Can video games enhance creativity? Effects of emotion generated by dance dance revolution

Elizabeth Hutton, S. Shyam Sundar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

What role does emotion play in helping youth reach their creative potential? Does it alter how they process ideas, and how many ideas they can generate? By varying the levels of arousal associated with low, medium, and high levels of exertion in the video game Dance Dance Revolution, and inducing a positive or negative mood, this study offers evidence that emotion significantly affects creativity through the interaction of arousal and valence. Faced with the cognitive demand of creativity, lower arousal levels resulted in higher creativity scores when coupled with a negative mood. At high arousal levels, a positive mood resulted in greater creative potential than a negative mood. These results are discussed here in light of theories of emotion as a prime, as information, and as a moderator of attention.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)294-303
Number of pages10
JournalCreativity Research Journal
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Visual Arts and Performing Arts
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Psychology (miscellaneous)

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