The Cognitive Processing Mechanism Of VR Stress Affecting Creativity: The Perspective Of Cognitive Flexibility And Persistenc

At present,dramatic social changes have put human creativity to a severe test.Both individuals and organizations often need to creatively propose problem-solving strategies under stress.In this study,we used VR(virtual reality)technology,created a stressful situation,selected a multitasking paradigm,collected multidimensional indicators,examined the effectiveness of VR scenarios to induce stress,and explored the cognitive processing mechanisms of creative thinking in VR stressful situations with cognitive flexibility and cognitive persistence as the entry point.Study 1 used a one-factor(experimental group: stress group,control group)between-subjects experimental design.Two virtual reality scenarios,roller coaster and daily campus,were constructed using VR technology to induce stress and calm states in subjects,respectively.Physiological indicators such as heart rate,electrodermal activity and salivary cortisol,and psychological indicators such as positive emotion,negative emotion and immersion were selected to examine the effectiveness of the virtual roller coaster scenario as a novel stress-inducing paradigm.The results found that,in terms of stress elicitation,VR stress effectively stimulated the stress state of individuals compared to the control group,regardless of physiological or psychological indicators.Study 2 used the VR stress elicitation paradigm to examine the cognitive processing mechanisms of creativity under stressful conditions and examined the intermediate mechanisms by which stress affects creative thinking from the perspectives of cognitive flexibility and cognitive persistence.Several types of tasks such as word production task(WPT),alternative uses test(AUT),five-point design production task(5PT),verbal search task(VST),and multi-armed bandit machine task(MAB)were selected to measure subjects’ cognitive flexibility,cognitive persistence and overall performance,and the alternative uses test(AUT)and remote associates test(RAT)were selected as tools to assess creativity.Physiological indices such as heart rate,electrodermal activity and salivary cortisol were collected to assess stress-induced effects.The results showed that cognitive flexibility,overall performance and creativity levels were significantly lower in the stress group than in the control group,but cognitive persistence was significantly higher than in the control group.Further statistical analysis revealed that cognitive flexibility had a mediating effect in the process of stress-induced creative cognitive processing,while the mediating effect of cognitive persistence was not significant.In summary,VR stress can be used as a new stress-inducing paradigm with the advantages of being realistic,convenient,and efficient relative to the traditional stress paradigm.The stress state decreases the cognitive flexibility and increases the cognitive persistence of the individual.On the whole,stress weakens the overall performance of individual creativity.From the perspective of processing mechanism,stress affects the cognitive processing of creativity by reducing cognitive flexibility.In conclusion,this study examines the cognitive processing mechanism of stress influencing creative thinking from the perspective of cognitive flexibility and persistence,and deepens the intermediate mechanism of stress influencing creative cognitive processing from the perspective of meta-control.