Creative thinking: immersive, interactive, and multisensory experiences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2026.21861Abstract
Virtual reality is a technology widely employed in cognitive science, aimed at studying human behavior and cognition. In recent years, virtual environments have been applied to investigate human creative process, focusing on divergent thinking. Along this line of research, our study addresses the immersive, interactive, and multisensory aspects of virtual reality technologies to enhance individuals’ creative thinking. We tested a sample of N = 60 participants, using positive (N = 20), negative (N = 20), and neutral (N = 20) auditory stimulation within an interactive virtual environment, in order to test possible change in divergent and associative thinking. Our findings provide a first piece of evidence that immersive, interactive, and multisensory experiences enhance human creative thinking, particularly using positive auditory stimulations.
Keywords:
creativity, divergent thinking, multisensory experience, rebus puzzle task, remote associates test, virtual realityHow to Cite
Share
License
Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s). Published by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Agnoli, S., Franchin, L., Rubaltelli, E., & Corazza, G. E. (2019). The emotionally intelligent use of attention and affective arousal under creative frustration and creative success. Personality and Individual Differences, 142, 242–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.04.041
Agnoli, S., Zenari, S., Mastria, S., & Corazza, G. E. (2021). How do you feel in virtual environments? The role of emotions and openness trait over creative performance. Creativity: Theories – Research – Applications, 8(1), 148–164. https://doi.org/10.2478/ctra-2021-0010
Alahuhta, P., Nordbäck, E., Sivunen, A., & Surakka, T. (2014). Fostering team creativity in virtual worlds. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v7i3.7062
Bonnardel, N., & Pichot, N. (2020). Enhancing collaborative creativity with virtual dynamic personas. Applied Ergonomics, 82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2019.102949
Burkhardt, J.-M., & Lubart, T. (2010). Creativity in the age of emerging technology: Some issues and perspectives in 2010. Creativity and Innovation Management, 19(2), 160–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8691.2010.00559.x
Cappellen, van P., & Saroglou, V. (2012). Awe activates religious and spiritual feelings and behavioral intentions. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 4(3), 223–236. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025986
Chirico, A., & Gaggioli, A. (2023). Virtual reality for awe and imagination. In Ch. Maymon, G. Grimshaw, & Y. Choon Wu (Eds.), Current topics in behavioral neurosciences. Virtual reality in behavioral neuroscience: New insights and methods (Vol. 65, pp. 233–254). M. A. Geyer, Ch. A. Marsden, B. A. Ellenbroek, Th. R. E. Barnes, S. L. Andersen, M. P. Paulus, & J. Olivier (Series Eds.). Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2023_417
Chirico, A., Glaveanu, V. P., Cipresso, P., Riva, G., & Gaggioli, A. (2018). Awe enhances creative thinking: An experimental study. Creativity Research Journal, 30(2), 123–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2018.1446491
Chirico, A., & Yaden, D. B. (2018). Awe: A self-transcendent and sometimes transformative emotion. In H. C. Lench (Ed.), The function of emotions: When and why emotions help us (pp. 221–233). Springer International Publishing/Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77619-4_11
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. HarperCollins Publishers.
Ekman, P. (2000). Basic emotions. In T. Dalgleish & M. Power (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 45–60). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/0470013494.ch3
Ferraro III, F. M. (2015). Enhancement of convergent creativity following a multiday wilderness experience. Ecopsychology, 7(1), 7–11. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2014.0043
Foreman, N. (2009). Virtual reality in psychology. Themes in Science and Technology Education, 2(1), 225–252.
Forens, M., Bonnardel, N., & Barbier, M.-L. (2015, 1–3 July). How communication modalities can impact group creativity in multi-user virtual environments. In ECCE ’15: Proceedings of the European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics 2015 (pp. 1–4), Warsaw, Poland. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2788412.2788439
George, J. M., & Zhou, J. (2007). Dual tuning in a supportive context: Joint contributions of positive mood, negative mood, and supervisory behaviors to employee creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), 605–622. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.25525934
Graessler, I., & Taplick, P. (2019). Supporting creativity with virtual reality technology. Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 1(1), 2011–2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsi.2019.207
Joy Gerry, L. (2017). Paint with me: Stimulating creativity and empathy while painting with a painter in virtual reality. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 23(4), 1418–1426. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2017.2657239
Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Counting the muses: Development of the Kaufman domains of creativity scale (K-DOCS). Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6(4), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029751
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 297–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930302297
Koelsch, S., Skouras, S., Fritz, Th., Herrera, P., Bonhage, C., Küssner, M. B., & Jacobs, A. M. (2013). The roles of superficial amygdala and auditory cortex in music-evoked fear and joy. NeuroImage, 81, 49–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.008
Men, L., & Bryan-Kinns, N. (2019, 23–26 June). LeMo: Exploring virtual space for collaborative creativity. In C&C ’19: Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Creativity and Cognition (pp. 71–82), San Diego, California, United States. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3325480.3325495
Men, L., & Bryan-Kinns, N. (2018, 18 March). LeMo: Supporting collaborative music making in virtual reality. In Conference Proceedings: 2018 IEEE 4th VR Workshop on Sonic Interactions for Virtual Environments (SIVE), Reutlingen, Germany. https://doi.org/10.1109/SIVE.2018.8577094
Obeid, S., & Demirkan, H. (2023). The influence of virtual reality on design process creativity in basic design studios. Interactive Learning Environments, 31(4), 1841–1859. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1858116
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2024). PISA 2022 results. Vol. 3: Creative minds, creative schools. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2024/06/pisa-2022-results-volume-iii_1933a4a1/765ee8c2-en.pdf
Pallavicini, F., Pepe, A., Ferrari, A., Garcea, G., Zanacchi, A., & Mantovani, F. (2018). What is the relationship among positive emotions, sense of presence, and ease of interaction in virtual reality systems? An on-site evaluation of a commercial virtual experience. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 27(2), 183–201. https://doi.org/10.1162/pres_a_00325
Pizzolante, M., Borghesi, F., Sarcinella, E., Bartolotta, S., Salvi, C., Cipresso, P., Gaggioli, A., & Chirico, A. (2023). Awe in the metaverse: Designing and validating a novel online virtual-reality awe-inspiring training. Computers in Human Behavior, 148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107876
Salvi, C., Costantini, G., Bricolo, E., Perugini, M., & Beeman, M. (2016). Validation of Italian rebus puzzles and compound remote associate problems. Behavior Research Methods, 48, 664–685. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-015-0597-9
Witmer, B. G., Jerome, Ch. J., & Singer, M. J. (2005). The factor structure of the presence questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 14(3), 298–312. https://doi.org/10.1162/105474605323384654
Wright, J. S., & Panksepp, J. (2012). An evolutionary framework to understand foraging, wanting, and desire: The neuropsychology of the SEEKING system. Neuropsychoanalysis: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Psychoanalysis and the Neurosciences, 14(1), 5–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/15294145.2012.10773683
View article in other formats
Published
Issue
Section
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s). Published by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.