Creativity and Attention: A Multi-Method Investigation _____________________________ Lindsey Carruthers Edinburgh Napier University A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Edinburgh Napier University, for the award of Doctor of Philosophy September 2016 Dedication Dedication To Peter and Judy Carruthers, my wonderful parents. Your kind words, encouraging texts, supportive phone calls, reassuring hugs, endless handouts, and free meals, it has all meant the world to me. Thank you for your patience with me, and thank you for pretending to believe me when I said I wasn’t procrastinating. You’ve been with me on every step of this journey and I have appreciated everything you have done for me. Katrina, my adoring sister. You are my inspiration and my hero. My studies have helped me understand you a little better, and I hope this makes me a better, more patient person. Thank you for your relentless (?!) texts and phone calls, and for always being happy for me. To my grandparents, Hazel and Harold Reid, and Peter Carruthers, thank you for your encouragement, understanding, and support over the years. I love spending time with you all, and I always enjoy our conversations and the comfort you provide. You have all believed in me from the beginning, I very much appreciate it. Mum, Dad, and Katrina, Nana and Grandad, and Grandad, I love you all very much. I dedicate my work to you, even if you never read it all. Acknowledgements I am very grateful to the Edinburgh Napier University Research Group, who awarded me a fees only studentship for the first year of my postgraduate studies. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisors, Dr Alex Willis and Dr Rory MacLean. Since my undergraduate days they have both inspired and encouraged me. I have valued their advice, ideas, patience, and feedback throughout this entire process. I would also like to thank Dr Phyllis Laybourn, Maria Shaw, Dr Hayley Ness, Dr Alex McIntyre, Dr Chris O’Donnell, and Dr Dave Keatley for their advice, encouragement, and support. My thanks also go to Dr Robbie Cooper, for his ideas and help in the design of this project, and for making the complicated things simpler. My thanks are to Richard Jones and family, founders of Addressing the Balance, for all of their help with recruitment, and for taking an active interest in my research. My appreciation also goes to every participant who took part in this project. I’d like to express my gratitude to my friends, including Hannah Lithgow, Lucy McVey, Lee Curley, and Nicolle McFarlane, for their profound words and kind reassurance throughout my postgraduate years. I would also like to thank Sam Tulloch, my better half, for his unconditional love, support, and understanding in the final stages of my project. 2 Abstract Abstract Creativity is a valuable attribute that involves the generation of original ideas; attention is a vital function that facilitates information selection. Past research has related these cognitive constructs, having found that highly creative people tend to be more distractible than those less creative, which allows them to produce more novel associations. This thesis aimed to test the relationship between these two processes using multiple tests of creativity (e.g., achievement, divergent thinking, and collage- making) and attention (e.g., focused, sustained, selective, and divided attention), which represented the complexity of each construct, and improved upon the methods previously reported. Additionally, the performance of participants with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was compared to those without. Four studies were carried out. Within the first two, creativity scores were compared and related to attention scores, within and between control and ADHD groups. No consistent relationships were found. The ADHD group had higher creativity scores on average, but the differences were not significant. Study three incorporated eye-tracking techniques to explore the effect of visual stimulation on creativity and attention performance between-groups. It was found that the ADHD group looked at the attention task targets significantly less, yet their performance was not significantly worse. No between-group differences in creativity were found. The visually stimulating environment did not affect performance. Study four investigated the effect of an incubation period on creativity. Results showed that incubation increased the proportion of original ideas, but performance did not vary according to incubation task demand. However, self- report responses indicated that participants did not sufficiently engage in the incubation period, as they continued to think consciously of solutions. The link between creativity and attention is not supported, and the idea that ADHD is beneficial to creativity is not fully upheld. Further research should examine creativity and attention in work or university settings, to consider the existence of a ‘real life’ relationship. 3 Contents Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. 2 Abstract ............................................................................................................... 3 Contents ............................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures ..................................................................................................... 9 List of Tables..................................................................................................... 10 Abbreviations .................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1 - Introduction & Creativity Literature Review .................................... 12 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 13 1.2 Creativity: A Literature Review ................................................................ 14 1.2.1 What is Creativity? ............................................................................ 14 1.2.2 Divergent Thinking ............................................................................ 16 1.2.3 Creativity and Intelligence ................................................................. 19 1.2.4 Creativity and Personality ................................................................. 23 1.2.5 Creativity and Association ................................................................. 26 1.2.6 The Creative Process ....................................................................... 29 1.3 Conclusions ............................................................................................. 33 Chapter 2 – Attention Literature Review ........................................................... 35 2.1 What is Attention? ................................................................................... 36 2.1.1 Focused Attention ............................................................................. 38 2.1.2 Sustained Attention ........................................................................... 39 2.1.3 Selective Attention ............................................................................ 41 2.1.4 Divided Attention ............................................................................... 42 2.2 How does Attention Work? ...................................................................... 44 2.2.1 Early Selection Theories ................................................................... 44 2.2.2 Late Selection Theories .................................................................... 47 2.2.3 Visual Attention Systems .................................................................. 49 2.3 Attention and Executive Function ............................................................ 52 2.4 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ................................................... 54 2.4.1 Prevalence of ADHD ......................................................................... 55 2.4.2 Possible Causes of ADHD ................................................................ 57 2.4.3 Treatment of ADHD .......................................................................... 57 2.5 ADHD and Types of Attention ................................................................. 59 4 Contents 2.6 Psychological Theories of ADHD ............................................................ 62 2.6.1 Dynamic Developmental Theory ....................................................... 63 2.6.2 Cognitive Energetic Model ................................................................ 64 2.6.3 Unified Theory .................................................................................. 65 2.6.4 Delay-Aversion Theory ..................................................................... 67 2.6.5 Dual-Pathway Model ......................................................................... 68 2.6 Conclusions ............................................................................................. 69 Chapter 3 – Creativity and Attention Literature Review .................................... 71 3.1 Creativity and Broad Attention ................................................................. 72 3.1.1 Anecdotal Evidence of a Relationship between Creativity and Attention ..................................................................................................................