Fig. 1: Estimation of associative abilities, executive functions, and creativity.

a One example item and schematic of FFT. The red circle represents the cue word; the green circles represent the response words; and the black arrow represents the associative process. FFT was used to measure associative abilities. b Schematic of n-back task (top), stop signal task (middle), and switching task (also called number–letter category switching task, bottom). These tasks were used to measure executive functions. c Schematic of AUT. Brick and Can are two items of AUT. Gray circles represent the ideas generated by participants based on each item. Orange circles represent the novelty of the ideas. Blue circles represent the appropriateness of the ideas. We hypothesized that associative abilities are more responsible for the novelty of the creative ideas generated and executive functions is more responsible for the appropriateness of the ideas generated. FFT forward flow test, AUT alternative uses task.