Effect of fluid bodily movement in tai chi on creativity and cognition in healthy undergraduates

• Main Author: Ang, Joey Yi Jia
• Other Authors: National Institute of Education
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/59162
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of fluid bodily movements in Tai Chi (TC) and Walking Aerobics (WA) on cognitive functioning and creativity in healthy university students. As previous studies showed that tracing fluid movement patterns with one’s hand improves creativity, it is hypothesized that creativity would increase after TC due to fluid bodily movements in the activity. A total of 20 participants were tested individually and randomly assigned to follow an exercise comprising of fluid bodily movements (20 min of TC) and an exercise of non-fluid nature (20 min of WA) on YouTube. Cognitive function and creativity tests were implemented at baseline, after TC, and after WA. Additional self-report scales were used to measure levels of exercise intensity, perceived mood, and arousal. Findings suggest that creativity scores decreased significantly from baseline to TC and from baseline to WA (p < 0.05). Stroop Test scores improved significantly from baseline to TC and from baseline to WA (p < 0.05), and there were no significant differences across Digit Span test scores (p > 0.05). In conclusion, fluid bodily movement improves cognition but decreases creativity.The findings are in contrast of the expected improvement in creativity, which may be attributed to the differing exercise intensities and continuous repetitive movements of TC and WA. Future studies that address these limitations can apply the findings to other physical activities involving fluid bodily movements, such as swimming and Pilates, as an additional incentive to encourage people to participate in such exercises.