Individuals with High Metacognitive Ability Are Better at Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Abstract

Is metacognitive ability a predictor of creative performance? Previous studies have produced conflicting findings. To clarify whether this relationship exists, the current study used eye tracking techniques and vocal thinking reports to explore creativity differences in individuals with different levels of metacognitive ability. One hundred and twelve participants completed the Metacognitive Ability scale, and were divided into two groups (with thirty participants in each group) based on their metacognition scores (the highest and lowest 27% of metacognitive ability scores). Then, participants in both groups completed two creative thinking tasks (AUT and CCRAT) while their eye behaviors were recorded by eye tracking. The results showed that participants with high metacognitive ability were better at divergent thinking, as evidenced by greater fixation and saccade counts, as well as smaller saccade amplitudes in the AUT task. In addition, Bayesian analyses provide anecdotal evidence that participants with high metacognitive ability tended to be better at convergent thinking. Furthermore, eye tracking results demonstrated that they exhibited longer fixation duration and more fixation count on the materials in the CCRAT task. These findings reflect an important role of metacognition in creative thinking, especially in divergent thinking.

Metacognition and Mathematical Modeling Skills: The Mediating Roles of Computational Thinking in High School Students

“…Some researchers have linked creativity to metacognition ( Hargrove and Nietfeld 2015 ; Huang et al 2021 ). It is believed that a person with high metacognitive ability would be a more creative problem-solver ( Jiang et al 2023 ; Mevarech and Paz-Baruch 2022 ). When teaching programming, metacognition helps students better regulate the process of problem-solving, so as to promote the development of computational thinking ( Ma et al 2021 ; Pala and Mıhçı Türker 2021 ; Rum and Ismail 2017 ).…”

An Experimental Approach: Investigating the Directive Function of Autobiographical Memory

“…That is, the extent to which a person thinks about their thoughts and actions attentively, critically, and in an exploratory and iterative fashion (Nguyen et al, 2014). Perhaps the extent to which a person is reflective influences how they cultivate self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997;Heng & Chu, 2023;Moradkhani et al, 2017), and how well they can problem solve (Jiang et al, 2023;van de Kamp et al, 2015). An alternative view is that there is a significant effect of heightening or decreasing self-efficacy on open-ended problem solving as measured by the MEPS, but significant effects are obscured by the complexity of experimentally manipulating autobiographical memory and controlling for individual differences (as described above).…”