Using Immersive Technology to Understand the Effect of Emotional Shift on Creativity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7170752 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jue Wang (0000-0002-6305-4298, Graduate School of Letters Kyoto University Kyoto Japan, corresponding author), Shiori Sakamoto (Graduate School of Letters Kyoto University Kyoto Japan), Yusuke Moriguchi (0000-0002-9002-7834, Graduate School of Letters Kyoto University Kyoto Japan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Creative Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0175 • E-ISSN: 2162-6057 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/jocb.70093 |
| OpenAlex | W7125955804 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 53 |
This study examined how emotional shifts elicited by virtual environments (VEs) affect individuals' creativity. With the growing use of VEs in educational and interactive settings, understanding their emotional impact on creativity is timely and critical, particularly from a developmental perspective, as emotion regulation and creative potential undergo changes across developmental stages. Studying both adults and children may help identify sensitive periods for fostering creativity through emotional engagement. Adults ( N = 106) and children aged seven to nine ( N = 121) participated in an online study. Each participant experienced two VEs: a “neutral” control environment and one of two “emotional” environments designed to elicit distinct emotional states. After each VE, participants reported their emotional states and completed a standard creative thinking task. Emotional shifts between the two VEs were analyzed to assess their effects on the subsequent creative thinking task. Results revealed that both adults and children reacted in similar emotional directions to the relevant “emotional” environments. Furthermore, decreases in valence were associated with increases in originality across both age groups. These findings highlight the nuanced, and somewhat counterintuitive role of negative emotional shifts in fostering creative thinking and suggest that such mechanisms may operate similarly in both children and adults
Affect (linguistics) · Counterintuitive · Creative thinking · Creativity · Emotional competence · Originality · Valence (chemistry) · Virtual reality · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Emotion Regulation
A Dynamic Perspective on Affect and Creativity
Creative learning environments in education—A systematic literature review
Emotional design in multimedia learning.
Scoring divergent thinking tests
Children’s Creativity
The Standard Definition of Creativity
Is There Really a Creativity Crisis? A Critical Review and Meta‐analytic Re‐Appraisal
Influence of Positive Affect upon Creative Thinking and Problem Solving in Children
The effects of guilt on preschoolers’ cognitive flexibility and inhibition
Beyond the hedonic treadmill
The social psychology of creativity
The Effects of Mood on Early and Late Idea Production
Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires
A meta-analysis of 25 years of mood-creativity research
What are emotions? And how can they be measured
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |