Age-Related Differences in Creative Cognition: The Mediating Role of Executive Functions and Associative Processes

Divergent and convergent creativity may rely on associative and executive control processes. We examined whether age-related differences in both types of creativity are mediated by executive functions and associative processes. A total of 427 primary, secondary school, and university students completed a battery of tasks measuring executive functioning (updating, inhibition, and shifting), verbal fluency (VF), and divergent (fluency, flexibility, and originality) and convergent creativity (remote-associative problems). The results confirmed that executive and associative processes accounted for age-related differences in divergent and convergent creativity, albeit to different degrees. Specifically, VF contributed to explaining age differences in both types of creativity, whereas updating and inhibition mediated age-related differences only in convergent creativity. These findings provide evidence for the differential contribution of executive and associative processes to age differences in both types of creativity and provide additional support for a dual-process view of creativity.