingredients of creativ- typical jokes, this involves the inhibition of the negative
ity (Benedek, Franz, Heene, & Neubauer, 2012; Benedek, emotional aspect of the situation (i.e., what is happening to
Jauk, Sommer, Arendasy, & Neubauer, 2014; Cheng, Hu, the victim of the joke) and a shift of focus toward positive
Jia, & Runco, 2016; Edl, Benedek, Papousek, Weiss, & aspects or interpretations (Martin & Lefcourt, 1983; Moran,
Fink, 2014; Fink & Benedek, 2014; Pinho, Ullen, Castelo- 1996) resembling putative demands in cognitive
Branco, Fransson, & De Manzano, 2016; Rominger, Fink, reappraisal.2 Fortunately, there is a validated task (Lackner
Weiss, Bosch, & Papousek, 2017a; Rominger et al., in et al., 2013; Papousek et al., 2013a, 2013b; Papousek,
press; Zabelina & Robinson, 2010; Zabelina, Robinson, Schulter, Lackner, Samson, & Freudenthaler, 2014;
Council, & Bresin, 2012). Although a contribution of execu- Samson, Zysset, & Huber, 2008) that allows one to observe
tive functioning has also been assumed in cognitive reap- two interdependent but dissociable processes implicating
praisal (Ochsner & Gross, 2005; Weber et al., 2014), direct inhibition and cognitive shifting that increasingly involve
behavioral evidence is relatively scarce to date. It was the linkup of cognitive and emotional components (Gardner,
proposed that the generation of reappraisals of stressful Ling, Flamm, & Silverman, 1975; Shammi & Stuss, 2003;
situations requires the ability to inhibit the prepotent nega- Vrticka, Black, & Reiss, 2013). The functionality of the
tive aspect of the situation, along with switching (shifting more cognitive component of perceiving the punch line
focus) between negative and neutral or positive mental sets, (i.e., of detecting and resolving the incompatible elements
and updating the current perspective with a newer one. in the joke) is mirrored in the time until the punch line is
Consequently, inhibition, set-shifting, and possibly memory detected (response latency). An even greater emotional
updating should represent central control functions share is implicated in the immediate experience of pleasure
(Malooly, Genet, & Siemer, 2013). So far, the inventiveness related to the satisfaction derived from the cognitive event
in generating reappraisals has not been investigated in this of sudden insight when recognizing the punch line (Vrticka
context. Indirect information was derived from investiga-
tions studying the effectiveness of reappraisal efforts in
terms of subjectively reported reduced negative affect in 1
T he behaviorally assessed inventiveness in generating alternative
laboratory tasks. However, results were heterogeneous. appraisals of negative emotional events, on which this study focuses, is
Although some studies found positive correlations with unrelated to the self-reported habitual use of reappraisal (Weber et al.,
memory updating performance (Hendricks & Buchanan, 2014). Therefore, and for space limits, research having used self-reported
2016; Schmeichel, Volokhov, & Demaree, 2008), others habitual tendencies to engage in reappraisal efforts is not reviewed here.
2
Depending on the type of joke additional, more complex cognitive
reported a counterintuitive negative association with set- processes such as mentalising or anticipation of events that are only
shifting performance (McRae, Jacobs, Ray, John, & Gross, insinuated may be required for understanding the punch line (Weiss et al.,
2012), and no correlations with inhibition in the Stroop and 2013).
258 C. ROMINGER ET AL.

et al., 2013). It can be objectively quantified by analyzing METHOD

the cardiac response to the detection of the punch line
(contrasted transient response; Lackner et al., 2013). Links Participants
between divergent thinking and humor processing have long
The sample comprised n = 88 university students (38 men,
been recognized in the creativity literature (e.g., Cundall,
50 women) who were enrolled in various fields. Their age
2007; Kellner & Benedek, 2017; O’Quin & Derks, 2011).
was between 18 and 33 years (M = 23.1, SD = 3.5).
The appropriate measurement of executive functioning in
Individuals with major psychiatric disorders/history of
nonemotional contexts constitutes another challenge alto-
major psychiatric disorders according to the Structured
gether. It has been posited that some executive functions
Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID)
are difficult to quantify experimentally, because they are
and individuals who reported having a neurological disease
rooted in the temporal domain (Paulus, Geyer, & Braff,
or using psychoactive medication were not included in the
1999; Zabelina & Robinson, 2010). This particularly applies
study. A student sample was chosen because part of the
to measures referring to the function of dynamically activat-
standard version of the reappraisal test had been tailored
ing and modifying cognitive processes in response to chan-
for a student population (the items include negative experi-
ging conditions and demands, such as the inhibition of
ences that students can easily imagine happening to them).
dominant responses and developing routines (perseveration)
The study was approved by the authorised ethics committee.
and memory updating. A well-designed motor random gen-
Written consent was obtained from all participants.
eration test allows one to separately measure individual
differences in these two functions (Schulter, Mittenecker,
& Papousek, 2010; see also Miyake et al., 2000). Several Assessments
studies confirmed that the interindividual variability in the
Divergent thinking in an emotional context:
performance on such a test meaningfully relates to the
inventiveness in generating alternative appraisals of
efficiency of executive processes in healthy individuals
negative events
(Schulter et al., 2010; Weiss et al., 2017, 2014). Previous
studies using random generation tasks predominantly indi- For the assessment of this specific divergent thinking abil-
cated the relevance of inhibition for fluency in conventional ity, the Reappraisal Inventiveness Test (RIT; Weber et al.,
divergent thinking (Benedek et al., 2012; Cheng et al., 2016; 2014) was used. This test was applied in several previous
Zabelina et al., 2012). studies, which confirmed its validity and substantiated the
Taken together, the main aim of the study was to inves- notion of cognitive reappraisal being an instance of creative
tigate if divergent thinking in an emotional context specifi- or divergent thinking (Fink et al., 2017; Papousek et al., 2017;
cally requires executive control of emotion-laden Perchtold et al., 2018a, 2018b; Weber et al., 2014). The origi-
representations that goes beyond basic executive functions nal RIT consists of four anger-eliciting vignettes. Each vignette
(that are required in all divergent thinking). To this end, we is supplemented by a matching photograph to make the situa-
evaluated the relevance of basic and domain-specific execu- tion more vivid. For a broader assessment, four additionally
tive functioning in the inventiveness in generating alterna- developed and validated anxiety-eliciting vignettes (De
tive appraisals of negative events, which implicates being Assuncao, Golke, Geisler, & Weber, 2015) were also used.
creative in an affective context. For a more integrated view, Participants were instructed to imagine the situation happening
performance on the same executive tasks was also correlated to them and to generate and write down as many and as
with the inventiveness in generating novel ideas without different ways as possible to think about or appraise the situa-
emotional component (i.e., conventional verbal divergent tion in a way that diminishes their anger or anxiety (3 min
thinking). It was expected that poorer inventiveness in the each). On average, participants generated 5.35 (SD = 1.31)
emotional context, as well as poorer inventiveness in the valid, distinguishable reappraisals to each of the eight vign-
conventional divergent thinking task without emotional ettes. The scores obtained for each vignette were aggregated to
component, would be associated with poorer basic inhibi- obtain the total test score (M = 42.81, SD = 10.48).
tion and possibly poorer memory updating skills, reflecting Aggregation across anger and anxiety vignettes is justified by
shared demands of the two types of divergent thinking. It confirmatory factor analysis, which showed that reappraisal
was further expected that poorer inhibition and shifting in an inventiveness should be regarded as a trans-emotional ability
emotional context (i.e., slower detection of punch lines and that is not specific to certain emotions (De Assuncao et al.,
a less pronounced immediate pleasure response after the 2015). Accordingly, the internal consistency reliability across
experience of sudden insight during humor processing) the eight anger and anxiety items (Cronbach’s alpha) was α =
would be associated with poorer inventiveness in an emo- .91 (similar reliabilities were reported in Papousek et al., 2017;
tional context (generation of alternative appraisals) over and Weber et al., 2014). Total numbers of reappraisals in the three
above conventional divergent thinking ability. categories that are available in the category schemes for both
 CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 259

the anger and the anxiety vignettes were also calculated (see nonemotional, and for which the cardiac contrasted transient
Weber et al., 2014): positive reinterpretation (generating posi- response is difficult to determine because of very short
tive aspects; α = .74, M = 16.5, SD = 7.1), problem-oriented response times, were not used. Participants were instructed
(casting the situation in terms of how the impact of the situa- to indicate via mouse click whether they had or had not
tion could be reduced or compensated for; α = .70, M = 7.2, understood the punch line and to click the respective button
SD = 4.1), and de-emphasising (α = .72, M = 17.2, SD = 7.0). as soon as they had understood the punch line or were sure
The fluency index was scored by an experienced researcher. that they did not understand it. The pictures were presented
Papousek et al. (2017) and Weber et al. (2014) reported very in random order until the understood or not understood
satisfying interrater reliabilities of around ICC = .90. In addi- button was clicked, respectively (max. 6 s), followed by
tion to this fluency score the RIT also allows for the calculation max. 4 s in which the picture’s funniness was rated on a
of a flexibility score (number of categorically different reap- scale ranging from 1 to 6, 10 s in which the punch line
praisals). However, in the RIT, fluency and the flexibility should be briefly described and another 10 s in which a
scores are highly redundant (r = .90 in our study; r = .97 in fixation cross was presented, before the next picture
the study of Weber et al., 2014). Therefore, the analyses focus appeared on the screen. On average, 24.9 (SD = 4.5) or
on the fluency score only. The RIT does not provide for the 77.81% of the punch lines were detected. Participants erro-
determination of the originality of reappraisal ideas. neously indicated having perceived a punch line in M = 3.2
(SD = 2.3) or 19.96% of the nonhumorous control pictures
Conventional divergent thinking: inventiveness in (false alarms; d’ = 1.61). The funniness of cartoons was
generating novel ideas without emotional rated M = 3.5 (SD = 0.9; control pictures: M = 1.3, SD =
component 0.4). These numbers confirm that participants understood
the task and that the two relevant measures of the task
For the assessment of the capacity to generate novel
(i.e., response latencies and the cardiac Contrasted
ideas without emotional component, the verbal imagination
Transient Response) are based on an adequate data basis.
subscales of the German Berlin Intelligence-Structure Test
Response latencies (starting from the onset of the pic-
(Jäger, Süß, & Beauducel, 1997) were used, which capture
tures) were averaged across all detected punch lines in
divergent thinking applied to verbal content. The four verbal
cartoons (M = 4.0, SD = 0.49, min = 2.6, max = 4.9).
subtests require participants to produce and write down as
Residualized scores were calculated, to control for indivi-
many different ideas as possible (e.g., alternative uses,
dual differences in general response tendencies and response
insights) in a limited amount of time (2 to 2.5 min).
speed, for analyzing variability specific to the detection of
Because it was the study’s goal to relate the findings for
humorous punch lines. This was done by conducting linear
the inventiveness in generating ideas with to those without
regressions using the scores of the (not understood) control
emotional component, in analogy to the RIT only the flu-
pictures to predict those of the (understood) cartoons (see
ency score of the BIS scales was used in the analyses (total
also Samson et al., 2012). Shorter response latencies indi-
number of generated ideas; α = .62, M = 31.4, SD = 7.4).
cate higher efficiency of the moderately emotion-laden cog-
nitive process of detecting the humor, which implicates the
Executive functioning in an emotional context:
functionality of inhibition and set-shifting in an affective
humor processing task
context (Martin & Lefcourt, 1983; Moran, 1996).
A well-validated nonverbal humor-processing task was Cardiac contrasted transient response (CTR; Lackner
used for the assessment of executive functioning in an et al., 2013) data were obtained with electrocardiogram
emotional context (Lackner et al., 2013; Papousek et al., recording during the humor-processing task using a standard
2013a, 2014, 2013b; Samson, Lackner, Weiss, & Papousek, limb lead II electrode configuration. Heart rate changes
2012; Samson et al., 2008). The computer-based task com- relative to the 0.5 s frame preceding the picture onset were
prised 32 humorous cartoons and 16 nonhumourous control separately averaged across trials with cartoons and trials
pictures (all nonverbal line drawings). All humorous car- with nonhumorous control pictures, and the CTR was cal-
toons contained an incongruity which could be resolved culated as the difference between the heart rate change in
meaningfully (i.e., they involved a typical punch line) and the 0.5 s frame immediately preceding the participant’s
followed a typical joke pattern (i.e., involved a target of the response indicating having detected the punch line in car-
joke). Control pictures contained incongruities that could toons minus the data from the same 0.5 s frame in control
not be resolved and typically are not perceived funny. trials in which participants did not find a punch line (M =
Please see Samson et al. (2012) for examples of the humor- 1.3 bpm, SD = 2.4). Higher positive values indicate more
ous material. In our study, only the more complex cartoons immediate pleasure related to the satisfaction derived from
were used (semantic and theory of mind cartoons), which the sudden insight when detecting the humor. Thus, while
implicate some emotionally toned incongruity. The more referring to the same cognitive process of detecting and
simple puns, in which the incongruity is typically resolving the incompatible elements in the joke, in the
260 C. ROMINGER ET AL.

CTR even more emotional load is implicated compared to context) as well as on the BIS (conventional divergent thinking)
the response latency. Lackner et al. (2013) presented details were correlated with poorer basic executive functioning (execu-
for calculating the CTR and its validity. tive functioning without emotional contribution: inhibition and
memory updating in the MPT). The evaluation whether the
Executive functioning without emotional executive functions in the MPT reflect basic requirements that
contribution: mittenecker pointing test are relevant in all divergent thinking irrespective of the specific
context (emotional or not; first hypothesis) corresponds to the
The Mittenecker Pointing Test (MPT; Schulter et al., 2010)
statistical question whether it is shared variance of RIT and BIS
was selected as a presumably particularly appropriate execu-
performance that accounts for their correlations with executive
tive test in this context. It is a computer-based motor random
functioning in the MPT. Therefore, significant Pearson correla-
generation test in which the participants are instructed to press
tions were followed-up by standard multiple regression analysis
the keys of a keyboard with nine unlabelled keys irregularly
with performance on the RIT and performance on the BIS as
distributed over the board with their right index finger in the
independent variables and the respective component of the
most random or chaotic order possible (180 responses in total).
MPT as the dependent variable. The Pearson correlations
The responses were paced by an acoustic signal (1.2/s) to
include variance that RIT and BIS performances share, as well
control the rate of production. The MPT allows to separately
as unique portions of variance of RIT and BIS performance that
measure individual differences in two important executive
are associated with the MPT component. The semipartial corre-
functions with the same simple test by using sophisticated
lations (sr), obtained in the multiple regression analysis, contain
and validated quantitative measures of deviation from random-
the unique portions of variance only. Hence, if the semipartial
ness, based on information theory analysis (Schulter et al.,
correlations are lower than the Pearson correlations (and non-
2010): The symbol redundancy (SR) is related to memory
significant), it can be concluded that predominantly shared
monitoring and updating. A SR score of zero denotes maximal
variance of RIT and BIS performance accounts for their correla-
equality of the relative frequencies of chosen keys and thus
tions with the MPT component. A significant multiple regres-
minimal predictability, whereas a score of 1.0 denotes maximal
sion coefficient (R) in spite of nonsignificant semipartial
redundancy and, thus, a lack of randomness (i.e., higher values
correlations of the individual independent variables in the
indicate poorer performance; M = .011, SD = .009). The
model corroborates this conclusion.
context redundancy (CR) is based on the sequential probability
To evaluate whether executive control of emotion-
of each chosen key. The major part of the interindividual
laden representations (obtained in the humor processing
variance in CR is due to the tendency to repeat certain response
task) is specifically associated with divergent thinking in
sequences en bloc. Thus, CR reflects the inhibition of devel-
an emotional context (RIT), over and above conventional
oping routines. A CR score of zero denotes the complete
divergent thinking ability (BIS; second hypothesis), an
absence of any regular pattern; a score of 1.0 denotes the
analogous statistical strategy was applied. A significant
presence of a fixed, repetitive response pattern (i.e., higher
Pearson correlation of RIT performance with one of the
values indicate poorer performance; M = .18, SD = .04). For
emotion-laden executive components was followed-up by
detailed information on the test and how to compute SR and
a standard multiple regression analysis with performance
CR please see Schulter et al. (2010).
on the RIT and performance on the BIS as independent
variables and the respective emotion-laden executive
Procedure component as the dependent variable. If the association
between RIT performance and an executive function indi-
After filling in the consent form, participants completed the RIT
cated in the Pearson correlation is preserved in the
anxiety items, the BIS subtests, the MPT, and the RIT anger
respective semipartial correlation, it can be concluded
items. One to 3 weeks later, they completed the SCID and the
that specific variance of RIT performance, that is, var-
humor-processing task. All tasks were administered by an
iance not shared with conventional divergent thinking
experienced researcher in a quiet examination room located at
ability, decisively accounts for its correlation with the
the department.
respective executive function. In this case, the respective
executive function is specifically relevant to divergent
Statistical Analysis thinking in an emotional context (i.e., to the inventiveness
in generating alternative appraisals of negative events),
The main aim of the study was to investigate if divergent beyond conventional divergent thinking ability.
thinking in an emotional context specifically requires executive Together, these analyses evaluate the importance of
control of emotion-laden representations, beyond basic execu- executive functions with increasing emotional contribution,
tive functions that are required in all divergent thinking. Hence, starting from basic executive functioning without emotional
in a first step, Pearson correlations (r) were used to test if poorer contribution (MPT), followed by the functionality of execu-
performance on the RIT (divergent thinking in an emotional tive processes with some emotional contribution (response
 CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 261

times in the detection of humor), and finally the indicator inventiveness. Individuals showing a less pronounced CTR
implicating the greatest emotional load (immediate pleasure generated a smaller number of positive reappraisals in the
response after detecting the humor, CTR). RIT (r = .26, p = .016). The CTR was not associated with
performance on the BIS (r = .09, p = .403). In the multiple
regression analysis, the semipartial correlation of reappraisal
RESULTS inventiveness remained unchanged compared to its zero-
order correlation (sr = .26, p = .016), indicating that shared
Pearson correlation analyses indicated that poorer inhibition of variance between the two abilities did not play a role in this
prepotent responses in the MPT was associated with poorer case (BIS: sr = .09, p = .405).
inventiveness in generating alternative appraisals of negative Additional analyses of the types of generated reappraisals
emotional events (CR; r = –.23, p = .032) as well as with showed that the significant correlations were mainly driven
poorer performance on the non-emotional divergent thinking by reappraisals in the category positive reinterpretation.
test (CR: r = –.24, p = .025). Memory monitoring and updating Table 1 summarizes these correlations. Intercorrelations
skills were not significantly related to reappraisal performance showed that largely different processes were represented
(SR; r = –.18, p = .097), nor to the performance on the non- by the inhibition component of the MPT, the response
emotional divergent thinking test (SR: r = –.03, p = .815). The latency, and the cardiac response in the humor processing
low semipartial correlations in the multiple regression analysis task (CR × humor response latency: r = .08, p = .451; CR ×
revealed that the inhibition of prepotent responses was mainly humor cardiac response: r = –.18, p = .093; humor response
correlated with shared variance of the inventiveness in gener- latency × cardiac response: r = –.04, p = .703).
ating positive reappraisals and divergent thinking without
emotional component (RIT: sr = –.11, p = .325; BIS: sr =
–.13, p = .243; R = .26, p = .050). The intercorrelation between DISCUSSION
RIT and BIS fluency was r = .62 (p < .001).
Poorer inventiveness in generating positive reappraisals The aim of this study was to investigate the relevance of basic
was related to slower detection of punch lines in jokes and domain-specific executive functioning to an instance of
involving also negative emotional aspects (r = –.24, p = real-life creative ability, that is, to the inventiveness in gener-
.026). Performance on the BIS was not significantly corre- ating alternative appraisals of negative events, which impli-
lated to this emotionally toned cognitive process of humor cates being creative in an affective context. The study showed
perception (r = –.17, p = .106). In the multiple regression that the inventiveness in generating cognitive reappraisals was
analysis, the semipartial correlation of reappraisal inventive- related to the basic inhibition of prepotent responses and
ness with the response latencies was pushed under the sig- perseveration as well as to the functionality of control pro-
nificance threshold (sr = –.17, p = .119), indicating the cesses in the emotional context of humor processing. The
contribution of some shared variance of reappraisal inven- findings indicated that poorer basic inhibition skills, as well
tiveness and conventional divergent thinking in this relation- as poorer inhibition and cognitive shifting in an emotional
ship (BIS: sr = –.03, p = .750). context, are linked to poorer reappraisal inventiveness.
Finally, the process with the greatest emotional compo- Taking account of conventional divergent thinking ability,
nent, the occurrence of immediate pleasure after perception relations applied more specifically to reappraisal inventiveness
of the punch lines in the jokes, was related to reappraisal for functions with a more prominent emotional component.

TABLE 1
Summary of correlations between the inventiveness in generating alternative appraisals of negative events (RIT) and the inventiveness in
generating novel ideas without emotional component (BIS) and executive functioning with increasing emotional contribution

MPT Humor Task

Inhibition Humor Task Inhibition/Shifting Inhibition/Shifting
(CR) (Response Latency) (CTR)

r (p) sr (p) r (p) sr (p) r (p) sr (p)

RIT total −.23(.032) −.11(.325) −.24(.026) −.17(.119) .26 (.016) .26 (.016)
RIT positive reinterpretation −.27(.012) −.17(.098) −.25(.019) −.19(.074) .24 (.027) .22 (.040)
RIT problem-oriented .11 (.297) .21 (.046) −.05(.640) .01 (.922) −.01(.912) −.05(.669)
RIT de-emphasising −.15(.173) −.10(.360) −.03(.757) .01 (.964) .19 (.081) .17 (.112)
BIS −.24(.025) −.13(.243) −.17(.106) −.03(.750) .09 (.403) .09 (.405)

Note: r … Pearson correlation, sr … semi-partial correlation controlling for performance on the BIS (first four rows)/the RIT (last row). Correlations with
p < .05 are highlighted in bold font.
262 C. ROMINGER ET AL.

The relevance of basic inhibition skills to the inventive- correlations between reappraisal performance and memory
ness in generating novel ideas with and without emotional updating skills, but these studies did not directly assess the
component is in line with previous empirical findings and inventiveness in generating cognitive reappraisals but
theoretical accounts in the field of creativity pointing to the effects of reappraisal efforts on mood (Hendricks &
importance of executive top-down control processes in crea- Buchanan, 2016; Schmeichel et al., 2008). The SR score
tive ideation (Edl et al., 2014; Finke et al., 1996; Groborz & of the MPT is a specific indicator of monitoring and updat-
Necka, 2003; Lopata, Nowicki, & Joanisse, 2017; Pinho ing contents in memory that essentially taps the individual’s
et al., 2016; Rominger et al., 2017a, in press; Zabelina & capability to keep track of the chosen responses. The work-
Robinson, 2010). The correlations directly corroborate pre- ing memory load may be considered relatively low, which
vious findings that were obtained with the same or a similar might mask subtle processing deficits related to memory
random generation test and conventional divergent thinking monitoring/updating (Weiss et al., 2017). In line with this,
ability (Benedek et al., 2012; Cheng et al., 2016). Our several studies in clinical, as well as in healthy, samples
results add to these previous findings by providing beha- indicated that CR is the more sensitive measure compared to
vioral evidence for the notion that functional basic inhibi- SR (Schulter et al., 2010; Weiss et al., 2017).
tory processes are important for creative ideation Performances in the RIT and the conventional divergent
independently of the domain or context in which they are thinking test shared about 35% of their variance, as was also
embedded. In line with that, inhibition was primarily related shown by Weber et al. (2014) and Fink et al. (2017).
to shared variance of the inventiveness in generating alter- Nevertheless, creativity does not seem to be as unitary as has
native appraisals of negative events and conventional crea- been proposed by some authors (e.g., Julmi & Scherm, 2015;
tive ideas. Plucker, 1998; Simonton, 2009; but see Boccia et al., 2015;
Previous studies in the field of cognitive reappraisal did Fink et al., 2018b; Hong & Milgram, 2010; Palmiero et al.,
not find significant correlations with response inhibition in 2010; Pidgeon et al., 2016; Pinho et al., 2016; Silvia, Kaufman,
the Stroop and a stop signal task (Hendricks & Buchanan, & Pretz, 2009). The functionality of the studied executive
2016; McRae et al., 2012). The MPT, allowing to assess processes was associated with some unique variance of reap-
temporally rooted processes such as the inhibition of devel- praisal inventiveness. This seemed to be the more true the more
oping routines, may more closely map relevant processes. A prominent the emotional component in the executive function
further important difference with those previous studies is was, corroborating evidence that the emotion-related features in
that they used subjective ratings of negative affect elicited cognitive reappraisal place additional demands on the brain
by negative stimuli to assess the self-reported effectiveness compared to conventional divergent thinking (Fink et al.,
of reappraisal efforts, which is only a very indirect indicator 2017; Papousek et al., 2017). Together, these findings shed
of the inventiveness in generating reappraisals and, hence, some light on reports of weak or even zero correlations between
creative or divergent thinking. By contributing to the cap- creative performances in different domains (Baer, 1998; Baldo,
ability to switch to alternative appraisals, functional inhibi- Shimamura, Delis, Kramer, & Kaplan, 2001; Fink et al., 2018b;
tion may primarily help to increase the pool of generated Kaufman & Baer, 2004; Rawlings & Locarnini, 2007; Regard,
reinterpretations, that is, the inventiveness in generating Strauss, & Knapp, 1982; Rossmann & Fink, 2010; Ruff, Light,
reappraisals, which had not been directly related to inhibi- & Evans, 1987; Runco, 1987; for a summary see Weisberg,
tory functions, so far. 2006; but see Ulger, 2015). Correlations between different types
In contrast to the inhibition component (CR), the MPT’s of divergent thinking tasks may vary depending on the share of
memory updating component (SR) was related to neither of basic versus domain-specific executive functioning underlying
the two divergent thinking tasks. The inhibition component adequate performance.
refers to the ability to inhibit or override the tendency to In this study, the emotional context for the operation of
produce a more dominant or automatic response when relevant cognitive control functions was established using a
necessary for achieving the current behavioral goal validated humor processing task. The detection and appre-
(Miyake et al., 2000), and thus seems conceptually closer ciation of the punch line in a typical joke requires functional
to the putative demands in creative thinking, compared to executive control (inhibition and cognitive shifting) of emo-
memory updating. Zabelina et al. (2012) did also not find a tion-laden representations (Martin & Lefcourt, 1983;
correlation between SR and conventional divergent thinking Moran, 1996; Samson et al., 2012). Compared to the gen-
performance, and studies reported performance on conven- eration of problem-oriented appraisals or de-emphasising,
tional creativity tasks to be correlated with inhibition in the proposed contributing control processes apply most to
random sequence generation (Benedek et al., 2012; Cheng positive re-interpretation. Consequently, the finding that the
et al., 2016). In line with our findings, Camarda et al. (in correlations of this study were mainly driven by the number
press) indicated the specific importance of inhibitory control of generated reappraisals categorized as positive reinterpre-
(but not working memory) for creative ideation performance tation enhances the plausibility of the pattern of results. In
by means of an experimental dual task design. Studies in the line with these findings, poorer shifting away from negative
domain of cognitive reappraisal reported positive and toward positive emotional aspects in an emotional task-
 CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 263

switching task (Malooly et al., 2013) was associated with 2017; Malooly et al., 2013; Papousek et al., 2017; Perchtold
less successful reappraisal efforts in terms of subjectively et al., 2018b). The findings are in line with hybrid theories
reported reduced negative affect. Please note that the corre- of creativity assuming that some cognitive control functions
lation between reappraisal inventiveness and the response impact creative performance across domains, whereas others
latencies in the humor task cannot be explained by indivi- may exert domain-specific effects (Boccia et al., 2015;
dual differences in general processing speed, because resi- Hong & Milgram, 2010; Julmi & Scherm, 2015; Kaufman
dualized scores adjusted for such general tendencies were & Baer, 2004,p. 9; Weisberg, 2006). Together, the results
used (see methods section). support the notion that in addition to basic executive func-
This study broke new ground in several ways. The study tioning, more specific cognitive control functions are impli-
of the inventiveness in the generation of alternative apprai- cated in more real-life creative performance, according to
sals of negative events is novel to the field of creativity. related domain-specific demands.
Studying creative ideation in the context of coping with
adversities may constitute a fruitful avenue for further
enhancing the practical relevance of creativity research FUNDING
(see also Reynolds, 2003, 2004; Reynolds, Lim, & Prior,
2008; Zausner, 1998). By exclusively drawing on objective This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund
behavioral measures instead of self-reported data, our data under Grant P 30362.
are independent from the participants’ ability or willingness
to accurately report on their own experience. Moreover, the
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