This research looked at if visually complex and semantically-rich ambient background visual stimuli could increase originality in Alternate Uses Task (AUT) and if naturally-occurring levels of arousal would moderate this effect. Divergent thinking was theorised to occur in a flexibility-biased metacontrol state, characterised by reduced top-down inhibitory control and broader semantic activation. 

The main theories behind the prediction were the predictive coding frameworks and the activation hypothesis. One hundred participants were randomly assigned to either a High or Low Visual Complexity condition and completed three two-minute AUT trials alongside condition-appropriate videos. Each participant's pre-task level of arousal was measured by means of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Each participant's responses to the AUT were then evaluated based on originality. Multiple Linear Regression indicated no statistically significant main effect of visual complexity or arousal. No statistically significant interaction was found. 

Therefore, no evidence was found that task-irrelevant visual complexity broadens semantic associations during verbal creative tasks such as AUT as also that arousal moderates that relationship. Measurement limitations and insufficient statistical power are discussed as important interpretive limitations for future research.