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14-08-2015 | Original Paper

The Relationship Between Subthreshold Autistic Traits, Ambiguous Figure Perception and Divergent Thinking

Auteurs: Catherine Best, Shruti Arora, Fiona Porter, Martin Doherty

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 12/2015

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Abstract

This research investigates the paradox of creativity in autism. That is, whether people with subclinical autistic traits have cognitive styles conducive to creativity or whether they are disadvantaged by the implied cognitive and behavioural rigidity of the autism phenotype. The relationship between divergent thinking (a cognitive component of creativity), perception of ambiguous figures, and self-reported autistic traits was evaluated in 312 individuals in a non-clinical sample. High levels of autistic traits were significantly associated with lower fluency scores on the divergent thinking tasks. However autistic traits were associated with high numbers of unusual responses on the divergent thinking tasks. Generation of novel ideas is a prerequisite for creative problem solving and may be an adaptive advantage associated with autistic traits.
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Metagegevens
Titel
The Relationship Between Subthreshold Autistic Traits, Ambiguous Figure Perception and Divergent Thinking
Auteurs
Catherine Best
Shruti Arora
Fiona Porter
Martin Doherty
Publicatiedatum
14-08-2015
Uitgeverij
Springer US
Gepubliceerd in
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders / Uitgave 12/2015
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2518-2