The Relationship Between Creativity and Executive Functions in Children in a Digital Game Environment

Introduction . Modern digital games are becoming an integral part of children's leisure and learning, having an increasingly noticeable impact on the processes of their cognitive development. However, the impact of digital game activity on such key developmental aspects as creativity and executive functions is still a matter of debate and requires further research. Of particular relevance is the question of whether a child's involvement in creative digital activities contributes to the development of executive functions necessary for effective learning and adaptation in the educational environment. Objective. To identify the relationship between the level of creative activity in the digital game environment and the development of executive functions in primary school children. Materials and methods. Creative activity was recorded on the basis of behavioral data obtained during participants' interaction with an open-ended digital environment - the so-called "sandbox". Executive functions were assessed through embedded logical mini-games. Statistical processing of the data included correlation methods and Student's t-test. Results. A total of 219 children aged 6-10 years participated in the study. The analysis revealed a moderate positive correlation between the indicators of creativity and the level of cognitive flexibility, as well as the time spent on logical tasks. No statistically significant correlations were found with memory scores. Participants with a higher level of creative activity demonstrated higher results in accuracy and speed of completing tasks aimed at assessing abstract thinking. Discussion. The findings suggest a significant role of cognitive flexibility as a link between creativity and executive functions in elementary school children. Digital creative activity, realized in the format of free interaction with the digital environment and including elements of independent planning, choice of strategies and variability of actions, contributes to the development of executive functions. The most pronounced correlations were found between digital creative activity and high-level components of executive functions, such as cognitive flexibility and the ability to adaptively choose new behavioral strategies. On the contrary, basic cognitive processes, in particular short-term memory, did not demonstrate statistically significant changes, which may indicate that it is the regulatory mechanisms that are more sensitive to the conditions of creative digital interaction.