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Abstract

The relationship between creativity and the specialized cognitive functions supported by each of the cerebral hemispheres (hemisphericity), was examined on archival data available for creative architects, scientists, and mathematicians. Hemisphericity was estimated by the A/P ratio, in which A represents performance on the Street Gestalt Completion test, a marker test of right hemipsheric processes and P represents performance on a marker test of left hemispheric functioning, the Similarities subtest of the WAIS. Creativity was indexed by objective indices (such as the number of patents earned by each scientist), subjective measures (such as peer evaluations of creativity) and by psychometric instruments that purport to measure creativity. Performance on a test of general intelligence was also examined. The data indicates that hemisphericity is related to some indices of creative performance (especially the objective measures) but not to the index of general intelligence. Moreover, the direction of the relationships were different for the creative architects than for the creative scientists and mathematicians. These data were taken as support for the proposition that creativity depends on the cognitive functions supported by both hemispheres: different professions demand a specific cognitive mode for efficient performance; creative performance is reflected in those who can also access and are efficient in using the cognitive mode supported by the complementary cerebral hemisphere.

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The Relationships between Creativity and Cerebral Hemisphericity for Creative Architects,Scientists,and Mathematicians

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