TY - JOUR
T1 - Creativity and sensory gating indexed by the P50
T2 - Selective versus leaky sensory gating in divergent thinkers and creative achievers
AU - Zabelina, Darya L.
AU - O'Leary, Daniel
AU - Pornpattananangkul, Narun
AU - Nusslock, Robin
AU - Beeman, Mark
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank everyone who contributed to this paper, with special thanks to William J. Gavin and Ken A. Paller for their valuable feedback regarding the manuscript. This research was supported by the NSF Graduate Student Fellowship and Northwestern University Graduate Research Grant to DLZ, and the John Templeton Foundation Grant to MB (Grant no. 24467 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - Creativity has previously been linked with atypical attention, but it is not clear what aspects of attention, or what types of creativity are associated. Here we investigated specific neural markers of a very early form of attention, namely sensory gating, indexed by the P50 ERP, and how it relates to two measures of creativity: divergent thinking and real-world creative achievement. Data from 84 participants revealed that divergent thinking (assessed with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking) was associated with selective sensory gating, whereas real-world creative achievement was associated with "leaky" sensory gating, both in zero-order correlations and when controlling for academic test scores in a regression. Thus both creativity measures related to sensory gating, but in opposite directions. Additionally, divergent thinking and real-world creative achievement did not interact in predicting P50 sensory gating, suggesting that these two creativity measures orthogonally relate to P50 sensory gating. Finally, the ERP effect was specific to the P50 -neither divergent thinking nor creative achievement were related to later components, such as the N100 and P200. Overall results suggest that leaky sensory gating may help people integrate ideas that are outside of focus of attention, leading to creativity in the real world; whereas divergent thinking, measured by divergent thinking tests which emphasize numerous responses within a limited time, may require selective sensory processing more than previously thought.
AB - Creativity has previously been linked with atypical attention, but it is not clear what aspects of attention, or what types of creativity are associated. Here we investigated specific neural markers of a very early form of attention, namely sensory gating, indexed by the P50 ERP, and how it relates to two measures of creativity: divergent thinking and real-world creative achievement. Data from 84 participants revealed that divergent thinking (assessed with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking) was associated with selective sensory gating, whereas real-world creative achievement was associated with "leaky" sensory gating, both in zero-order correlations and when controlling for academic test scores in a regression. Thus both creativity measures related to sensory gating, but in opposite directions. Additionally, divergent thinking and real-world creative achievement did not interact in predicting P50 sensory gating, suggesting that these two creativity measures orthogonally relate to P50 sensory gating. Finally, the ERP effect was specific to the P50 -neither divergent thinking nor creative achievement were related to later components, such as the N100 and P200. Overall results suggest that leaky sensory gating may help people integrate ideas that are outside of focus of attention, leading to creativity in the real world; whereas divergent thinking, measured by divergent thinking tests which emphasize numerous responses within a limited time, may require selective sensory processing more than previously thought.
KW - Attention
KW - Creative achievement
KW - Creativity
KW - Divergent thinking
KW - P50
KW - Sensory gating
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.034
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.034
M3 - Article
C2 - 25623426
AN - SCOPUS:84921984589
SN - 0028-3932
VL - 69
SP - 77
EP - 84
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
ER -