VOLUME LXXVII | MAY 2023

Associative thinking at the core of creativity

Dr. David Lowemann
Dr. David Lowemann, M.Sc, Ph.D., is a co-founder of the Institute for the Future of Human Potential, where he leads the charge in pioneering

Just like connecting puzzle pieces, associative thinking involves linking different concepts in our minds to form new and innovative ideas. It’s like finding unexpected connections between dots that no one else saw! Researchers have long recognized that this type of thinking lies at the heart of creativity, allowing us to combine various concepts to generate fresh perspectives and solutions. Despite its importance, studying associative thinking has posed several challenges due to the complex nature of memory retrieval processes and limitations in research methods. However, recent advancements in modeling memory have provided new opportunities to delve deeper into this fascinating cognitive phenomenon.

So, next time you’re feeling creative, embrace your associative thinking! You never know what hidden gems might emerge when you start connecting those mental dots. Want to learn more about the science behind creative thought and associative thinking? Check out the full article!

What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of creativity? Some people may associate creativity with art; others with imagination, novelty, or expression. This exercise illustrates the phenomenon of association – how one concept links to others in memory, and how people vary in the associations they make [1]. Creative thinking has long been conceptualized as involving an associative process over memory, where concepts are combined to form new and effective ideas [2–6]. However, associative thinking has been historically challenging to study, due in part to methodological limitations in modeling memory and the retrieval processes operating on it.
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