Improving assessment of analyst-relevant divergent thinking

Language analysts and other intelligence analysts must have good divergent thinking—that is, the ability to think of all relevant possibilities during problem solving. Recently, the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL) piloted and delivered an interactive one-day course that teaches analysts cognitive strategies to improve their divergent thinking. CASL also recently delivered the materials for an Analyst-Relevant Divergent Thinking Task (ARDTT). The broad aim of the present study was to address the following three questions related to the ARDTT and the divergent thinking course: (A) Is the ARDTT a valid test that (1) consists of items that are rated as highly relevant to analysis, (2) correlates positively with an existing measure of general divergent thinking ability, and (3) can be divided into two highly correlated tests for future use in course evaluation? A positive answer to these questions would motivate the use of ARDTT in future studies aimed at providing evidence that the divergent thinking course or other methods improve analyst-relevant divergent thinking. (B) Is it feasible to automatically score the flexibility of a person’s divergent thinking by computer? Flexibility is a key aspect of divergent thinking performance that reflects the number of categories or domains in which ideas are generated (e.g., use of an airplane as a transportation vehicle versus missile). Automated scoring is challenging since divergent thinking tests have no finite set of correct responses that can be known prior to testing. Nevertheless, automated scoring is worthwhile to develop since human scoring of responses is very time intensive. (C) Is there a neurophysiological signature of good verbal divergent thinking, and can this signature be identified with a simple noninvasive method for changing brain waves (e.g., listening to periodically repeated tones or acoustic beats)? Methods for changing brain waves that are inspired by the neurophysiological results could be incorporated in a neural-inspired version of the divergent thinking course.