Schiz & Creativity
 

I remember the RAT (Remote Associations Test) as a measure of creativity...I remember it, however, from the early 1960s... (see http://www.metalogia.com/documents/RATS.pdf)

"It is previously known that highly creative abilities are somewhat more common in people who have familial history of mental illness and thus carry a greater risk of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Researchers at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute have now sought to explain this link by studying receptors in the thalamic region of the brain.

" 'We have studied the brain and a certain type of receptor, known as dopamine D2 receptors, and we have shown that the dopamine system in healthy highly creative people is similar to that found in schizophrenics,' Dr.Fredrik Ullén, who led the study at the Department of Women's and Children's Health at the institute, told The Local on Tuesday.

"The study, penned by Ullén and Örjan de Manzano, and entitled Thinking Outside a Less Intact Box, indicates that certain characteristics, such as being able to make bizarre and unusual associations are common to both schizophrenics and healthy highly creative people."

Http://www.thelocal.se/26708/20100518/

Paper at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0010670

Re: Schiz & Creativity
 

It's funny, I find the RAT really uncomfortable as well as very difficult, compared to most other kinds of tests. It feels like I'm stretching to find something pointless. There must be something fundamentally uncreative about the way I like to think! Maybe people like me should try these routinely to stretch ourselves?