Individual differences in semantic priming and inhibitory control predict performance in the Remote Associates Test (RAT)

Creative thinking is a complex cognitive ability that requires the combination and integration of information in the memory to produce original ideas. Previous creativity research has suggested that semantic memory, attentional focus or inhibitory control might be engaged when performing creativity tasks. In the present study, we tested whether stronger global attention, larger semantic priming and better ability to inhibit interfering information were related to performance in a creativity task such as the Remote Associate test (RAT). With this aim, 124 participants performed a lexical decision task in which the degree of semantic association (strong and weak) was manipulated. They also performed Navon's global-local task, in which global precedence and global/local interference indexes were calculated, and an adapted selective retrieval procedure from which an inhibition index was obtained. The results indicated that better creative performance was predicted by larger semantic priming between strong associates and by larger inhibitory effects, while attentional style was not associated with performance in the RAT. These findings support the role of semantic activation and inhibition during creativity.