What is
there to be said about an artist who can design and create a beautiful
masterpiece in a matter of days, but cannot seem to perform on a remedial level
when it involves other tasks? On 12/2,
Dr. Zabelina of Northwestern University spoke about her research involving the
different creative abilities in humans, and what is cognitively occurring in
someone who is creative vs. someone who is non-creative. What research is beginning to point towards,
as well as Dr. Zabelina’s work, is that attention may play a large role in an
individual’s creative abilities. In Dr.
Zabelina’s lecture on her research involving creative thinking, she
hypothesizes that creative individuals are stronger in a type of attention,
known as divergent attention, as well as attentional perseverance. Individuals classified as creative
individuals after receiving testing, underwent a series of trials testing
attentional abilities and types of attentional strengths or weaknesses, and it
was found that creative individuals had a large amount of attentional
perseverance, but did not score well with convergent attention. This suggests that there are cognitive
factors involving attention that operate differently than non-creative
individuals.
People
diagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder are often described as
highly creative and innovative, although academic performance for individuals
with this disorder is usually less than stellar. An article by Casey Schwartz outlining new
research performed by psychologists at the University of Memphis suggests that
the way individuals with ADHD use their attentional skills may differ than
those without ADHD. Generally, there
are two types of attention worth mentioning for this topic: divergent and
convergent attention. Convergent
attention is essentially an individual’s ability to completely focus, while
divergent attention refers to one’s ability to generate spontaneous and
original thoughts and ideas. From the
research of Dr. Holly White at the University of Memphis involving ADHD individuals
and attention, she concluded that ADHD individuals had a greater sense of
divergent attention, but lacked on the convergent attentional tasks. The key to these types of abilities in ADHD
individuals, according to Dr. White, is inhibition control. A non-creative individual may inhibit all
other possible solutions or thoughts about a particular scenario and thus does
not generate as many spontaneous ideas, while an ADHD individual is able to
generate multiple spontaneous ideas due to a lack of inhibition. On a more global scale, this may prove to be
a positive outlook and “upside” for adults and children who are diagnosed with
ADHD. Although they struggle with the
SATs, they may have a better chance of writing the next great American
novel.
In
conclusion, there is a increasingly significance between one’s attentional
level and one’s level of creativity.
More specifically, the type of attention one excels at may pre-determine
their general creativity and spontaneity level.
Due to the significant findings of the research being conducted within
the last few years, this is definitely a research topic worth taking a look
at.
References:
Schwartz, Casey. “ADHD’s
upside is creativity, says new study.” The Daily Beast. The
Daily Beast, 8 Feb. 2011. Web. 3
Dec. 2014
Beeman, M., Zabelina, D.L. Short-term attentional
perseveration associated with real-life creative achievement. (2013) Frontiers in Psychology. Northwestern University. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00191
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