Battery guide
Creativity and Flexible Thinking Battery guide
Four tests of idea generation, nonverbal and letter fluency, and set shifting, for creativity and cognitive flexibility research.
- Guide version
- 1.2.0
- Battery version
- 1.0.0
What it measures
Who it is for: Creativity and cognitive flexibility research.
It measures Divergent thinking, Nonverbal fluency, Letter fluency and Set shifting.
Executive function: Planning, switching rules, handling conflict and making decisions.
Scores describe how a person performs on these tasks. Research use only.
Tests in order
The tests run in this order. A study started from the battery keeps the order and the settings.
1. Alternative Uses Task. Measures divergent thinking. Participants see the name of an everyday object and type as many creative uses for it as they can, one at a time, with 3 minutes for each of 2 objects by default. The main score is fluency, the mean number of different uses per object. Every answer is kept for originality ratings.
2. Design Fluency Test. A nonverbal fluency measure in the five-point format. Each box holds five dots placed as on a die, and participants join them with straight lines to make as many different designs as they can in the time limit. Scores give the count of different designs, repeats, lines per design, pace across the time limit and turned or mirrored designs.
3. Verbal Fluency. Measures letter fluency. Participants type as many words as they can that start with F, A and S, with 60 seconds per letter by default.
4. Card Sorting Test (Berg). Measures set shifting and perseveration. Participants sort cards by color, shape or number, learn the rule from Right and Wrong feedback, and have to notice when it changes without warning.
| Order | Test | Domain | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alternative Uses Task | Executive function | 8 to 9 minutes |
| 2 | Design Fluency Test | Executive function | 4 to 5 minutes |
| 3 | Verbal Fluency | Executive function | 4 to 6 minutes |
| 4 | Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Executive function | 6 to 10 minutes |
Time and devices
Allow about 30 minutes for the whole battery. The table gives each test's time.
Participants can use a desktop or laptop, tablet or phone.
On a desktop or laptop the screen must be at least 1024 by 700 pixels.
A tablet or phone needs a screen of at least 360 by 640 pixels.
On phones and tablets, each test is compared only with sessions on the same kind of device. A test shows a percentile there once that reference group holds 50 valid sessions in the participant's age band; until then the report shows raw scores and says so.
Participants need Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
| Test | Timing | Devices |
|---|---|---|
| Alternative Uses Task | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Design Fluency Test | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Verbal Fluency | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Untimed | Desktop or laptop, tablet or phone |
Languages
Runs in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese (Brazil). In the other participant languages, Verbal Fluency uses English words.
How to give it
Start a study from the battery in the app. The tests, their order and their settings are already set and stay fixed. If you change, reorder or customize a test, the study becomes a custom study and no longer carries the battery.
Each test opens with its instructions. Participants see these:
Alternative Uses Task: Type as many creative uses as you can for each object, one use at a time, pressing Enter after each one, until the time runs out.
Design Fluency Test: Join the dots with straight lines to make as many different designs as you can before the time runs out.
Verbal Fluency: Type as many words as you can that start with each letter, pressing Enter after each word. Do not use names of people or places, numbers, or the same word with a different ending.
Card Sorting Test (Berg): Match each new card to one of the four cards at the top. Use the Right and Wrong feedback to work out how to match.
| Step | Before you invite participants |
|---|---|
| 1 | Decide whether you will rate the alternative uses for originality: the results keep every answer. |
| 2 | Ask participants to take the battery in one quiet sitting, without help and without looking anything up. |
| 3 | Pilot the battery yourself on the kind of device your participants will use. |
How each test is scored
The server scores each test when the participant finishes it. The primary score is the one the app compares with a norm. The other scores are reported with it.
Every result records its scoring version. For this battery they are Alternative Uses Task 1.0.0, Design Fluency Test 1.0.0, Verbal Fluency 2.0.0 and Card Sorting Test (Berg) 1.0.0.
| Test | Score | What it is | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Uses Task | Fluency (primary) | Mean number of different uses per object, after cleaning. | Higher means more ideas |
| Alternative Uses Task | Elaboration | Mean number of words per different use, over all objects. | Higher means more detailed uses |
| Alternative Uses Task | Total Uses | Different uses over all objects. | Higher means more ideas |
| Alternative Uses Task | Repeats | Entries that repeated an earlier use for the same object. Each use counts once. | Informational |
| Alternative Uses Task | Empty Entries | Entries with no letter, such as punctuation only. They are not counted. | Informational |
| Alternative Uses Task | Paste Attempts | Attempts to paste or drop text into the entry box, which were blocked. | Above 0 is flagged for review |
| Alternative Uses Task | Objects Without Uses | Objects for which no use was entered. | Above 0 is flagged for review |
| Alternative Uses Task | Objects Completed (items) | Objects scored, each run to the end of its time. | Equal to the number of objects when the task was finished |
| Design Fluency Test | Unique Designs (primary) | Number of different designs kept within the time limit. | Higher means more different designs |
| Design Fluency Test | Total Designs | Every design kept, repeats included. | Higher means more designs made |
| Design Fluency Test | Repeats | Designs kept that had already been made. | Lower means fewer repeated designs |
| Design Fluency Test | Repeat Percent (%) | Repeats as a percent of all designs. | Lower means fewer repeats for the designs made |
| Design Fluency Test | Mean Lines per Design | Mean number of the 8 segments in each design; a corner to opposite corner line counts as two. | Higher means more complex designs |
| Design Fluency Test | Pace, First Third (designs/min) | Designs per minute in the first third of the time limit. | Compare across the three thirds |
| Design Fluency Test | Pace, Second Third (designs/min) | Designs per minute in the second third of the time limit. | Compare across the three thirds |
| Design Fluency Test | Pace, Last Third (designs/min) | Designs per minute in the last third of the time limit. | Compare across the three thirds |
| Design Fluency Test | Turned or Mirrored Designs | Designs that are a turn or mirror image of the design just before, a strategy measure. | Higher means more use of this strategy |
| Design Fluency Test | Most Repeated Design (proportion) | Share of all designs taken by the most common design. | Used for the quality check |
| Design Fluency Test | Time Limit Reached (0/1) | 1 when the run lasted to the time limit. | Used for the quality check |
| Design Fluency Test | Time Limit (seconds) | The time limit set for the session. | Compare scores only at the same time limit |
| Verbal Fluency | Unique Valid Words (primary) | Words that start with the letter and follow the rules, without repeats. Includes words flagged for review. | Higher is better |
| Verbal Fluency | Verified Words | Valid words confirmed by the English word list. | Higher is better |
| Verbal Fluency | Words for Review | Valid-looking words the word list does not recognize. They count and are flagged for review. | Informational |
| Verbal Fluency | Repetitions | Repeats of an earlier word for the same letter, including simple plurals. | Lower is better |
| Verbal Fluency | Rule Violations | Wrong first letter, numbers, names of people or places, and non-words. | Lower is better |
| Verbal Fluency | Possible Variants | Words that may repeat an earlier word with a different ending. They count and are flagged for review. | Informational |
| Verbal Fluency | Requires Review | 1 when any entry needs researcher review. | Informational |
| Verbal Fluency | Total Entries | All entries, including repetitions and rule violations. | Informational |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Perseverative Errors (primary) | Errors that follow the rule of the previous category, counted from the first rule change. | Lower is better |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Perseverative Errors (%) | Perseverative errors per 100 cards sorted. | Lower is better |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Categories Completed | Runs of 10 correct sorts in a row, from 0 to 6. | Higher is better |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Total Errors | Sorts that did not follow the rule in force. | Lower is better |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Failures to Maintain Set | Errors made after 5 or more correct sorts in a row within a category. | Lower is better |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Cards to First Category | Cards sorted up to and including the one that completed the first category. | Lower is faster learning |
| Card Sorting Test (Berg) | Conceptual Level Responses (%) | Correct sorts that are part of runs of three or more correct sorts, per 100 cards. | Higher is better |
Session quality rules
The app checks every session when it scores it and records one of four states.
An Invalid session stays in the study's results, labelled with its reason, and does not count toward norms.
A session can carry warnings and still be valid. The results list the warnings next to the scores.
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Norm-ready | The session passed every check and a norm exists for it, so the app can show a percentile. |
| Raw-only | The scores are usable, but the app shows no percentile. Typical reasons are no norm for the test, changed settings, or a warning that makes a comparison unfair, such as a restart or a screen too short for the display. |
| Invalid technical | The setup broke the timing or the task. Examples are leaving full screen, a browser tab that lost focus during a timed test, and long pauses. |
| Invalid behavioral | The responses suggest the task was not done as asked. Examples are a failed attention check, repeated switching away from the task, and accuracy at or below chance on a choice task. |
Published norms used
No published norm is used for any test in this battery.
ConductCognition also builds norms from its own participants. An age band of a test uses them once it holds at least 50 valid sessions on the same device and input type, run with standard settings and scored with the current scoring version. Sessions from paying customers' studies and from clinical or patient samples do not count.
A report shows a percentile only when the app has stored one for that session. Otherwise it shows the raw scores.
Every reference group covers ages 18 and over. No reference group covers a participant under 18, so their report shows raw scores only, and their sessions do not count toward norms.
How to cite
ConductScience, Inc. Creativity and Flexible Thinking Battery guide, version 1.2.0. ConductCognition. https://conductcognition.com/batteries/creativity-flexibility/guide
Cite the guide version you used. Name the battery version (1.0.0) and the scoring versions listed in this guide.