Selective Information Processing Advantages in Creative Cognition as a Function of Schizotypy

Abstract

Schizotypy has been consistently associated with an enhanced capacity for creative thinking, but the specificity of this cognitive advantage is, as yet, unclear. Different facets of creative cognition were assessed in the present study by contrasting groups based on the degree of extreme schizotypy personality scores. The high schizotypy group exhibited a selective advantage with better performance relative to a low schizotypy group in overcoming the constraining influence of examples when trying to generate original responses. The results are contrasted with previous findings on a related construct of psychoticism and are interpreted with reference to inhibitory control and other executive functions.

The role of atypical semantic activation and stress in odd speech: Implications for individuals with psychometrically defined schizotypy

“…The TI method used in this study is a fast, cost-effective instrument that could play a critical role in early identification efforts, particularly for individuals at risk for formal thought disorder, as ASA appears to be related to clinicallydefined thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia (Kreher et al, 2009;Kuperberg et al, 2007). The results here are also consistent with the spreading activation model (Spitzer, 1997), which postulates that individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders have increased activation of weakly associated items within their semantic networks, leading to more distantly related concepts becoming activated in the information-processing stream (Abraham and Windmann, 2008). This bolsters a previous proposal that ASA exhibited in individuals high in schizotypy may be similar to schizophrenia, albeit in a milder form (Kiang and Kutas, 2006).…”

Creative cognition and systems biology on the edge of chaos

“…Consistent reports suggest that healthy relatives of those with schizophrenia, and those with schizotypal traits, may have elevated creativity; we suggest that these individuals may have a tendency to greater network flexibility, but additional traits help protect them from developing schizophrenia (Schuldberg, 2000; Kinney et al, 2001; Karimi et al, 2007; Abraham and Windmann, 2008; Batey and Furnham, 2008; Nelson and Rawlings, 2010). Consistent with this are Kinney et al (2001) results showing higher levels of creativity in people with intermediate levels of schizotypal or schizoid traits, relative to those with lower levels of these traits and relative to those with overt schizophrenia.…”

Hemispheric Collaboration in Creative Subjects: Cross-Hemisphere Priming in a Lexical Decision Task

“…This finding has also been reported using a range of measures of hemispheric asymmetry (Abraham & Windmann, 2008;Abraham, Windham, Daum, & Gü ntü rkün, 2005;Karimi, Windmann, Gü ntü rkün, & Abraham, 2007;Merten, 1995;Woody & Claridge, 1977) and a lateralized lexical decision task (Weinsten & Graves, 2001). Similar results were found in a population of thought-disordered schizophrenics (Abeare et al, 2001).…”