2020 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 102-107
The current study examined the effects of emotional state on learning and creativity using a Q-learning computation model. The results revealed that mood and mood biases (as emotional states) exerted various effects on divergent and convergent thinking (as creative thinking types) and exploitation and exploration (as learning behaviors). Mood exerted negative effects on convergent thinking and exploitation. Mood biases were negatively related to divergent thinking and positively related to exploration. Overall, emotional states significantly affected both learning and creativity, although the specific effects differed across learning and creativity. The results suggested that emotional momentum is required to provide impetus for further exploration. In contrast, divergent and convergent thinking and exploitation do not depend on emotional momentum. Instead, they were negatively related to mood or mood biases, implying that more objective emotional states were preferred. Thus, emotional states provided momentum for facilitating exploration as learning, but exploitation and creative thinking did not rely on emotional momentum.
