Associative and attentional processes in creative performance.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Associative and attentional processes in creative performance.
Authors:	Mendelsohn, Gerald A.
Source:	Journal of Personality. Jun76, Vol. 44 Issue 2, p341. 29p.
Subjects:	Creative ability testing, Performance, Remote associates test, Anagrams, Vocabulary, Sociological research
Abstract:	The article focuses on associative and attentional processes in creative performance. The empirical literature provides some evidence that performance on sociologist M.T. Mednick's Remote Associates Test (RAT) relates positively to judged creativity but suggests that attentional rather than associative processes are implicated in this relationship. The study reported provided further evidence of this link. Thirty anagrams were presented for solution to 120 male and 149 female subjects, 10 of the solutions were animal words, 10 were food words and 10 were miscellaneous with regard to category membership. Approximately half the subjects were informed of the category sets, the remaining half were not. In general, use of the animal set seemed to preclude use of the food set and to interfere with solutions of the miscellaneous anagrams. Vocabulary level was unrelated to patterns of set effects nor did it mediate the results obtained for the RAT. On the assumption that set effects operate through the mechanisms of memory search, the results were interpreted as indicating that males with high RAT scores can effectively maintain several search strategies simultaneously.
Database:	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Description
Abstract:	The article focuses on associative and attentional processes in creative performance. The empirical literature provides some evidence that performance on sociologist M.T. Mednick's Remote Associates Test (RAT) relates positively to judged creativity but suggests that attentional rather than associative processes are implicated in this relationship. The study reported provided further evidence of this link. Thirty anagrams were presented for solution to 120 male and 149 female subjects, 10 of the solutions were animal words, 10 were food words and 10 were miscellaneous with regard to category membership. Approximately half the subjects were informed of the category sets, the remaining half were not. In general, use of the animal set seemed to preclude use of the food set and to interfere with solutions of the miscellaneous anagrams. Vocabulary level was unrelated to patterns of set effects nor did it mediate the results obtained for the RAT. On the assumption that set effects operate through the mechanisms of memory search, the results were interpreted as indicating that males with high RAT scores can effectively maintain several search strategies simultaneously.
ISSN:	00223506
DOI:	10.1111/j.1467-6494.1976.tb00127.x