Heart-Rate Variability in Creative Functioning

Abstract

Average creativity scores for each of 20 Ss in this experiment correlated .49 with a measure of heart-rate variability monitored during an inkblot task. It was suggested that cardiac variability may be greater in the more creative Ss because they shift more from realistic to imaginal modes of thinking than do relatively less creative Ss.

Creative challenge: Regular exercising moderates the association between task-related heart rate variability changes and individual differences in originality

“…In people with a higher amount of regular exercise, greater HRV increase (i.e., vagal activation) during the creative ideation task was correlated with greater originality of the produced ideas, which is in accordance with some relevant research [40,41]. By contrast, in more sedentary people this association was reversed.…”

“…Nevertheless, the observed interaction effect suggests that greater originality in a creativity task is not only achieved by the investment of more mental effort [24,35], and more spontaneous and associative modes of thinking [32], but that both can lead to success, depending, among others, on the physical constitution of the person. This finding may in part explain the heterogeneity of previous results on associations between cardiac vagal control and creative performance [24,35,40].…”

“…The contribution of both modes of thinking to creative ideation may explain contradictory findings in literature. Loudon and Deininger [35] reported a negative and Bowers and Keeling [40] a positive association between indices of creative performance and HRV. Silvia et al [24] found no significant link between task-related vagal control and originality.…”

“…People regularly exercising more are supposed to be physically best prepared to show adaptive task-related changes of HRV [6], in order to flexibly match the adaptive states important for optimum performance outcome [1]. More precisely, it was assumed that participants with a higher amount of regular exercise may more flexibly adjust to the creative challenge and more easily switch between mental effort [24,35] and spontaneous and automatic modes of thinking [40–42]. Therefore, it was hypothesized that participants exercising more often will show higher task-related HRV during creative ideation in contrast to participants exercising less, and that in exercisers (but not necessarily in sedentary people) the HRV response will be related to task performance.…”

Inebriation and Inspiration? A Review of the Research on Alcohol and Creativity

“…There are other physiological correlates of creativity. Thus, it has been indicated that participants scoring high on a variety of creative measures manifested a greater heart-rate variability than did uncreative participants (Bowers & Keeling, 1971), verified recently by Norlander, Bergman and Archer (1997). Following a perusal through the research, Suler (1980) drew the conclusion that greater heart-rate variability in creative participants indicated their rapid cognitive shifts between reality-oriented cognition and more imaginal, inner-directed ideation.…”