Autism usually occurs in schizophrenia and this, as we have seen in previous studies, shares genes with creativity, since they involve behaviors derived from cognitive processes different from those considered normal. Now, new research by scientists at the University of Stirling (UK) has found that autistic people are more creative when it comes to solving problems than those who are not .
“ This is the first study to find a link between autistic traits and creative thought processes. It explains how some people with what is often defined as a disability exhibit superior creative talents in some domains, ”explains Catherine Best, study leader.
For their research, the experts conducted an anonymous online survey of 312 people , of which 75 of them had the disease previously diagnosed clinically. The participants took different tests (such as divergent thinking) in order to test their creativity, such as the interpretation of various drawings in which more than one figure could be glimpsed at the same time.
The results revealed that although autism is usually associated with a more rigid way of thinking, volunteers with autistic traits were much more likely to answer all the questions and also to do so in a much more original and unusual way .
“Perhaps people with autistic traits need to work harder to respond to divergent mental exercises (not based on obvious associations),” Best clarifies. That is, the hypothesis is that autistics may delve into the more complex mental strategies first , which then allows them to initially generate the most unusual ideas.
” In other words, we believe that the memory path based on being able to think of different ideas deteriorates, while the specific ability to produce unusual responses remains relatively intact or even superior, ” concludes Martin Doherty, co-author of the study.
The work, which has been published in The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders .
