Cog and the Creativity of God

The construction of a humanoid robot may be within reach. The science of artificial intelligence (AI) offers new understandings to contemporary Christian theology. First of all, the emerging field of embodied intelligence discloses the wholeness of the human being, correcting the tendency in Christian theology toward an anthropological dualism of body and soul. Secondly, artificial intelligence offers fresh understandings of the human mind, with implications for how human creativity reflects the creativity of God

Learning Perspectives on Digital Embodied Creativity Training

As training is increasingly digitalised in general education it becomes relevant to evaluate this new medium for learning. This is particularly true in the field of embodied creativity training because of its strong focus on the embodiment of creative skills. This paper evaluates potential levels of competence development when using a digital embodied creativity training program and it discusses the related themes of motivation for and transfer of learning. It finds that while digital embodied creativity training, through its gamification possibilities, might increase personal engagement and motivation inside and outside the classroom, the training should reflect relatable situations to real-life experiences to increase the transfer effect. The opportunity for skills acquisition from distance learning seems paramount, even though digital embodied creativity training may not support all educational aims right now, as some skills may be easier to acquire in face-to-face training settings. Further improvements in technology could change this in the near future. The paper stresses the need for further research on this emerging topic of digital embodied creativity training.peer-reviewe

Online Gamified Training for Business Innovation:Examining an Embodied Gamified E-learning Module on Creativity

This article examines the use of a novel method of delivery of creativity training: a gamified embodied e-learning module for teaching the creative skills fundamental for practical business innovation. The e-module “Academy for Creativity” is examined as an out-of-class study activity for creativity training using interviews with focus groups of students, questionnaires on a larger group of students and individual interviews with teachers. The results reveal embodied gamified e-learning on creativity as a potential for increasing student motivation and engagement as well as a potential for advancing and increasing focus and student time spent on the deliberate practice of creativity as part of business innovation studies. The results also present recommendations for how to implement embodied gamified e-learning on creativity as a natural part of classes on business innovation.peer-reviewe

Where creativity comes from: the social spaces of embodied minds

This paper explores creative design, social interaction and perception. It proposes that creativity at a social level is not a result of many individuals trying to be creative at a personal level, but occurs naturally in the social interaction between comparatively simple minds embodied in a complex world. Particle swarm algorithms can model group interaction in shared spaces, but design space is not necessarily one pre-defined space of set parameters on which everyone can agree, as individual minds are very different. A computational model is proposed that allows a similar swarm to occur between spaces of different description and even dimensionality. This paper explores creative design, social interaction and perception. It proposes that creativity at a social level is not a result of many individuals trying to be creative at a personal level, but occurs naturally in the social interaction between comparatively simple minds embodied in a complex world. Particle swarm algorithms can model group interaction in shared spaces, but design space is not necessarily one pre-defined space of set parameters on which everyone can agree, as individual minds are very different. A computational model is proposed that allows a similar swarm to occur between spaces of different description and even dimensionality

Embodied Metaphors and Creative “Acts”

Creativity is a highly sought after skill. To inspire people’s creativity, prescriptive advice in the form of metaphors abound: We are encouraged to think outside the box, to consider the problem on one hand, then on the other hand, and to put two and two together to achieve creative breakthroughs. These metaphors suggest a connection between concrete bodily experiences and creative cognition. Inspired by recent advances on body-mind linkages under the emerging vernacular of embodied cognition, we explored for the first time whether enacting metaphors for creativity enhances creative problem-solving. In five studies, findings revealed that both physically and psychologically embodying creative metaphors promote fluency, flexibility, and/or originality in problem-solving. Going beyond prior research that focused primarily on the kind of embodiment that primes preexisting knowledge, we provide the first evidence that embodiment can also activate cognitive processes conducive for generating previously unknown ideas and connections

Acute Exercise and Creativity: Embodied Cognition Approaches

This dissertation manuscript is the culmination of three years of research examining several unique, exercise-induced mechanisms underlying creativity. This collection of work addresses historical and current empirical concepts of creativity in a narrative review, providing recommendations for future research. Several reviews follow this introduction, highlighting the proposed effects of exercise on creativity, putative mechanisms for creativity, and the effects of exercise and embodied manipulations on creative behavior. Multiple experiments utilizing moderate-intensity exercise as a theoretical stimulus for higher-order cognitions were conducted to investigate associations between exercise and creativity, which lead to the final dissertation experiment. The dissertation experiment was the first to provide statistically significant evidence for acute, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise coupled with anagram problem-solving to prime subsequent RAT completion compared to a non-exercise, priming only condition. We emphasize that the additive effects of exercise plus priming may be a viable strategy for enhancing verbal convergent creativity. Future research is warranted to explore a variety of priming effects on the relationship between exercise, embodied interventions, and creativityThis dissertation manuscript is the culmination of three years of research examining several unique, exercise-induced mechanisms underlying creativity. This collection of work addresses historical and current empirical concepts of creativity in a narrative review, providing recommendations for future research. Several reviews follow this introduction, highlighting the proposed effects of exercise on creativity, putative mechanisms for creativity, and the effects of exercise and embodied manipulations on creative behavior. Multiple experiments utilizing moderate-intensity exercise as a theoretical stimulus for higher-order cognitions were conducted to investigate associations between exercise and creativity, which lead to the final dissertation experiment. The dissertation experiment was the first to provide statistically significant evidence for acute, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise coupled with anagram problem-solving to prime subsequent RAT completion compared to a non-exercise, priming only condition. We emphasize that the additive effects of exercise plus priming may be a viable strategy for enhancing verbal convergent creativity. Future research is warranted to explore a variety of priming effects on the relationship between exercise, embodied interventions, and creativit

Collaborative Practices that Support Creativity in Design

Design is a ubiquitous, collaborative and highly material activity. Because of the embodied nature of the design profession, designers apply certain collaborative practices to enhance creativity in their everyday work. Within the domain of industrial design, we studied two educational design departments over a period of eight months. Using examples from our fieldwork, we develop our results around three broad themes related to collaborative practices that support the creativity of design professionals: 1) externalization, 2) use of physical space, and 3) use of bodies. We believe that these themes of collaborative practices could provide new insights into designing technologies for supporting a varied set of design activities. We describe two conceptual collaborative systems derived from the results of our study

Creativity and Embodied Fluid Movements

There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that the embodiment of certain movements can stimulate creative idea formation. Embodied Creativity suggests that embodying particular movements, often fluid, free movements can improve creative thinking over the embodiment of nonfluid movements. In the first of two experiments participants were required to navigate a character through a bespoke virtual environment while (a) following a fluid, free flowing pathway, (b) a nonfluid pathway, or (c) a straight, linear pathway. Movements were performed on a flat, horizontal axial plane. Participants completed a series of Divergent thinking tasks (Torrence Test of Creative Thinking, TTCT; Torrence, 1974) and a series of Convergent thinking tasks (Remote Associations Test, RAT; Mednick, 1962). The first experiment results suggest a contradiction with previous findings, displaying an increase in creativity scores for participants embodying both fluid and non-fluid movements when compared to the straight pathway. It was discussed that aspects of the virtual pathway design may explain the result. Though the first experiment showed support for the idea that individuals can embody movements when immersed within virtual environments. In a similar yet revised second experiment, participants embodied fluid, non-fluid and linear movements through an altered virtual pathway. The movements were performed on a variable vertical axis, participants embodied up and down fluid and non-fluid movements. The results indicated increased divergent thinking scores for those completing both a fluid pathway and a linear free moving straight pathway over a non-fluid pathway in line with previous research (Slepian & Ambady, 2012; Leung et al., 2012). Results were discussed in terms of virtual environments, axis and embodied metaphors