Semantic Context Search in Creative Idea Generation

The ability to search memory for diverse contextual usages of words is proposed to play a role in creative idea generation. However, it is not yet known whether searching for more diverse contextual usages of words enhances the novelty of ideas during idea generation. In three experiments, participants were given a noun as a creativity prompt (e.g., chamber) and generated words creatively linked to the prompt (e.g., secret, relic). We directly manipulated the semantic diversity of creativity prompts to induce differential levels of semantic context search. Semantic diversity refers to the diversity of contexts in which a word is used (e.g., chamber orchestra vs. judge’s chamber). Semantic context search involves searching semantic memory for different contextual usages of a prompt word. Supporting the facilitative role of semantic context search, participants given prompts high in semantic diversity generated responses higher in novelty, compared to participants given prompts low in semantic diversity (Experiments 1 and 3). Capitalizing on recent advances in distributional semantics, our novel experimental approach led to a critical new insight—semantic context search can enhance the novelty of ideas.