Previous research indicates that episodic retrieval contributes to divergent creative thinking. However, this research has relied on standard laboratory tests of divergent creative thinking, such as generating creative uses for objects; it is unknown whether episodic retrieval also contributes to domain-specific forms of creativity. Here we start to explore whether episodic retrieval contributes to content generation on one such domain-specific task: creative writing. In two experiments, we use an episodic specificity induction (ESI) that selectively impacts tasks that draw on episodic retrieval. If episodic retrieval contributes to content generation during creative writing, then ESI should selectively increase the number of episodic details that people subsequently generate on a creative writing task. In our first experiment, we found evidence that ESI increased the number of episodic details participants generated. We observed a similar, though non-significant, trend in the second experiment. These findings constitute a starting point for examining the contribution of episodic retrieval to creative writing, but additional studies will be needed to more definitively characterize the nature and extent of these contributions.

A large body of research has revealed that viewing example image stimuli tends to constrain creative idea generation. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying such visual fixation in creative cognition are unclear. In the present experiment, we explored whether example images impacted creative imagination and patterns of neural activity within brain regions associated with visual object recognition. Participants first viewed example images (ambiguous line drawings) accompanied by high-constraint and low-constraint labels. High-constraint labels resembled the line drawings, whereas low constraint labels did not. Next, participants imagined new labels for the same line drawings, with the initial labels removed. Consistent with our predictions, semantic distance analysis comparing cue labels to newly generated labels showed lower average semantic distance (i.e., less creative ideas) on high-constraint trials compared to low-constraint trials. Using representational similarity analysis, we also demonstrated that neural pattern similarity was anticorrelated (less similar) from object recognition to high-constraint imagination trials within the right inferior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, and right superior occipital gyrus. Broadly, these findings suggest that salient visual examples may guide the formation of strong mental representations that constrain creative imagination. This research also offers a first step toward identifying neurocognitive signatures associated with the effortful process of producing new, creative ideas following exposure to fixating examples - particularly at the early level of object recognition/representation in the ventral visual stream.

Semantic distance is increasingly used for automated scoring of originality on divergent thinking tasks, such as the Alternate Uses Task (AUT). Despite some psychometric support for semantic distance - including positive correlations with human creativity ratings - additional work is needed to optimize its reliability and validity, including identifying maximally reliable items (objects) for AUT administration. We identify a set of 13 AUT items based on a systematic item-selection strategy (belt, brick, broom, bucket, candle, clock, comb, knife, lamp, pencil, pillow, purse, sock). This item-set resulted in acceptable reliability estimates and was found to be moderately related to both human creativity ratings and a creative personality factor (Study 1). These results replicated in a new sample of Participants (Study 2). We conclude with the following recommendations for reliable and valid assessment of AUT originality using semantic distance: 1) make choices based on theoretical/practical considerations, 2) administer (some or all of) the 13 items from this study; 3) if other items must be used, avoid compound words as AUT items (e.g., guitar string); 4) include as many AUT items as time permits; 5) instruct participants to be creative; and 6) address fluency confounds that conflate idea quantity and quality (e.g., via max scoring).

Evidence from fMRI research indicates that individual creative thinking ability - defined as performance on divergent thinking tasks, subjectively assessed by human raters - can be predicted based on the strength of functional connectivity (FC) between the brain's default mode network (DMN) and frontoparietal control network (FPCN). Here, we sought to replicate and extend these findings in two ways: 1) using a natural language processing method to objectively quantify creative performance (instead of subjective human ratings), and 2) employing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a neuroimaging method that allows measuring brain activity in more naturalistic settings (compared to fMRI). By applying elastic-net regression to resting-state functional connectivity data, we constructed two separate prediction models to predict participants' creative performance based on static FC and dynamic FC respectively. Results from the static network analysis indicated that fNIRS-functional connectivity between the DMN and FPCN can reliably predict creative ability (assessed objectively via natural language processing; R-2 = .38). Moreover, we show that dynamic DMN-FPCN functional connectivity predicts creative ability nearly twice as strong as static connectivity (R-2 = .67). Our work demonstrates that objective measures of creativity can be predicted from resting-state functional connectivity and that the procedure can be efficiently implemented within highly naturalistic settings with fNIRS.

This project examines how the order of messaging during parent-child interactions at a museum exhibit affects children's engagement with the exhibit. Parents and 4-7-year-olds (N=64) played at a circuit block exhibit. They were first given blocks with descriptive (e.g., This is a battery) or discovery-prompting (e.g., There is no wrong way to play.) messages, and after 90 seconds, given more blocks with the other message type. Children who received discovery-prompting messages second - after being allowed to explore the affordances of the circuit blocks with the descriptive messages - played at the exhibit longer, and participated in more circuit-building challenges on their own. Parents were also sensitive to the order of the messaging; it related to the ways in which they interacted with their children at the exhibit. We conclude by considering how the timing of messages families receive at an exhibit relates to the way they engage with the exhibit.

In the field of network administration and programming, mastery of technical skills as well as non-technical or soft skills, such as teamwork, problem-solving, self-regulated learning, and communication, are increasingly emphasized both in practice and research. While little research exists concerning the instructional practices of such skills within community colleges, even less is known about community college instructors' conceptions of these crucial 21st century skills. This paper reports a qualitative, exploratory study examining how community college instructors defined and taught communication and teamwork competencies in their computer technology classrooms. The data was collected from multiple data sources - instructor interviews, observations of classroom teaching, and student focus group discussions about their learning. Main findings include the influence of instructor backgrounds on their teaching practices, the situational nature of how instructors defined and conceptualized communication and teamwork skills, and the prominent use of teacher-centered practices in the teaching of communication and teamwork skills. We conclude that while faculty participants in this study considered teamwork and communication skills to be important, their classroom teaching was insufficiently student-centered to truly cultivate these skills. Thus, we argue that more training, resources, and support structures are needed for community college instructors in order to better cultivate the communication and teamwork skills of their students. This paper adds empirical evidence to the national conversations on the critical issues of skills, student employment, and pedagogy, and also utilizes a triangulating approach to better document faculty teaching practices.

Measuring change in an educational or psychological construct over time is often achieved by repeatedly administering the same items to the same examinees over time and fitting a second-order latent growth curve model. However, latent growth modeling with full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation becomes computationally challenging when the observed response data are categorical. This study first discusses some possible options that researchers can take regarding model specification and estimation (e.g., limited-information and various FIML estimators) to circumvent the challenge. To explore the utility of a stochastic Newton-Raphson type of algorithm (i.e., Metropolis Hastings-Robbins Monro; MH-RM) implemented primarily for multidimensional item response model, a re-parameterized latent growth model is also introduced. The viability of each option is examined via Monte-Carlo simulations. Insights on the pros and cons of these options and the conditions under which they are applicable are provided for researchers.

Despite its theoretical importance, little is known about how semantic memory structure facilitates and constrains creative idea generation. We examine whether the semantic richness of a concept has both benefits and costs to creative idea generation. Specifically, we tested whether cue set size—an index of semantic richness reflecting the average number of elements associated with a given concept—impacts the quantity (fluency) and quality (originality) of responses generated during the Alternate Uses Task (AUT). Across four studies, we show that low-association, sparse, AUT cues benefit originality at the cost of fluency compared to high-association, rich, AUT cues. Furthermore, we found an interaction with individual differences in fluid intelligence in the low-association AUT cues, suggesting that constraints of sparse semantic knowledge can be overcome with top-down intervention. Our findings indicate that semantic richness differentially impacts the quality and quantity of generated ideas, and that cognitive control processes can facilitate idea production when conceptual knowledge is limited.

Being the valedictorian is the highest honor bestowed upon a senior. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Jeffrey and Autry, the two high-achieving African American male participants in this critical race qualitative study, who were short-changed of their valedictorian status. Their cases reveal three themes: (1) these Black male students were shocked they did not receive this honor and were exploited in the process, (2) there were unfair institutional policies and practices associated with this title, and (3) there were drastic differences regarding the academic expectations for other students who were vying for this valedictory designation. Therefore, these African American male students experienced this academic honor as an exclusionary enterprise. Implications for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers are shared to mitigate the barriers associated with the valedictory accolade.

Internships are increasingly promoted as a high impact practice to improve students’ post-graduation employment outcomes, and educators often encourage students to participate in multiple internships. Yet, there is a lack of research on the sociocultural contexts associated with multiple internship participation. We present findings about the culture of multiple internship participation – drawing on focus groups and one-year follow-up interviews with students at five colleges in the United States, along with interviews with their educators and an analysis of online documents about multiple internship participation. The evidence documents a particular culture of the multiple internship economy, representing multiple internships as a linear, progressive, goal-oriented cultural project to accumulate a marketable self; also described by anthropologists as a neoliberal conception of the self. This cultural conception of a marketable neoliberal self is comprised of signs – such as narratives of multiple internships – that provide evidence of skills and experiences, of persevering through obstacles, and of ‘hustle’ and a ‘do what it takes’ attitude, which can be deployed to navigate competitive gatekeeping encounters such as employment interviews. Based on these findings, we develop a sociocultural theory of multiple internship participation as a project of neoliberal gatekeeping navigation.