Assessing the role of associative abilities in creative thinking via behavioral, computational, and neuroscientific approaches

According to the associative theory of creativity, associative thinking plays a critical role in creativity. Yet, such a role has been difficult to assess in the past. The aim of this chapter is to review foundational work conducted in the previous two decades on associative thinking in creativity at the behavioral, computational, and neural levels. Such work provides direct, valid, and reliable measures to assess such associative abilities. The ability to empirically assess associative abilities in relation to individual differences in creative thinking is providing unique insights into the role of associative abilities in creative thinking. Such assessment methods are allowing us to move forward in studying time evolving processes such as memory search and to converge behavioral and neural research. Thus, we may finally move closer to understanding free associations, what its neural mechanisms are, and the role that it plays in high-level cognition such as creative thinking.