Aesthetic Experience and Information-Seeking as Mediators Between Curiosity and Divergent Thinking

Theoretical models of creativity increasingly emphasize the interplay between curiosity, aesthetic experience, and information-seeking as key mechanisms supporting divergent thinking. Building on integrative frameworks of aesthetic processing and creative cognition, the present online study examined whether aesthetic experience and information-seeking mediate the relationship between trait curiosity and divergent thinking. One hundred and twelve participants completed a measure of trait curiosity and viewed abstract artworks as aesthetic stimuli. Participants reported their aesthetic experiences, engaged in an art-related question-and-answer task assessing information-seeking, and generated verbal associations to the artworks that were later rated for creativity by independent judges. Results showed that trait curiosity positively predicted information-seeking, with this relationship partially mediated by aesthetic experience. Aesthetic experience, in turn, predicted divergent thinking, an effect that was partially mediated by information-seeking. Moreover, the association between trait curiosity and divergent thinking was fully accounted for by aesthetic experience and information-seeking, both in parallel and in a serial mediation model. Together, these findings provide empirical support for integrative theoretical accounts linking curiosity, aesthetic experience, and creativity, and highlight information-seeking as a key process through which curiosity and aesthetic engagement jointly contribute to divergent thinking.