Designing EEG Neurofeedback Procedures to Enhance Open-ended versus Closed-ended Creative Potentials

Abstract

Recent empirical evidence demonstrated that open-ended creativity (which refers to creativity measures that require various and numerous responses, such as divergent thinking) correlated with alpha brain wave activation, whereas closed-ended creativity (which refers to creativity measures that ask for one final correct answer, such as insight problem solving) was related to larger variability in electroencephalogram (EEG) differences between alpha and beta waves. This study designed two EEG neurofeedback procedures to examine their training effects on open- versus closed-ended creative potentials. In the alpha-enhancement condition, participants were reinforced to elevate only their alpha frequencies by auditory feedback for 10 sessions. In the alpha-transformation condition, enhancement and suppression of the signal tone (and hence, the appearance and disappearance of alpha waves) were both practiced. Pre- and posttest comparisons indicated that, compared to the active contrast condition, the alpha-enhancement practice improved only open-ended creativity performance. The alpha-transformation training enhanced closed-ended creativity performance, which was first demonstrated in the literature, and simultaneously facilitated open-ended creativity performances. In addition, changes in brain wave patterns by training positively correlated with change in predicted creativity performances. All of these results were of medium to large effect sizes. The effectiveness of these EEG neurofeedback procedures for creativity training was implied and discussed.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC 99-2410-H-431-015). We are grateful to Hsueh-Chih Chen, Chih-Hsin Tsai, Ying-Han Li, Chao-Yuan Tseng, and Ping-Hsun Tsai for providing great assistance and helpful suggestions.