LONDON: New research conducted by psychologists at North-western University shows that this sound creativity connection may not only pertain to someone.
A study, published in the March issue of Neuropsychological, studied “sensory gating,” a mechanism that regulates how much information from the outside environment gets through to an individual’s awareness. People with “leaky” sensory gates have more trouble tuning out background noises in their environment. The study found that creative people as gauged by an innovative-thinking test and by real-world achievements in the arts and sciences were more sensitive to the sounds around them.
To test sound reception, the scientists measured the electrical activity in 97 participants’ brains while they played a series of beeps. This showed how much sound was filtered out and how much sound made it through to the participants’ awareness.
It may seem counterintuitive that the people most prone to distractions are also those with the most creative minds. However, the findings suggest that sensitivity to sound is linked to a broad scope of attention that allows people to take in information that others miss because their brain automatically filters it out. This allows them to have richer experiences, and make connections between concepts that appear only distantly related for others.
