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In the present study we examine the ways in which gender and personality traits are related to divergent thinking and insight problem solving. According to the dual-process theory account of creativity, we propose that gender and personality traits might influence the ease and choice of the processing mode and, hence, affect 2 creativity measures in different ways. Over 300 participants' responses on the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (Chen, 2006), HEXACO Personality Inventory (Ashton & Lee, 2009; Lee & Ashton, 2004), Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (Yu, 1993), and performance while conducting insight-problem tasks, are collected. The results show that Openness was positively correlated with divergent thinking performance, whereas Emotionality was negatively correlated with insight problem-solving performance. Women performed better on divergent thinking tests, whereas men's capabilities were superior on insight problem tasks. Furthermore, Openness exhibited a mediating effect on the relationships between gender and divergent thinking. The relationships among gender, personality, and creative performance, as well as the implications of these findings on cultural differences and real-field creativity, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Rumination is a maladaptive emotional-regulation strategy that is strongly associated with depression. Impaired executive function can lead to difficulties in disengaging from rumination, thus exacerbating depression. In this study, we inspect an electroencephalograph neurofeedback protocol that enhance the target peak alpha frequency (PAF) activation in the prefrontal region. We examine the protocol’s effects on depression and rumination. Methods: We randomly assigned 30 dysphoric participants into either the neurofeedback training group or the control group. We then evaluated their depression, rumination, and executive function at pre- and posttraining so as to examine the effects of the neurofeedback. Results: The results show that this neurofeedback protocol can specifically enhance participants’ target PAF. The participants’ executive function performances significantly improved after undergoing 20 neurofeedback sessions. Compared with those in the control group, those in the neurofeedback group had significantly fewer depressive symptoms and significantly reduced rumination. Moreover, as target PAF and executive function improved, depression and rumination both declined. Conclusion: Our data are in line with those of previous studies that indicated a relationship between upper-band alpha activity and executive function. This PAF neurofeedback can effectively enhance participants’ executive function, which can reduce rumination and ameliorate depression. This neurofeedback training is based on basic cognitive neuroscience, so it sheds light on depression’s pathological factors and etiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]