Ana-Maria Olteţeanu

Bio: Ana-Maria Olteţeanu is an academic researcher from Free University of Berlin. The author has contributed to research in topics: Remote Associates Test & Creative problem-solving. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 14 publications receiving 153 citations. Previous affiliations of Ana-Maria Olteţeanu include University of Bremen.

Object replacement and object composition in a creative cognitive system. Towards a computational solver of the Alternative Uses Test

Abstract: In creative problem solving, humans perform object replacement and object composition to improvise tools in order to carry out tasks in everyday situations. In this paper, an approach to perform Object Replacement and Object Composition (OROC) inside a Creative Cognitive framework (CreaCogs) is proposed. Multi-feature correspondence is used to define similarity between objects in an everyday object domain. This enables the cognitive system OROC to perform creative replacement of objects and creative object composition. The generative properties of OROC are analysed and proof-of-concept experiments with OROC are reported. An evaluation of the results is carried out by human judges and compared to human performance in the Alternative Uses Test.

Logics based on qualitative descriptors for scene understanding

Abstract: An approach for scene understanding based on qualitative descriptors, domain knowledge and logics is proposed in this paper. Qualitative descriptors, qualitative models of shape, colour, topology and location are used for describing any object in the scene. Two kinds of domain knowledge are provided: (i) categorizations of objects according to their qualitative descriptors, and (ii) semantics for describing the affordances, mobility and other functional properties of target objects. First order logics are obtained for reasoning and scene understanding. Tests were carried out at the Interact@Cartesium scenario and promising results were obtained.

From Simple Machines to Eureka in Four Not-So-Easy Steps: Towards Creative Visuospatial Intelligence

Abstract: This chapter builds an account of the cognitive abilities and mechanisms required to produce creative problem-solving and insight. Such mechanisms are identified in an essentialized set of human abilities: making visuospatial inferences, creatively solving problems involving object affordances, using experience with previously solved problems to find solutions for new problems, generating new concepts out of old ones. Each such cognitive ability is selected to suggests a principle necessary for the harder feat of engineering insight. The features such abilities presuppose in a cognitive system are addressed. A core set of mechanisms able to support such features is proposed. A unified system framework in line with cognitive research is suggested, in which the knowledge-encoding supports the variety of such processes efficiently.

Computationally constructing a repository of compound remote associates test items in American English with comRAT-G.

Abstract: The Remote Associates Test (RAT) has been used to measure creativity, however few repositories or standardizations of test items exist, like the normative data on 144 items provided by Bowden and Jung-Beeman. comRAT is a computational solver which has been used to solve the compound RAT in linguistic and visual forms, showing correlation to human performance over the normative data provided by Bowden and Jung-Beeman. This paper describes using a variant of comRAT, comRAT-G, to generate and construct a repository of compound RAT items for use in the cognitive psychology and cognitive modeling community. Around 17 million compound Remote Associates Test items are created from nouns alone, aiming to provide control over (i) frequency of occurrence of query items, (ii) answer items, (iii) the probability of coming up with an answer, (iv) keeping one or more query items constant and (v) keeping the answer constant. Queries produced by comRAT-G are evaluated in a study in comparison with queries from the normative dataset of Bowden and Jung-Beeman, showing that comRAT-G queries are similar to the established query set.

Computationally resurrecting the functional Remote Associates Test using cognitive word associates and principles from a computational solver

Abstract: Human creativity is usually assessed with a variety of established creativity tests. One of this is the Remote Associates Test (RAT), which aims to measure the ability of reaching remote associates with linguistic stimuli. A well known variant of the RAT exists – the compound RAT, for which normative data and solvers have been proposed in the literature. However, a different type of RAT was proposed in 1971 by Worthen and Clark – a functional form which had the potential of measuring other types of associations. However, the few test items proposed by Worthen and Clark where lost during archive transport, and cannot be accessed. In this paper, we set to reconstruct an ample set of functional items in the spirit of Worthen and Clark’s idea, using information science techniques. Cognitive word associates are used as data. The process of a former computational solver of the RAT is repurposed to create rather than solve items. The approach of constructing queries is evaluated by getting human participants to solve both functional and compound items. In the process, a previous computational approach to solving the compound RAT is also validated in the functional RAT context.

The Act of Creation

Abstract: While the study of psychology has offered little in the way of explaining the creative process, Koestler examines the idea that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended--for example, in dreams and trancelike states. All who read The Act of Creation will find it a compelling and illuminating book.

How semantic memory structure and intelligence contribute to creative thought: a network science approach

Abstract: The associative theory of creativity states that creativity is associated with differences in the structure of semantic memory, whereas the executive theory of creativity emphasises the role of top-down control for creative thought. For a powerful test of these accounts, individual semantic memory structure was modelled with a novel method based on semantic relatedness judgements and different criteria for network filtering were compared. The executive account was supported by a correlation between creative ability and broad retrieval ability. The associative account was independently supported, when network filtering was based on a relatedness threshold, but not when it was based on a fixed edge number or on the analysis of weighted networks. In the former case, creative ability was associated with shorter average path lengths and higher clustering of the network, suggesting that the semantic networks of creative people show higher small-worldness.

Artificial intelligence within the interplay between natural and artificial computation: Advances in data science, trends and applications

Abstract: The work reported here has been partially funded by many public and private bodies. Spanish Ministry of Science, projects: TIN2017-85827-P, RTI2018-098913-B-I00, PSI2015-65848-R, PGC2018-098813-B-C31, PGC2018-098813-B-C32, RTI2018-101114-B-I, TIN2017-90135-R, RTI2018-098743-B-I00 and RTI2018-094645-B-I00; the FPU program (FPU15/06512, FPU17/04154) and Juan de la Cierva (FJCI-2017–33022). Autonomous Government of Andalusia (Spain) projects: UMA18-FEDERJA-084. Conselleria de Cultura, Educacion e Ordenacion Universitaria of Galicia: ED431C2017/12, accreditation 2016–2019, ED431G/08, ED431C2018/29, Comunidad de Madrid, Y2018/EMT-5062 and grant ED431F2018/02

Semantic search during divergent thinking

Abstract: Divergent thinking, as a method of examining creative cognition, has not been adequately analyzed in the context of modern cognitive theories. This article casts divergent thinking responding in the context of theories of memory search. First, it was argued that divergent thinking tasks are similar to semantic fluency tasks, but are more constrained, and less well structured. Next, response time distributions from 54 participants were analyzed for temporal and semantic clustering. Participants responded to two prompts from the alternative uses test: uses for a brick and uses for a bottle, for two minutes each. Participants’ cumulative response curves were negatively accelerating, in line with theories of search of associative memory. However, results of analyses of semantic and temporal clustering suggested that clustering is less evident in alternative uses responding compared to semantic fluency tasks. This suggests either that divergent thinking responding does not involve an exhaustive search through a clustered memory trace, but rather that the process is more exploratory, yielding fewer overall responses that tend to drift away from close associates of the divergent thinking prompt.