Cognitive abilities comprise such abilities as general intelligence and abstract reasoning. Creative problem solvers characteristically have well above-average cognitive intelligence. Creative people are facile at generating creative solutions to problems in a short period of time. Creative people also maintain a youthful curiosity throughout their lives, and the curiosity is not centered just on their own field of expertise.

Instead, their range of interests encompasses many areas of knowledge, and they are enthusiastic about puzzling problems. These mental workouts help sharpen a person’s intelligence. Creative people are able to expand the number of alternatives to a problem, thus moving away from a single solution. Yet, the creative thinker also knows when it is time to narrow the number of useful solutions.

The popular belief that creative people are right-brain dominant, whereas left-brain dominant people are more logical, detail-oriented, and analytical has been challenged by brain specialists. Recent neuroscience research suggests that developing original ideas is a process, and not something that stems from one side of the brain. A major cognitive contributor to creative thinking is intuition. The term refers to an experienced-based way of knowing or reasoning in which weighing and balancing evidence are done unconsciously and automatically.