Good Essay On Creativity, Intelligence, Memory And Learning

Introduction

Creativity, intelligence, memory and learning are the different processes that occur in the brain either to renew or recall something or to develop something new such as creating a solution of a problem. Creativity is the power of creating something new rather than imitating others. Intelligence is the ability to comprehend, learn and understand different things, processes and situations. Moreover, intelligence refers to the profitable use of experience. It is of two types; fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is considered as the ability of thinking logically and solving problems in new situations in which there is no prior experience, whereas crystallized intelligence refers to the ability of using skills, experience, and/or knowledge. So, it can be said that crystallized intelligence is more dependent on memory. Memory is the mental process of regenerating and/or recalling the learned as well as retained experiences in the brain particularly with the help of associative mechanisms. Memory can be divided into two types, which are short-term memory (also known as working memory) that remains for a short time in the brain, and long-term memory that remains for life-time. Memory helps in learning new things on the basis of previous knowledge. Learning is the process of acquiring information or talent.

Creativity and Intelligence

Relation between the creativity and intelligence is debatable in the scientific literature. There are two type of hypotheses regarding the relation of intelligence and creativity; one is the “conjoint hypothesis”, which is showing that creativity and intelligence are components of the same process, and the other is the “disjoint hypothesis”, which is showing that these two are distinct mental processes. Some researchers are of opinion that creativity and intelligence are the outcome of the same cognitive processes but they are different in terms of consequences such as creation of something new can be considered as creativity. Associative memory and creativity are also supposed to be related to each other.
Another most popular hypothesis to interrelate the two concepts is “the threshold hypothesis”. According to this hypothesis, above-average intelligence is correlated to the high-level of creativity. It proposes that particular level of intelligence is important for creativity. Researchers have found a segmented linear relationship between intelligence and creativity. They have reported that intelligence can significantly predict creative potential at a lower level of IQ as compared to higher IQ level. However, high level of creativity cannot be achieved with significantly lower or higher IQ level. So, it can be assumed that level of intelligence plays an important role in the relation of intelligence and creativity (Jauk, Benedek, Dunst, & Neubauer, 2013).

Creativity and memory

Research has shown that intelligence can help in fostering the creative potential, if the person adopts smart strategies, utilizes broad knowledge, and have high cognitive control. They are of opinion that efficient executive processes require efficient retrieval from semantic knowledge and combining different concepts to develop creative ideas. It has also been suggested that verbal abilities as well as general knowledge play an important role in creativity (Jauk, et al., 2013).

Memory and Intelligence

Memory and intelligence are thought to have a strong link, i.e. a person with better memory can show better intelligence. However, exact nature of relationship between memory and intelligence is still under debate. It is also a matter of fact that memory cannot be considered as a good indicator of intelligence as in certain situations such as stress; working memory can be disturbed giving a false impression of lack of intelligence in the person. Similarly, in children, sometimes poor working memory rather than low level of intelligence results in poor performance in schools.
Working memory is found to have a significant influence on the intelligence (Wang, Ren, Altmeyer, & Schweizer, 2013). People with good memory can easily and quickly retrieve the stored information in problem solving situations that is often related to the intelligence. Thus, we can say that memory and intelligence are very much related to each other, and improving the memory of a person can help in improving those aspects, which are usually placed under the category of “intelligence” and good reasoning. Although memory can help in showing good intelligence, but a recent study has shown that improving someone’s working memory cannot help in improving his or her fluid intelligence (Chooi, & Thompson, 2012). Although working memory and fluid intelligence showed no relation, but the relation of memory and crystallized intelligence is obvious, i.e. crystallized intelligence would not be able to work in the absence of memory.

Learning and Memory

Learning is closely related to memory, but they may show difference in the speed of performance. Slow and laborious acquisition of new knowledge is learning, and instant acquisition of new information is considered as memory. Researchers have reported that variable environments can help in better learning ability as compared to constant environment. Unstable environment can help in better and easy dealing with surrounding conditions as compared to favorable and stable environment. On the other hand, memory is also found to be related to environmental predictability and stability (Mery, 2013).

Learning and Intelligence

Learning is important in staying mentally fit as mentally challenging situations cause stimulations of the brain helping in the development of extensions between brain cells, thereby improving the communication between the neurons. This improvement results in better memory retrieval that helps in improving crystallized intelligence (University of Missouri–Kansas City, n.d.). In a study, researchers have also reported that fluid intelligence is related to the complex learning through two important aspects of working memory, which are the storage capacity and the executive function (Wang et al., 2013).

Interrelationship of creativity, intelligence, memory, learning,

Learning and memory are closely related concepts. Conditions that improve memory can also help in improving learning. Moreover, learning is also related to intelligence through some aspects of memory such as storage capacity and the executive attention. With good memory, chances of showing intelligence, especially crystallized intelligence, improve. Creativity of people can be improved at a particular intelligence level, thereby showing that good memory is indirectly linked to creativity. So, creativity can help in learning new things and after learning new things any person can easily work creatively.

Using the interrelationship for better learning abilities of students

Above mentioned studies are showing that creativity, memory, intelligence, and learning are related to each other in one way or the other. So, improvement in one function can help in improving the other function. So, interrelationship of creativity, intelligence and memory can help in improving learning abilities of students. Improvement of knowledge of students can help in enhancing their ability to learn new things, and this improvement can be done through lectures, seminars, and creative courses. Improvement of memory through particular exercises can help in retaining knowledge that is, in turn, helpful in better comprehension.
With improved memory and intelligence, students would be able to know about a good learning style for them, i.e. auditory, visual, or performance-based. Intelligent students can easily know their learning styles and processes, and start taking classes that incorporate those learning styles.
Creativity of students can be improved by using different types of techniques such as reframing and mind-mapping. With creative mind, students would be able to ask good questions that can help them in learning new material easily. Moreover, good questions can also show that the student is intelligent and many teachers like such students, thereby improving their chances of interaction with them, which can also help in better learning. Creative students can also learn different things easily by making proper and easy-to-read notes.
Concluding Remarks

References

Chooi, W.-T., & Thompson, L. A. (2012). Working memory training does not improve intelligence in healthy young adults. Intelligence, 40(6), 531-542.
Jauk, E., Benedek, M., Dunst, B., & Neubauer, A. C. (2013). The relationship between intelligence and creativity: New support for the threshold hypothesis by means of empirical breakpoint detection. Intelligence, 41(4), 212-221. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2013.03.003
Mery, F. (2013). Natural variation in learning and memory. Current opinion in neurobiology, 23(1), 52-56.
Wang, T., Ren, X., Altmeyer, M., & Schweizer, K. (2013). An account of the relationship between fluid intelligence and complex learning in considering storage capacity and executive attention. Intelligence, 41(5), 537-545. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2013.07.008