More creative through positive mood? Not everyone! - Akbari Chermahini et al. - 2012 - Article

Research has shown that positive affect influences cognitive processing by increasing cognitive flexibility, by increasing the number of cognitive elements available for association, and by defocusing attention so to increase the breadth of those elements treated as relevant to the problem.

The underlying mechanisms are however poorly understood. Some say that the neurotransmitter dopamine may play a big role. There seems to be a strong relationship between phasic changes in dopamine levels, mood changes, and changes in creativity. Improved mood states come with an increase in dopamine. This increase may stimulate switching between tasks and increases cognitive flexibility.

This research

In this research the following three hypothesis are tested:

• Eye blink rates and cognitive flexibility are impacted more by positive than by negative mood.

• The amount of mood and eye blink rates changes are systematically linked to the degree of change in cognitive flexibility.

• The impact of increasing (or decreasing) the individual dopamine level on flexibility depends on the basic level of the corresponding individual.

Conclusion

The relationships between mood, flexibility in divergent thinking, and eye blink rates have been investigated. Eye blink rates are a marker of individual dopamine levels. The following are the most important results:

• Eye blink rates and mood changes were correlated. Positive mood changes increased eye blink rates. A negative mood had no impact. These results suggest that eye blink rates are a measure of some of the neural processes that underlie mood changes, and probably changes in the dopamine level.

• Induction of positive mood improved flexibility. Flexibility was not affected by the induction of a negative mood.

• Eye blink rates increased through the induction of positive mood, but was not affected by negative mood.

• Positive changes in eye blink rates predicted the increase of flexibility (meaning that cognitive flexibility is systematically affected and possibly driven by changes in dopamine).

• Mood-induced improvement of flexibility was only found in individuals with a pre-experimentally low eye blink rate (and with probably a low dopamine level).

The results suggest that phasic changes in dopamine levels may underlie the relationship between mood and creativity.