Creativity, the fountain of youth: Association between creativity and semantic memory networks across the lifespan

Abstract

Creativity relies on the ability to make new associations between concepts stored in our semantic memory in order to create new and effective ideas in a specific context. Recent studies showed that creative people are characterized by more flexible semantic memory structures, which facilitate novel associations between concepts. On the other hand, older adults exhibit more rigid semantic memory structures and ability to access these structures, raising questions about how the relationship between semantic memory networks and creativity may change with ageing. Can creativity support a more flexible reconstruction of semantic memory network during ageing? To investigate this, 77 older adults (M = 77.8 years, SD = 4.63) and 81 younger adults (M = 20.3 years, SD = 1.71) completed four verbal production tasks (i.e., two verbal fluency and two free association tasks), from which semantic memory networks were estimated. Moreover, two divergent thinking tasks (i.e., Alternative Uses Task) were used to assess creative performance. The results showed that the typical maturation of older adults' semantic memory network is associated with a decrease in creative performance in comparison to younger adults. On the other hand, higher creative older adults exhibited preservation of their overall semantic memory flexibility in comparison to lower creative older adults, similar to lower creative young adults. Overall, this study highlights the potential protective role of creativity in supporting active ageing through its propaedeutic role in maintaining a flexible organization and access to semantic memory structures.