Creative ways to well-being: Reappraisal inventiveness in the context of anger-evoking situations.
Neuroscientific studies in the field of creativity mainly focused on tasks drawing on basic verbal divergent thinking demands. This study took a step further by investigating brain mechanisms in response to other types of creative behavior, involving more "real-life" creativity demands in the context of emotion regulation and well-being. Specifically, functional patterns of EEG alpha activity were investigated while participants were required to generate as many and as different ways as possible to reappraise presented anger-eliciting situations in a manner that reduces their anger. Cognitive reappraisal involves some of the same cognitive processes as in conventional verbal creativity tasks, inasmuch as it requires an individual to inhibit or disengage from an emotional event, to shift attention between different perspectives, and to flexibly adopt new solutions. To examine whether alpha oscillations during cognitive reappraisal are different from those during conventional creative ideation, the EEG was also assessed during performance of the Alternative Uses task, requiring individuals to generate as many and as original uses of an object as possible. While cognitive reappraisal was associated with a similar pattern of alpha power as observed in conventional verbal creative ideation, the former yielded significantly stronger alpha power increases at prefrontal sites, along with lower alpha increases at more posterior cortical sites, indicating higher cognitive control and less spontaneous imaginative thought processes in the generation of effective strategies to regulate an ongoing negative emotional state.
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Universitaetsplatz 2/III, A-8010, Graz, Austria. andreas.fink@uni-graz.at.|Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. andreas.fink@uni-graz.at.
Andreas
A
Fink
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Elisabeth M
EM
Weiss
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Ursula
U
Schwarzl
Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Hannelore
H
Weber
Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Vera Loureiro
VL
de Assunção
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Christian
C
Rominger
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Günter
G
Schulter
Institute of Physiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Helmut K
HK
Lackner
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Ilona
I
Papousek
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003405:Creativity; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
Alpha; Anger; Cognitive reappraisal; Creativity; Emotion
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