Opening the Mind: Designing 3D Virtual Environments to Enhance Team Creativity

3D virtual environments (VEs) have emerged as a popular collaboration tool because they enable richer forms of collaboration than traditional text-or Web-based tools. Research on text-based electronic brainstorming (EBS) has shown it is possible to increase idea fluency and creativity through priming, the use of stimuli to implant concepts in working memory designed to influence subconscious cognition and ultimately behavior. In this experiment, we designed a 3D VE to prime for "openness" (i.e., broad attentional scope) and examined the effects it had on idea fluency and creativity in EBS sessions. Our results show that virtual teams generated more ideas of greater creativity when they brainstormed in a VE specifically designed to prime openness than in a closed environment.